Trying to follow Conservatives' logic makes my head hurt. It tends to flow like this. If you have an apple but eat a banana instead, you're anti-orange. There was a comment by a reader in today's USA Today that was all Fox News type rhetoric. Which means it sounded like he was trying to make point, but just repeated keywords from Right-Wing talking points. I can distill his comments to; “Iraq War” “protesters” “anti-American.” He asks where protesters, whom he calls “political leftists,” were when Saddam was brutalizing his own people.

Sorry, Sparky. I hate to break it to you, but Saddam's human rights abuses were well documented by such “leftist” organizations as Amnesty International and the Red Cross. Using your argument, I'm forced to wonder where the United States' indignation and willingness to wage war was during the twenty some-odd years Saddam was an American ally, during which time he (surprise!) brutalized his own people?

The title of this missive was “Why Not Protest Dictators?” Well, as a simple re-direct, let's ask “Why not wage war on dictators?” Who do you think is documenting the human rights abuses of the world's dictators? The Pentagon? Sorry, Charlie. If the dictator is an ally, we look the other way. Until they do something that gets coverage and those “political leftists” raise hell. Then we'll file a formal protest to cover our asses until it goes away. Or the President might even say during a speech at a fund-raising dinner, “The United States does not condone the use of [insert human rights abuse here].” But the Conservatives will not want to lift a finger to stop it, much less go to war. As long as business is good, all is forgiven.

Don't believe me? When Clinton went after Milosevic, what did we hear from the Conservatives? “Wag the dog!” When he sent troops into Somalia? “No war for Monica!” Where was all this Conservative outrage when the Tutsi invaders of Rwanda murdered between one and a half and two million people? Where was it when Mugabe started killing people and taking their land in Zimbabwe? Where was it when Clinton went after Al Qeada and told the CIA to kill Osama bin Laden “in any way feasible”?

Saddam Hussein's biggest mistake was deciding to switch from trading Iraqi oil in U.S. dollars to trading it in euros. That would have hurt Americam business interests. Before the invasion of Iraq by the United States, the only enemies Saddam Hussein had on the world stage were those “political leftists.”

This person is a good example of why I fear for my country. We live in an era in which millions of Americans are engaged in faith-based politics. By that, I don't mean religious people whose political ideology is shaped by their faith. But rather I mean people whose politics is their religion, whose prophets are their party's political leaders, and whose views of the world are shaped by the unyielding doctrine of the zealot. It is not about fact, history or reality. It is about Belief.

They are spoon-fed the acceptable political ideology by the masters of this religion. The lessons are reinforced by repetition on the officially sanctioned media outlets, and they are brainwashed into believing that anyone who disagrees with their indoctrination is their enemy and the enemy of their country. A “political leftist,” if you will, whose only goal is to lead them astray and into the arms of Satanism, Humanism, Liberalism, Communism, and any other “ism” that might apply.

How do you reason with such people? Well, you don't. You can deprogram an individual who has fallen under the spell of a certain cult's ideology. But how do you reprogram a culture? A group of millions?

That is why I fear for my country. You cannot open a dialogue with religious zealots. Without dialogue, there is conflict. And when their is conflict between nations, there is often war.