Someone who disliked Americans because of Bush's policies would dislike me. They could reasonably ask if my taxes funded his follies. (A reasonable answer would be no one's did, because he did it with borrowed money.) Outside the US I would be lumped in with those who enabled those policies.

Inside the US I could distance myself a little. I didn't vote for him nor did I voice any support for him.

Bush could do what he did because of the people who supported him and enabled his policies. Those people, all of them, share responsibility for what has happened. More responsibility than do I, for instance.

Having said that, I know some very nice people who simply didn't know better, who simply weren't aware. I have several good friends who are Conservative. A part of me feels sorry for a part of them. Ignorant and not seeking to know. We do not discuss politics.

And then there are those who were aware and just didn't care. Some of them glory in the violence, war, and human misery. The Rest Of the World are more or less animals to them, without aspirations, love of family and friends, or devotion to culture. By starving innocent people we somehow "got" Saddam. They didn't care, it was "only" 30,000 or 50,000 children dead. We have a few of those around here. RobVG isn't one.

There are differences in Conservatives. I recognize that. And yet the people who voted for Bush and Cheney, all of them, bear the responsibility for what he's done by being American and voting for him, much as do I for being an American.

Arf