It seems that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has challenged George Bush to a televised debate on world issues. I think this is a very good idea, and not necessarily for the reasons you might think.

Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters

The American President serves as a figurehead for the citizenry he was elected to represent, so why shouldn't he be required to defend the United States, its views and policies in a globally public forum? Why shouldn't he - and by extension we - be called to task for the myopic, self-centered, self-serving beliefs and motives that drive this country's every move?

Thanks to the Patriot Act and a variety of legislation and policies that the government hides from the general populace in obfuscation and deliberate deception, the American people in practice enjoy but a pale facsimile of the freedom we so vociferously try to peddle around the world. But we've done it to ourselves. If nothing else, the current administration proved its brilliance at manipulating the fear of the people to get them to lay down their liberties like offerings. And it's not just civil liberties the majority of the U.S. population has seemed so eager to sacrifice. Environment, education, health care, sound economic policy - the list is long - and all examples of things that are lost when people are manipulated into voting against their own best interests.

I think those of us with progressive ideals, thoughtful world views, a belief that other ideologies may be equally as valid as our own, and that this planet is here for everyone to share are an ever-dwindling minority among the citizens of the United States. What we like to comfort ourselves by seeing as the right-wing, fundie, lunatic fringe is quickly becoming the majority with the decision-making power, on the basis of the size of their voting blocks alone if nothing else. And whether we want to accept it or not, it's becoming increasingly likely that the administration we love to hate actually does represent a majority of the American populace.

Personally, I can't stand the sound of George Bush's voice, and we all know that whenever he opens his mouth in public it's to spew some pre-prepared neo-con propaganda. And while I do believe that sovereign nations have every right to pursue new energy technologies that will reduce the entire world's consumption of non-renewable resources, I'm not so naive to think that Iran is a pillar of virtue. So I'll concede that the possibility for any debate between the two countries to be authentic is, well, debatable. But believe me, I think it would be illuminating indeed for an American President to be put on the defensive for once, especially when so much of his administration's activity over the past few years has been indefensible.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:13 PM