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I just got an email from Amnesty International asking me to phone my legislators to ask them to oppose rape and torture.That seemed easy enough, but, as usual, before I picked up the phone, I tried to rehearse what I was going to say.
Them: "Senator So-and-So's office, how may I help you?"
Me: "My name is Mark Smith, I'm a constituent, my zip code is 92101, and I would like to ask if the Senator is in favor of or against rape and torture."
Whoa! That doesn't sound right at all. But that is what I want to ask, isn't it? Well, yes, but how in the world did things get to where I'd actually have to ask my representatives a question like that?
The fact is that both my Senators are Democrats, and both of them have probably voted for Bush policies that included rape and torture in the past.
So I can't really know where they stand this time, even if it makes me sound like an idiot for asking.
Perhaps what I'd be safer saying is, "I'm calling to ask the Senator to please not support rape and torture and to please vote against rape and torture."
That way I don't have to embarass them by asking whether they're for it or against it.
But I still feel uncomfortable even having to ask a Democratic legislator to oppose rape and torture. Until Bush came into power, I'd always thought that I could count on them to do things like that.
And that is when I realized the truth. Hugo Chavez was absolutely right. Bush is the Devil, nothing more, nothing less.
Only the fact that the Devil is running the country could explain why I'd have to ask my Democratic Senators to oppose rape and torture, and even have to worry about not embarassing or offending them when I do it.
What other explanation could there possibly be?
