Every thinker I know is trying to figure out the Bush hate, hatred of the Bush haters, and high voter turnout that engulf us.
I think the division we see in America started to happen in the week of September 12 to September 20 in 2001.
Americans ended up dealing with the suicidal Arab attack on America by either being angry and deciding America must fight back, in line with our heroic Viking tradition, or that we were guilty of something that caused the Arabs to attack us. Guilt translates into the belief that we were being punished.
The guilty Americans have several camps, but they all believe America was the provocateur that brought disaster upon ourselves.
One guilt camp believes that American foreign policy, for decades, must have been so heinous that it provoked the Arab attack. Susan Sontag and Noam Chomsky are the most outspoken critics who belong to that camp.
Another guilt camp believes that America is a fallen nation -- fallen into sin. Pat Robertson was prominent in this camp; he believes we have fallen and are being punished by God for our rampant homosexuality and sinful abortions.
Other camps are variations on these two themes. Claims of American arrogance are widespread, with evidence offered in the statement that all the people in the world now hate us. The guilt takes many forms, often personal; the guilt is always directed in the form of hatred toward President Bush.
I have long assumed that the hate Bush and the hatred of Bush haters were tied to some deeply buried emotion. I now think it is tied to individual reaction to the Arab attack on America. We reacted either with anger or guilt. President Bush has become the vehicle for expressing our profound emotions on this historic event. Bush is patriot or tyrant.