Thanks, Peace. You have the right of it.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      —Margaret Mead

Well, sometimes that small group (or even a very large group) of thoughtful, committed citizens lack, by a very small margin, the simple numbers to bring that change about—at least in the first few attempts.   

What are those who blame all Americans for Bush advocating? That we who did not support Bush just don sack-cloth, heap ashes on our heads, declare ourselves abject failures, and give up? Not my way! And not the way of many people I know!

To condemn all Americans for putting the Bush administration in office is just plain wrong, and it does a gross disservice to those who tried to prevent it, and to those who are working hard to see that a similar thing doesn't happen again. To claim that "you" (all Americans) are to blame for the Bush administration is unfair and disingenuous. It's easy for those in the privilege position of sitting on the sidelines (such as some citizens—but not all, of course—of other countries, who don't have the responsibility of participating in American politics) to sit back a smugly take pot-shots at Americans in general when large numbers of Americans have made heroic efforts to keep the situation from becoming what it became—but who failed most definitely through no fault of their own.

Consider this:    assigning collective guilt to an entire group of people because of the actions of some of them is cut from the same cloth as bigotry and racism. That's the same kind of thinking that allows those of the terrorist mentality to kill innocent civilians. They blame an entire group for the actions of a few.

Don Firth