By: Denise Coleman

My dear friend Yvette in Canada reminded me today that we are still young, and that we will live to see justice one day. Her words are as follows: “We are young and we will live to see the trials. Sometimes justice isn't as swift as we would like but it will come. Look at how they are still prosecuting people for their crimes from WWII.” Of course, she also wrote,”I can't even look at the news or really truly comprehend the whole voting system - thank God for Elections Canada. I was hoping so fervently that a lying liar with a messiah complex wouldn't be what people wanted. For myself, I have told my husband that I won't step foot in the US until this is over. I'm so sorry that it is going to get so much worse before it gets better but the Republicans won't be able to blame anybody but themselves so there has to be some comfort in that....” So, as you can see, the Canadians are not very happy about the outcome of the election either!

Now for those of you who left messages on my answering machine in the last two days saying that you want to move to another country, such as Canada, I have a few thoughts which I feel uniquely suited to share. I lived in Canada for 9 years. I know what a wonderful country Canada is – the true north is a land of real liberty and my Canadian sisters and brothers (you know who you are on this list) are some of the best human beings in the world. Canada consistently ranks higher than the United States on the United Nations Human Development Index as the “best country in the world to live.” (FYI: The UNHD Index is calculated on the basis of economic development as well as social and cultural development factors such as human rights and the position of women and minorities.) Canada was truly good to me and I look back only with joy and a gracious heart to the “true north strong and free” (the Canadians will recognize the words from their national anthem.). If you must leave the country to escape the Bush insanity, Canada would be my recommended destination. In saying that, it pains to realize that whereas the US was the destination for those seeking to escape persecution, so many are seeking to escape the US because it has become the site of the tyranny of the (supposed) right-wing majority.

In addition to Canada, I have traveled to over 75 countries and I have spent most of my life in other people’s nations and among other cultures. I am the consummate immigrant who ended up in the United States because I was attracted to the American dream of possibility and the spirit of optimism. Whereas most of you on this list look at the USA and see your mother country, for me, it the country I fell in love with. Right now, the country and I are, well, “having problems” to use relationship jargon. I don’t recognize this country right now. To continue the relationship jargon, I feel as if the country I fell in love with is going through its “jerk stage.” So now I have to decide if I want to bail and move on, or, stand and fight for it.

The truth is that the American dream is not a specific destination; the American dream is the vision and ethos that drives us. When I first saw the words emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty – that very statue that my husband’s Irish and Italian forefathers saw as they first landed on US soil generations ago, I understood what it meant: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” THIS is America. All this talk about values by people who voted for George Bush will never change the fact that real values are grounded in the care, comfort and compassion for the most wretched of our brothers and sisters. And incidentally… that’s the thrust of Christianity as well. The so-called heartland of America that Bush talks about often forgets that the fringe of ! ! the coastlines where immigrants have landed for generations gave this country its soul. The pejorative language of “Massachusetts liberals” tossed about by Bush throughout the campaign forgets that Massachusetts is the birthplace of the American tradition of liberty – that same “liberty” Bush is so fond of talking about. It is the locus of the movement to freedom and independence from colonialism.

To the person who dared send me another one of those insane maps of “red” America with fringes of “blue” today with a triumphant text attached, I say this: YOU do not get to relegate those of us with the historic view of liberty to the fringes. You Republicans have bullied us into the ground one time too many. You are the same people who demonized a Massachusetts liberal who put his life on the line for this country and called into question his honor. No, you are the ones who have gone off the deep end believing that freedom and liberty are words by which we compel others to fall into line. And in so doing, we can pretend the Talibanization of American culture is not really happening. And one more thing about that red and blue map of America – for the love of God, please try to consider population distribution is not really illuminated in a geographic representation of the electoral map.

We are in for the fight of our lives as the country descends into pseudo-fascism (and anyone who cannot see that is not paying attention). Fascism occurred insidiously in Europe and fascists were democratically elected. The majority believed their fear mongering narrative. Fascism was defeated by a coalition of the entire international community. Today’s pseudo-fascism will have to be defeated with a similar sense of conscience by the international community. A first step was the declaration by a Canadian Member of Parliament who said yesterday that the US was out of step with the rest of the free world. The fight to take back America starts at home but it extends across the borders. I implore those of you living internationally to continue to speak out against the horrendous foreign policy of the United States. But more importantly, I implore my fellow Americans to stand and fight. The first Civil Rights Movement went on even though MLK was killed. Adversity cannot kill or stop the objective to restore the American dream -- the REAL American dream, which is more than bombs over Baghdad cloaked in a blood-soaked American flag.

Denise Coleman is editor of a geopolitical intelligence service. Send her your feedback at denisecoleman11@yahoo.com .