What do you think the State of the Union address should have included? A remorseful confession that corporate interests dominate Bush administration policies? An announcement that the U.S. will stop the bombing and return the prisoners home? Information about where Dick Cheney is hiding and why? Tell us what you think the true state of the union is today.
The State of the Union address, rather than an honest and critical reflection of national and international issues, amounted to nothing more than a high school pep rally. Despite the fact that the current "state of the union" directly impacts the global political, economic, and social order, Bush seemed to be doing little more than screaming "Go Team" to a crowd of cheering supporters shaking their pom-poms and jumping up in the air. This meticulously revised and rehearsed speech, like most government propaganda, evaded national accountability and channeled most aggression toward the "other team" (which under the expanding "War on Terror" is growing larger by the second). George W. Bush, like the high school quarterback or student body president, attempted to symbolize all the virile masculine paternal qualities of the system he supposedly represents. And as in high school, the dissenters were relegated to the back benches --rolling our eyes and carving initials into the wood as a form of protest.