McCain and Palin have resorted to the most outlandish accusations, baseless and absurd. Their true believers go along with this circus, but I hope no independent, thinking person buys this garbage. A couple of years ago, John McCain and Barack Obama could easily have cooperated on certain pieces of legislation, or at least had a civil disagreement. Now McCain accuses Obama of "socialism," as though we were living in the 1950s, afraid of the Red bogeyman. Obama is about as socialist as Alan Greenspan! His rhetoric, his proposals, his record are all mainstream, moderate, and no more "socialist" than anything or anyone else in the US. Is Medicare or Medicaid socialist? Are farm subsidies socialist? Is the bailout socialist? Is McCain's proposal to buy up bad mortgages and refinance them for the homeowners socialist? Is Social Security socialist? Come on, Sen. McCain.
Many right-wing radio hosts and Republican operatives (including some in this state) accuse Obama of being the "most liberal" Presidential candidate in this country's history. That is a patent lie, and no one who knows the slightest bit of history could say that with a straight face. These people don't even believe it themselves, trust me: they simply hope that throwing around these labels will scare people. They don't have a leg to stand on. Their party is bankrupt. George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Republican administration in general have finally exposed the GOP as the Greedy Oligarchic Party, the party of utter corporate buyouts and sleaze, the party of aggressive wars on false pretexts. (And yes, there have been Democratic Presidents and legislators guilty of those same sins. But the Democratic Party still has enough true believers, enough true progressives, to not be entirely coated with those stains.)
Now we have Sarah Palin accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists." Why doesn't she accuse George Bush of palling around with terrorist financiers (his buddies in Saudia Arabia)? Why doesn't she accuse John McCain of palling around with lobbyists (he does and has) and beer heiresses? It's all about as relevant and true, maybe more so in fact. Who cares that Obama served on a board with Bill Ayers or had a conversation with him? Bill Ayers, like many former 60s radicals, is nowadays a fully-integrated member of mainstream American society.
And Palin is even more absurd when she speaks of being in "pro American states" and says that in this campaign, Christianity and religion have been mocked. Again, Obama has far more evidence of being an observant, dedicated Christian church-goer than McCain, and he's more in the mainstream of US religious thought and practice than Gov. Palin.
Tell me now, anyone who is still undecided about whom to vote for this November: would you really go to bed confident and secure knowing that Sarah Palin was a heartbeat away from the Presidency? This candidate has little relevant experience, a record of erratic and somewhat fringe behavior, and no demonstrated ability to speak or think for herself on any of the major issues that we face as a nation and a world. If she is informed or intelligent, she is doing a good job of disguising it. After all, her declared constituency is labelled by her as a beer-swizzling ignoramus who probably argues loudly about politics at the bar or the tailgate party and then half the time doesn't even remember to vote. Joe Six Pack is not what our Founding Fathers envisioned as the noble American citizen. Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt or Franklin Roosevelt or Martin Luther King or John F. Kennedy or Dwight Eisenhower addressing "Joe Sixpack"?
If McCain-Palin win this election, I will wash my hands of this American experiment and begin looking for jobs in Canada, Europe . . . or perhaps China, the biggest bank of them all.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Bailout? Yes, we're bailing.
So here we are in the absurdist theatre called 2008. House Republicans who worship the "free market" capitalism that we never had join forces with House Democrats who are skeptical of the Bush Presidency and its support of wealthy malefactors--and both groups are listening to their angry constituents. Finally! Haven't those constituents been trying to tell them for a couple of years now that they disapprove of a foolish, wasteful war; that they want health insurance; that they want politicians to quit meddling with their private lives; that they want everyday people to receive as much attention from their government as millionaires?
Now I wonder if those angry people on the phones will vote out the representatives with their tin ears, those fawning servants of the powerful and wealthy? Will there finally be a mass rejection of incumbents? But in how many districts will there be a good choice? You know my inclination: open up our electoral system to third parties. Create a truly democratic process. For now, all I can suggest is for voters to look past flag pins, fear-mongering, and slick advertising and to examine what candidates say about real issues. Good luck finding a candidate who understands those issues and offers fresh ideas or shows a willingness to stand up for all of us, and for our planet. Whomever we elect, we'd better keep watching them come January. Don't wait for the next crisis to get on the phone or write those letters, or stand in those protest lines.
After eight years of incompetent, secretive, arrogant, corrupt government, don't expect overnight change. It may take another eight years to begin undoing the damage wreaked not only by the Bush administration and four foolish Congresses, but also by the Clinton and Gingrich administration, and Poppa Bush, and the Republican wolf-in-saint's-clothing Ronald Reagan. Remember those flawed but intelligent and principled leaders we once had, including the much-maligned Jimmy Carter (who gets smarter and more courageous every year, unlike John McCain), the tragic Lyndon Johnson (still a better President overall than anyone we've seen lately), the promising John F. Kennedy, the cautious but insightful Dwight Eisenhower, the fiery Harry S. Truman, and the Happy Warrior, FDR, God bless him?
