Hallelujah! It Was Just a Bad Dream

John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General, ultimate and supreme head of our country's justice system, wrote in his resignation letter on November 2, election day .... "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."

Huh?

Did I miss something? Some cataclysmic event? Perhaps a headline-grabbing peace pronouncement? Americans are secure and safe again?

Didn't they.....But Bush and Cheney said....hmmmm.... but I remember their buzz words like it was only last week....security, danger, terror, fear, killing, security again. Dirty bombs, suicide bombers, mushroom clouds over American cities. Code orange. Alert alert alert. Are you safe? Are we safe? Do you feel safe?

Wasn't there a recent election won because we aren't safe, and we need a guy who will be tough and keep us safe? So we elected the tough, mean-spirited guys? So they could protect us from the world and all the villains? Like our dads did when we were children?

Did I miss something?

Or maybe....just maybe. Glory day. Call my mother and shout hallelujah.

Maybe I'm just waking up from a very bad dream.

Because our leaders wouldn't lie to voters that radically.....would they? Those words of terror and unfettered paranoia weren't all just so much fear-mongering campaign lingo....were they?

I have to confess. That surprises even me.