American Mythology

There is a great deal of mythology happening in the American public discourse. Any reasoned and logical analysis of the kinds of political arguments being made these days would have to conclude that the most commonly held beliefs held by people and promulgated by those who stand to benefit from them are mythological rather than factual.

Here's a long list of mythological theories held by huge segments of the population:

• "Bush lied" - complete myth promulgated by the anti-war crowd, continuing in spite of direct evidence to the contrary.
• Bush, Cheney, Rove, et al broke the law by exposing the name of Valerie Plame.
  
• High oil prices are because of some Bush/Cheney scheme to enrich their buddies in the oil business.
• Illegal immigrants do jobs Americans won't do.
• Raising the minimum wage to $6 or $6.50 would wreck the economy.
• There are no anti-trust violations in corporate America, or mega-monopolistic corporations aren't a problem.
• Tax cuts only benefited the "rich".
• Network and NY Times reporting is fair and unbiased.
• Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats.
• Democrats are more fiscally responsible than Republicans.
• The US Senate is in touch and cares about what's best for their consituents.
• Republicans are more corrupt than Democrats.
• Right-wing conservatives want to make the US a theocracy.
• Democrats have a plan for victory in Iraq and the War on Terror.
• Bush has no plan for victory in Iraq and the War on Terror.
• There were no WMD in Iraq.
• If we just stop "meddling" in the middle east, the terrorists will become our friends, or at least leave us alone.
• The Iranian nuclear threat is Bush's fault.
• The Iranian nuclear threat is Clinton's fault.
• The North Korean nuclear threat is Bush's fault.
• The French, Germans, Russians, and Chinese are our friends.
• The French, Germans, Russians, and Chinese would be our friends if it wasn't for Bush.
• Government deficits exist because the rich aren't taxed enough.
• 9/11 was an "inside job".
• All conservatives are racists or fascists.
• All liberals are communists.
• Prisoners in Iraq and Gitmo are routinely tortured by American troops under the direction of the Bush administration.
  
• Abortion is a fundamental human right, not infanticide.
• It's not possible to secure the borders.
• It's not possible to enforce laws against employers hiring illegal immigrants.
• Politicians refust to solve the illegal immigration problem because they care about the welfare of immigrants.
• The Supreme Court makes all decisions strictly on interpretation of U.S. law and the constitution.
• American "war criminal" troops routinely murder, rape, and loot innocent Iraqis.
  
• Bush "stole" both his elections for President.
• Colleges and Universities are havens for diversity of thought and freedom of expression of all ideas and philosophies.
• The NY Times has the right to publish details of classified intelligence programs to expose a president that has overreached his powers, even if such publication damages efforts to protect the country from terrorist attack.
• Congressmen aren't beholden to big special-interest donors, and don't pass or block legislation to favor those who help keep them in office. Such as coporate interests, foreign interests (China), trade unions, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, banks and investment firms, environmental organizations, George Soros, etc.
  

And these were just off the top of my head.