Well, I feel sort of offended by this post from a friend of mine. I can't equate "Bush hating" with fanaticism. I'm not a Free/Open Source fanatic... I see the pros/cons of both sides and use only what suits me at the moment. As much maligned as IE is, for an example, it's recent shot in the arm of security (from XP SP2) puts it in line with Firefox as far as basic security is concerned and major exploits post-SP2 are usually user error (which I would argue most exploits before SP2 were still user error, but there were the definite "magic self installers" out there, too).
But as for Bush, maybe it is fanatical to love my country, but is it fanatical to complain when you think someone is damaging your country and offending your morals? Is that fanaticism?
I hate Bush because he is damaging the country. Him and his PNAC buddies/owners are doing irreperable harm to the country by tearing down some of the good international policies our forefathers fought hard to get in place, by ignoring the Geneva Convention, by deciding that "for the good of the country" (read: "for the good of corporate interests") that the United States must be engaged in an endless war...
I hate Bush because he represents some of the worst of Christian bigotry. Am I a fanatic for believing, as the forefathers did, that there should be a seperation of Church and State? Am I fanatic for not being a "religious fanatic"? Am I fanatic for being offended by the way Bush throws the word "God" around like pennies or the way Bush acts like he's the second coming?
In my few short years on this small planet I feel ashamed by the amount of state-sponsored bigotry that exists now more than I can ever recall. I feel ashamed that a large lesson in Democracy was lost to the Conservatives this election... The fact that the Liberals were almost nearly exactly half of the populace this last election does not mandate that the Liberals should move to the center. It says that it is the job of the Conservatives to move to the center. I would say, if anything, those that don't see that lesson of Democracy, don't understand Democracy and are the true fanatics of this situation. I just can't escape the depressing feeling that those who don't really understand and love this country (no matter how often they say they do) are damning this country to oblivion. That's not fanaticism, fanaticism is a fervent love of something, that's depression and feelings of oppression, which if anything are the opposite of fanaticism.