So there it is, and it took the events of this past week to show that the majority of Americans didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. What occurred in previous years is a result of what we were taught to believe, from probably the first grade in school. presidents don’t lie. After all, didn’t George Washington, the father of our country and the first president, admit that he chopped down his father’s cherry tree - an act with consequences, we assume, as do all acts have consequences - and which admission filled us with pride for the straight arrow who was the leader of our country.

Therefore, when we heard from the mouth of our current president that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, despite later incontrovertible proof to the contrary, we were believers, and when we heard that the acts of terror perpetrated upon us by Al Qaeda emanated from Iraq, and that changing their government would eliminate all acts of terror from our shores, we believed. It wasn’t until much later that we allowed ourselves to acknowledge the gap between cherries and oil.

After that acknowledgement, it became easier for some of us to question our early beliefs, especially when faced with a laundry list of items that seemed totally unrelated to keeping us safe; in fact some seemed to be focused on doing us harm. There were the Supreme Court appointments tied to overturning Roe v Wade, an issue which many people feel should be more closely examined, since eggs don’t self fertilize, and it seems so third world to always determine only the woman’s fate. Then there was the president’s refusal to approve of stem cell research involving embryos that would be otherwise discarded, and some of us started asking why, especially those among us who had unfortunately become the ones who would benefit the most. Going down the list, there was the issue of sexual orientation and gay marriage and some began to question why the president didn’t stay out of the bedroom and spend more time in the boardroom. How would the torture of prisoners keep us safe when it seemed that if we didn’t treat our captives well, our enemies might retaliate when our soldiers were taken prisoner? More of us became skeptical about our safety when we saw that our civil liberties were eroding as habeas corpus was tossed aside, phone tapping was brought on board and each day brought new strictures against our personal freedom. Take the issue of corruption and the members of congress. Wouldn’t we be better off if they paid more attention to what they were doing? The list could go on and on but dayenu already. We were getting the point.

For many, the last straw was what is happening in Iraq. We were told that the country was stabilizing, despite the over 150,00 civilian deaths and the continuing rise in dead and injured among our own troops, deaths made more unconscionable because we know now how unnecessary they were

Unlike President Washington, there was never an admission of wrong doing, and maybe a little “I’m sorry” would have helped. Two days before the election, when the subject of Donald Rumsfeld’s continuity was discussed, the president sang a chorus of “stand by my man” and the day after the election, Rumsfeld was gone. That’s when we gave our seats on the turnip truck to the president. I mean really, how far can belief be stretched?