America's image in the world has been in a steady decline ever since the U.S. government's attack on Iraq and the subsequent launching of the War on Terror. Numerous world polls indicate that even European countries have lost a great deal of respect for the U.S. And most damaging of all is a growing world opinion that America has become an aggressor nation.

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America's image in the world has been in a steady decline ever since the U.S. government's attack on Iraq and the subsequent launching of the War on Terror. Numerous world polls indicate that even European countries have lost a great deal of respect for the U.S. And most damaging of all is a growing world opinion that America has become an aggressor nation.

America's two distinctly different faces, or what might be called it dual personality, is reminiscent of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel of the 1880's, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in which a well-respected doctor is transformed into the cruel, remorseless Mr. Hyde.

Dr. Henry Jekyll was a well-respected physician in Scotland, a seemingly very normal person but one who, unbeknownst to his patients, friends and acquaintances, was struggling with a condition involving dual personalities; he was battling between the good and evil within himself. 

Jekyll, in trying to suppress the evil urges within him created a serum, or potion, that he thought would alleviate the condition. However, it did not work as planned and, in fact, gave birth to the violent Mr. Hyde. What follows is a constant struggle when one or the other personalities emerge in given situations. In the end, as the potion becomes less and less effective, Hyde grows in power and Jekyll realizes that he will become Hyde forever.

We might think of the U.S. government of decades ago as the respected and distinguished Dr. Jekyll. At some point, somewhere in the early 1960's, the U.S. government began to develop an overly aggressive persona that clashed with its previous relatively peaceful state. At that time, unbeknownst to many Americans, a struggle was being waged between these two elements of the government; as we now know, those who possessed the war mentality won out and thereafter dictated this nation's policies and actions that led to a long succession of wars and military actions and the building of a military empire.

This Hyde war mentality does strange things to the minds of many of those who run this country's machinery of war. They have convinced themselves that all the wars since World War II that they have initiated are all entirely justified. But they could not be more wrong because in no way can they even begin to try to justify the wars against Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan in the same way as the war against the Axis Powers -- unquestionably the last honorable war in which America was involved.

Jekyll is illustrative of that side of America that created the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Social Security and Medicare; that gave women the right to vote, and passed the Civil Rights Act; the America that led the world to victory in World War II, put a man on the moon and created the internet.

On the Hyde, or dark side of America, nefarious elements of this government are at work attacking our Constitution and our democracy, condoning and promoting the use of the NSA to spy on American citizens and world leaders; they are those that not long ago initiated cruel forms of torture at the horrendous Abu Grahib prison in Iraq; that used water boarding on suspected terrorists, that used renditions, i.e., "the practice of abducting and transferring terrorism suspects to foreign countries known to employ torture for the purpose of interrogation."

Here's the latest example of the Hyde side of America by which international law is being violated time and again by the launching of drones that wreak havoc on other nations, and innocent men, women and children, as the article says, are being "obliterated." That's Hyde at work.

Hyde can be thought of as the right wing conservative whackos that pollute this government and the airwaves, spewing their hatred, bigotry and disdain for this nation's minorities. The Hydes of America do not want universal health care for all Americans; they are those in Republican controlled states that have refused to accept Medicaid assistance from the government and, therefore, will allow millions of Americans to go without medical coverage which will, in many cases, lead to early death.

We see Hyde's personality emerge in the Republican's latest budget submission that does the following: balances the government budget on the backs of the American people by cutting, over the next 10 years, $2.1 trillion out of health care subsidies and coverage under the Affordable Care Act, $732 billion cuts in Medicaid, $1 trillion in cuts to programs such as food stamps, Pell grants for students, and federal assistance for education and health research.

While this mindless, twisted GOP budget would make steep cuts to Medicaid that would drive many millions of Americans out of this critically important program, including senior citizens unable to care for themselves, the disabled and children in low income families, it would increase military spending and provide large tax cuts for millionaires.

Just think about the massive destruction that this budget will rain down on this society; it's certainly not a budget based on moral, rational thinking but, rather the work of sociopaths; the Hydes who inhabit this government and can readily be identified by their pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others, their clear disdain for people who are different from themselves; we hear the insults and put downs directed against the women of America, the open racism and bigotry, and the callous disregard for the poor of America.

The Hyde mentality is deeply embedded in the U.S. Congress. Just think about the mental state of those "representatives" of the American people who are fighting against any and all attempts to better the lives of their fellow Americans. The U.S. Senate is about to defeat legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Every attempt to extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who are out of work has been defeated; the creation of new jobs critically needed to fuel this economy and to halt the deterioration of the middle class has been taken off the table.

Are the people of America even listening to what goes on in this Congress? Can't they recognize the twisted behavior of the many sociopaths that are so adversely affecting this country? Apparently not because in poll after poll we hear that the Republicans are poised to handily win the November 2014 elections; that they have a 60% chance to retain and even increase their control of the House and also take control of the Senate? What's wrong with the American people? Are they gluttons for punishment or what?

All these important initiatives that the vast majority of the American people strongly support are totally rejected by the craven Republicans and spineless Democrats that refuse to fight for them. America may still considered to be one of the developed nations of the world, at least for the time being, but it is one that is governed by a Third World legislative institution.

It's not just the nations of the world that see the Hyde side of America in control. More and more the citizens of this country are watching as their government increases its surveillance over its own people; they watch as provisions of the Constitution are violated or diluted all in the name of the safety of the people; they see their democracy under attack by the government/corporate consortium whose objectives are in direct opposition to those of the people. The trust between the government and the people is at an all time low and the people feel betrayed.

What will it take to remove this Hyde mentality from this government and return America to a position of trust and respect in the world? We have no serum or magic potion by which to do this. We only have the massive power of the people if we can find some way to shake it out of its dormant state.

Or to put it another way, and much more bluntly; what's it going to take for a large portion of the American people to, at the very least, get off their butts and turn out to vote? What so many Americans can't seem to comprehend is that the more they stay away from the polls and refuse to vote, the more we will see the Hyde side of America solidify its control over this nation.

Michael Payne