By now, you've likely already read what Adam and Chris have to say about the execution of Osama bin Laden. Here's my co-worker Kai Wright on the perverse logic that our country's commitment to violence is what makes us great:
President Obama is the leader of a nation in which justice is but a distant dream for millions of residents. He leads a nation that can afford billions of dollars annually for war but cannot feed the nearly 18 million children who lived in homes without food security in 2009. And yet, the Nobel Peace Prize winner can fix his mouth to say that killing a man on the other side of the globe provides proof of America's exceptionalism.
The gap between rhetoric and reality has long been a defining trait of American life. Lies about our values have shielded us from the brutal facts of our nation ever since we built it on the back of genocide and slavery. But it is in times like these that the dissonance becomes unbearable.
Among many things, I think this points to an important domestic issue for us. While the jury is still out on the degree to which bin Laden will be martyred by some extremists in the Middle East, we're still left with the uncomfortable reality that right here at home we've created a police state for any Muslim Americans. And, quite frankly, this sudden spurt of nationalism frightens me.
