THINKING FOR OURSELVES

RESTORING OURSELVES

By Shea Howell

Michigan Citizen, Aug. 26-Sep.1, 2007

Almost everyone realizes that something has gone terribly wrong with our relationships with people around the world. Every international opinion poll demonstrates that most people regard the U.S. with contempt. International respect for the U.S. plummeted with the invasion of Iraq. Abu Graib, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, torture, cover-ups, misdeeds and bungling of the rebuilding of Iraq have taken an additional toll.

Last week a new poll showed that even among NATO nations, long closely linked to U.S. few people hold our country in high regard. Only nine percent of the people in Turkey have a "favorable view" of the U.S. This is down from 52 percent recorded just five years ago.

The implications of this loss of good will are enormous not only for our ability to live in the world today but for the future.

Many people are hoping that the next election will provide a way to turn around this dismal state of affairs. Surely a new president, a new party, a new face to the world will enable us to regain some of the much-needed goodwill of people and nations who have lost all respect for us.

While there is little doubt that a new president will bring an opportunity to repair some of the damage done by this administration, no individual can make the kind of dramatic changes necessary to set our country on the path of establishing respectful, honest, and fair relationships with the rest of the world. The kind of critical reevaluation of our fundamental values and of our way of life, necessary to understand our responsibilities in a changing world, can not happen in the process of an election.

This kind of critical evaluation can only happen within the context of a larger conversation about the kind of country we have become and the kind of nation we want to be. It is a conversation that should be held on the global stage, sharing our fears, concerns and hopes.

The process of impeachment is an opportunity for all of us to engage in creating our nation anew. Impeachment would signal to the rest of the planet that the majority of the people in this country recognize that our country has been led into criminal behavior on a global scale.

One of the important distinctions that emerged during the Vietnam war was the recognition that there is a difference between the U.S. government and the American people. This distinction is one that raises important questions for us today. If the majority of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq, how can we allow the government to carry it on? If the majority of Americans are in favor of impeachment, how can we allow our elected officials to continue to conduct business as usual?

In spite of all the rhetoric of this President, the world today is not in his control. The U.S. is not a superpower or a superstate. We cannot impose our will on the world. We cannot even impose our will on one other country.

Over the next few months we have the opportunity to say to the rest of the world that we, the American people, recognize the critical importance of reestablishing relationships of respect with the family of nations. We understand that the problems confronting all of us require a new willingness to engage with one another to find the ways to restore health to our earth and integrity to our relationships.

A critical first step in this process of reassessment of our role in the world is the impeachment of those who have damaged so much. Impeachment is not a legalistic distraction. It is a moral imperative for restoring ourselves in the eyes of the people of the world and our own posterity.

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