Our Friday paper was stuffed with Memorial Day sale ads. I fully stipulate to being a hypocrite, living as I do for Target sales. But I just need some brief thinky time regarding Memorial Day before I exercise my rights as a complex American girl, hypocrisy and all.

As of Friday, 2,464 U.S. men and women have died in Iraq. That number increases exponentially if one widens the scope to civilians - be they residents, journalists, contractors, aid workers.

Much has been written and discussed regarding the recklessness of this administration. I'm not sure I'd even call their behvaior immoral. Amoral is more like it.

The Democrats in Congress who refused to grow spines until popular opinion turned against the war are equally to blame. They were more concerned about their re-election campaigns than they were about fighting the most flagrant abuse of executive power in the history of this country. Both sides have the gall to cite the ever-popular founding fathers in order to bolster their positions while they tossed the Constitution in the recycle bin. The president, by completely thwarting it; the Democrats; by rolling over while he did so.

Of course, the real blame lies with the American public. I don't dispute for a moment that the political machine in this country does its best to minimize and deflect the voices of the electorate. The frustration out here in the real world is real. And we're busy! We work 50 hours a week, we're running at breakneck speed on the weekends to catch up on home life, and we're lucky if we get 10 days of paid vacation a year. Even for those of us paying attention to the political beast, it's really difficult to pay attention! And we feel powerless to change it.

Except at election time. But then comes the vast marketing campaign of the presidential election. Policy issues are cumbersome and boring. Any campaign manager worth his or her salt knows that complex issues need to be converted into clever slogans. They know we're busy, and they abuse that fact. Fear becomes the new currency, and they exploit it without shame.

What bothers me the most is that they succeed in exploiting something I don't understand. The residents of Manhattan overwhelmingly voted for Kerry. Yet the the entire middle of this country - most of whom will never experience anything remotely as horrific as 9/11 in their home cities - voted for Bush. If the people who really experienced terrorism first-hand didn't swallow the fearmongering, why is anyone else swallowing it?

Here is where the lines begin to be drawn. Liberals start accusing conversatives of being uneducated, racist, sheltered Bible thumpers who want to destroy America. Conservatives start accusing liberals of being elitist, unpatriotic, slutty atheists who want to destroy America.
And I wonder why we are a warring nation! When, in fact, I don't know actually anyone - liberal or conservative - who fits into either of those convenient stereotypes.

Bottom line, we talk inclusion, but we don't really mean it. We talk about a free society where eveyrone has a right to think and say what they want, but we don't actually believe that. If we did, we wouldn't berate those don't see the world as we do.

"But they started it first" is no excuse once you're past the age of 2. "My dogma can beat up your dogma." Oh shut the hell up.