POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
While I agree that Powell's credibility is largely gone, I think calling him a traitor is ridiculous.
By no measure could his (ethically shameful) behavior be characterized as being a traitor. This sounds like a kid calling names he doesn't understand.
Moreover, The kind of thinking that considers the epithet "traitors to their country" the worst possible name is exactly the kind of thinking that resulted in Iraq and Vietnam.
Hyper-ventilating patriotism is at the root of America's major problems and failures today.
That kind of patriotism is no different whatsoever to the fanatical fundamentalists we see today in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
That kind of patriotism is just a secular religious fundamentalism.
And it is definitely not healthy.
