I haven’t felt much like posting of late. Every time I think I might want to write about the many currents of national or local politics, I start to circle the drain thinking about just how low the state of our republic has been brought.
We are stuck in orbit about a giant black hole of putrescent denial, tidally locked to this giant sucking center of political dysfunction. We are stranded, unable to break free from this dead star of ethical and moral decay. We seem not even to recognize our plight, even though the utter nullity at the heart of our national politics has brought us so low that we have allowed the Bush Administration and the GOP to torture people, to violate our constitutional rights without even a fig leaf of legality, and to murder and maim innocent Iraqis in spectacular numbers so that we needn’t face our own folly. We can’t address the shameful attractor at the bottom of our national psyche because we can’t even stand to look in the mirror for fear of
what we’ll see there.
The GOP are eating the their own as they try not to face reality. Ron Paul makes a statement as unobjectionable as it was unoriginal about the blowback responsible for precipitating the contemptible crime of 9/11, and his party wants to crucify him. It’s not because they don’t share his view, but because any rational examination of the past 6 years will start to unravel the emperor’s clothes, and nobody wants to see the result of that. So the GOP primary will become a contest to see who can grunt most threateningly and throw his feces the furthest.
Democrats are little better; our elected officials seem inveterately unable to take a principled stand on anything, craving only a prolongation of their power, as if power was given to them by the American people for no reason, and carried no mandate to act. First impeachment, the constitutional remedy for a President who has lost all confidence of the people and Congress, is timorously taken off the table. Now it seems any principled stand on removing our troops from Iraq is being bargained away. Rather than paying what little political price there may be to do what the majority of Americans want done, we are going to compromise on the one thing for which there should be no compromise. So the Democratic primary has become a contest to see who can ignore the giant sucking black hole, or, failing that, notice only that all the light seems to be fading, as the black hole devours it all, and suggest that perhaps we need to turn on another light.
So, I feel sick. Sick at heart. I’m looking for hope. I’m going to read Al Gore’s new book this week, but I don’t expect it will make me feel any better to know that the one guy who isn’t afraid to point out the corruption at the heart of our current situation and call it foul, still says he won’t run for President. Anyone for an Arizona Draft Gore committee out there?
UPDATE: Grijalva just announced that he will be voting against the Iraq War Supplemental. Thank him. He’s one of the few, the proud, the head free of rectum.
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Let me tell you a story about a meeting of the Legislative District 26 Democrats in 2003 before the election. I had not attended for a while and sat in the front row behind a table as over 100 elected precinct committeeman -woman sat in attendance. I thought we were going to discuss the issues that faced us here in Pima County and Southern Arizona as well as around the world.
The whole meeting was all about Bush! Bush! Bush!
I sat there in amazement thinking we are going to sacrifice every Democratic Value that our Party has stood for from F.D.R. to Truman to Keenedy and the many programs that were started and many that were never finished from health care to social security and just sit here and talk about Bush?
We need to take the spotight away from him and come up with a New Contract for America that won the Republicans 15 years of support by the American Public, showing what we as a once great party once stood for!
Here I must cast some blame on Gov. Dean and some Progressives who tried to get it all done at once turning the Democratic Party inside out!
Go back to The Basics;talk about what made Democrats proud to be Democrats; and forget about all these issues that everyone has a diffent opinion on from all parties!
At this time in our History we need National Security that is real security at home and abroad, not just a bunch of words and we need to shift the debate back from the rights of terrorists and illegal immigrants to the Tax Paying Legal Citizen who must pay for all that crap!
We need a living wage and fair trade agreements that support the American Workers! That includes fines on companies that move to China dumping the American Workers.
I see no need for new laws across the board just enforce the laws now on the books.
The war against radical Islam is a 100 year plus war that is not going to be won by any ground army from any nation.
As surveys show 25% of the four Million people who are worshipers of Islam in the United States today said they would commit Jihad to protect there religion.
Our Founding Fathers came to this land to escape religion and the King of England.
When my ancestors came to America in 1492 they did not come here for the benefits they came for the freedoms ; as did the migrants who came here in the 1890’s! They came with the promise of no social security or medicare as there was none but to leave there country behind and start a proud new future learning english and working for a united America not the creation of there homeland all over again.
We Americans must decide who we are first and foremost; loyal to each other not to a left or right viewpoint!
I am as disheartened as Michael. I don’t see a way out either. But today, on a daytime TV show, I saw something that gave me some hope. I don’t watch daytime TV, except for CSpan. Today, I watched a show on ABC, “The View” where Joy Beshaar (sp?) came with a page of points about Bush and the catastrophes of this administration. One of the other panelists is Rosie O’Donnell and another is Elizabeth (didn’t catch her last name) who is a hard-core Bush apologist. Well, friends, there on daytime TV, in the US of A the fur flew!!!!! I think there are some videos around and you should watch. So, why did that encourage me? Well, if things are so bad that the participant in a daytime TV show (Joy) would come with a bill of particulars against the administration – well, may not be enough but, to me, it is huge!!!
Michael,
It would take a massive populist movement to turn this around and, I’m sad to say that I don’t expect one.
I lived in the south throughout the civil rights era. And I saw what happened, man, that’s all I can tell you. I was a little kid at the time. We didn’t talk about “the movement” at school and my parents certainly couldn’t explain it to me. What I saw, completely on my own, was that a generation was willing to die so that there would be a future in this country for their children. And, visionary leaders like Martin Luther King might come around maybe every hundred years or so.
We have none of that, Michael. But, I share your sorrow.
Believe it or not, there are already 3 Draft Gore groups in AZ, according to this site:
http://www.algore.org/get_involved/gore_groups
I agree with much of what you said, Mike. I’m disgusted with the Democratic leadership for backing down on Iraq, completely and utterly disgusted. And I’m angry at Jimmy Carter for backtracking; what he said was absolutely right. I know the deal about former presidents not critizing the current administration, but sorry, when the ship’s going down, protocal should go out the window. This country desperately needs the members of the Democratic party to stand up and show some courage.
So I guess the big question remains, what do you we do about it?
I understand; I cried last night watching Gore’s interview; I cried out of desperation. Let’s start one, Mike!
Yes, Michael, all you need to do is date a black woman…. wonder if you wife would approve! 🙂
At first, I want to say your style is so cool. but I want to say your should change your heart. it is sick and my friends on EbonyFriendws.com hope you will change.