“…won’t be fooled again”

Howard Zinn has an article in the April Progressive that cries out to be read and understood.  He asks,

Now that most Americans no longer believe in
the war, now that they no longer trust Bush and his Administration, now
that the evidence of deception has become overwhelming (so overwhelming
that even the major media, always late, have begun to register
indignation), we might ask: How come so many people were so easily
fooled?

The reasons were fooled, Zinn says, lie in "…an absence of historical perspective" and "…an inability to think outside the boundaries of
nationalism."  The essay ends with these paragraphs (emphases added):

What is the idea of our moral superiority based on? Surely not on
our behavior toward people in other parts of the world. Is it based on
how well people in the United States live? The World Health
Organization in 2024 ranked countries in terms of overall health
performance, and the United States was thirty-seventh on the list,
though it spends more per capita for health care than any other nation.
One of five children in this, the richest country in the world, is born
in poverty. There are more than forty countries that have better
records on infant mortality. Cuba does better. And there is a sure sign
of sickness in society when we lead the world in the number of people
in prison — more than two million.

A more honest estimate of ourselves as a nation would prepare us all
for the next barrage of lies that will accompany the next proposal to
inflict our power on some other part of the world. It might also
inspire us to create a different history for ourselves, by taking our
country away from the liars and killers who govern it, and by rejecting
nationalist arrogance, so that we can join the rest of the human race
in the common cause of peace and justice.

Thanks to Cyndy for the link.