Letter: U.S. no longer beacon of world

Saturday, July 5, 2003 | 2:59 a.m.

What did people of the United States ever do to deserve an administration that is 10 steps to the right of Attila the Hun and less intelligent? One possible explanation: We did it to ourselves. As Pogo's cartoon general used to say, "We've met the enemy and he is us."

We let a coalition of multimillionaires select a bunch of conservative Republicans, sponsor their election campaigns and supply them with limitless funds for propaganda, slander and gossip.

Few of us have time to ferret out truth from fiction in political campaigns, so we were suckers for their lies. Now we are stuck with these lackeys of the rich who are interested chiefly in reducing their taxes and controlling their global oil and other investments.

Following World War II, the world looked up to us. We were the ideal democracy, a land of free, generous people who helped other people with their nation-building. We led in organizing the United Nations, UNESCO, NATO, WHO, the Marshall Plan, Eisenhower's People to People movement, Peace Corps, etc.

Our agricultural universities taught countries how to feed their people using our methods of agricultural research and teaching. Annual famines no longer occur in Bangladesh and India as one result of this teaching.

We were the example and hope of humanity for a more civilized world. Then we allowed these mean spirited, self-anointed "compassionate" conservatives to get control of our government and set peace progress back over 50 years. Not even we want to be like us anymore.

PAUL GWIN