Cornel West - "Democracy Matters Are Frightening in Our Time" 2

The ugly events of 9/11 should have been an opportunity for national self-scrutiny. In the wake of the shock and horror of those attacks, many asked the question, why do they hate us? But the country failed to engage in a serious, sustained, deeply probing examination of the possible answers to that question. Instead, the leaders of the Bush administration encouraged us to adopt the simplistic and aggressive "with us or against us" stance and we ran roughshod over our allies, turning a deaf ear to any criticisms of the course of action the Bush leadership had determined to take. We have been unwilling - both at this critical juncture and throughout our history - to turn a sufficiently critical eye on own behavior in the world. We have often behaved in an overbearing, imperial, hypocritical manner as we have attained more and more power as a hegemon.

Our hypocritical, bullying behavior in regard to so many of the regions of the world is surely not the only reason for the 9/11 attacks - and it certainly doesn't justify those horribly callous, violent terrorist acts - but we have failed to even consider deeply as a culture the role of our imperialist behavior has played in the contempt we have inspired in so much of the world. The Bush administration's abuse of power both at home and in unilaterally invading Iraq and waging a campaign of lies have now provoked an intense scrutiny, and this scrutiny needs to dig deeper than throwing angry barbs at the Bush's administration's policies. We've got to reconnect with the energies of a deep democratic tradition in America and reignite them.

-pg. 12-13 of Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Dr. Cornel West

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