I don't agree with many things that those Presidents did, and our country made many serious missteps during all those decades. But we also established programs for the poor, the middle class, the workers and the farmers; we slowly but surely established rights for all citizens (a basis for such rights in the law, at least); and we struggled to realize the meaning of responsible freedom and to support freedom-loving people around the world. (Usually that support came from non-governmental groups and individuals, not from our fumbling government with its tendency to crawl into bed with dictators.)
The best way to celebrate the values enshrined in our Constitution and to realize the highest potential of humanity is to investigate our history and our present situation with skeptical, critical minds. We must stop letting powerful people and corporations manipulate us. We must stop being Pavlov's dogs, salivating at the sound of the national anthem, blindly saluting those who wear the flag without honoring it, snarling in fear when demagogues wave bloody hunks of meat in front of our noses, telling us "sic 'em!" and pointing at scapegoats. All of us who work hard, believe in honesty and fair play, love our families and our country AND our world must band together. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, humanists, Wiccans, and agnostics; Democrats, Republicans, liberarians, Greens, socialists; men and women; black, white, brown, tan, and beige; urban, suburban, exurban, rural; North, South, East, and West. We are one nation, under the Constitution, dedicated to liberty and justice for all.
So, as we bail out our sinking ship of state and race to plug all the holes, let's not be intimidated into putting dishonest, selfish speculators into the lifeboats. Let's call speculation what it is: gambling with other people's money. Let's call excessive interest what it is: usury. Let's call "surges" and "security measures" and "Operation Freedom" what they are: aggression, naked and unprincipled wars. Let's try steering this ship of state together rather than entrusting it to fools and fearmongers and greedy plutocrats.
Now I wonder if those angry people on the phones will vote out the representatives with their tin ears, those fawning servants of the powerful and wealthy? Will there finally be a mass rejection of incumbents? But in how many districts will there be a good choice? You know my inclination: open up our electoral system to third parties. Create a truly democratic process. For now, all I can suggest is for voters to look past flag pins, fear-mongering, and slick advertising and to examine what candidates say about real issues. Good luck finding a candidate who understands those issues and offers fresh ideas or shows a willingness to stand up for all of us, and for our planet. Whomever we elect, we'd better keep watching them come January. Don't wait for the next crisis to get on the phone or write those letters, or stand in those protest lines.
After eight years of incompetent, secretive, arrogant, corrupt government, don't expect overnight change. It may take another eight years to begin undoing the damage wreaked not only by the Bush administration and four foolish Congresses, but also by the Clinton and Gingrich administration, and Poppa Bush, and the Republican wolf-in-saint's-clothing Ronald Reagan. Remember those flawed but intelligent and principled leaders we once had, including the much-maligned Jimmy Carter (who gets smarter and more courageous every year, unlike John McCain), the tragic Lyndon Johnson (still a better President overall than anyone we've seen lately), the promising John F. Kennedy, the cautious but insightful Dwight Eisenhower, the fiery Harry S. Truman, and the Happy Warrior, FDR, God bless him?
I don't agree with many things that those Presidents did, and our country made many serious missteps during all those decades. But we also established programs for the poor, the middle class, the workers and the farmers; we slowly but surely established rights for all citizens (a basis for such rights in the law, at least); and we struggled to realize the meaning of responsible freedom and to support freedom-loving people around the world. (Usually that support came from non-governmental groups and individuals, not from our fumbling government with its tendency to crawl into bed with dictators.)
The best way to celebrate the values enshrined in our Constitution and to realize the highest potential of humanity is to investigate our history and our present situation with skeptical, critical minds. We must stop letting powerful people and corporations manipulate us. We must stop being Pavlov's dogs, salivating at the sound of the national anthem, blindly saluting those who wear the flag without honoring it, snarling in fear when demagogues wave bloody hunks of meat in front of our noses, telling us "sic 'em!" and pointing at scapegoats. All of us who work hard, believe in honesty and fair play, love our families and our country AND our world must band together. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, humanists, Wiccans, and agnostics; Democrats, Republicans, liberarians, Greens, socialists; men and women; black, white, brown, tan, and beige; urban, suburban, exurban, rural; North, South, East, and West. We are one nation, under the Constitution, dedicated to liberty and justice for all.
So, as we bail out our sinking ship of state and race to plug all the holes, let's not be intimidated into putting dishonest, selfish speculators into the lifeboats. Let's call speculation what it is: gambling with other people's money. Let's call excessive interest what it is: usury. Let's call "surges" and "security measures" and "Operation Freedom" what they are: aggression, naked and unprincipled wars. Let's try steering this ship of state together rather than entrusting it to fools and fearmongers and greedy plutocrats.
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