We Are In Danger
History and the wisdom it dispenses is a bulwark against tyranny. But presently, the knowing distraction from knowledge and history is preventing the wisdom they produce from being dispensed and thus we continue our march backward, almost like a ball having reached its apogee descending back through the same air in which it once it so splendidly rose.
We are on the verge of a civil war between the states of conscience, between the darker parts of our nature and the higher ones we claim to aspire to. And while it may be true that the most virulent hate is in the relative minority, like a cancer, all that is required to swamp the host is a small seed. And without history, without humility, without ponderation, we become nothing but (with apologies to John Steinbeck) hate covered with skin.
The McCain campaign is exploiting this dead-end pursuit in its vainglorious quest for power and even as quests for power go this one cannot succeed beyond its goal of winning because it has to devour itself to live. Like the fatally fixated Republican strategists have so clearly demonstrated, they are adept at winning but dismal at governing. And after years of unheeded and regularly derided prognostications about the colossal failures of the Bush administration's activities -- all of which have turned out to be true -- it would be a mistake to ignore what our primal senses are telling us now, indeed screaming out:
We are in real danger.
When the signs are unmistakable in the form of a now global economic crisis, the looming potential of further exploitation in the name of bald power acquisitions that imperil our energy, our food, our environment, our health, our souls, all brought on by the calculated missteps of the bullying Bush administration, why should we be surprised to see eruptions of similar but scaled down depravity in the form of reckless hate mongering courtesy of the mad Contessa Palin and the man who makes a mockery of heroism, John McCain? When crowds are stirred up with an eye toward political and social havoc, you have what the Nazis did only half as well as how Karl Rove does it now. He's learned well from history and knows that when evil is backed into a corner victory can only be achieved with blood and dishonor. And we know where that leads. Not only are we all in danger; it is the man who we hope to lead us who is in danger. Yes.
And so we must not be cavalier as we watch it all happening again. There are no more sidelines, no more buffers. We are seeing how capably evil can be discharged and feeling its toxic effects. And we know what could come next. We fear it but we know it. And we must therefore stir the consciences and the actions of all those who wish to preserve, protect and defend America from the cancer amassing, indeed being cultivated by ideological dead-enders and their lost legion of followers.
Or, as history has shown many times, it is over.
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their power comes from the talk radio monopoly-
GOP= PARTY OF LIMBAUGH
If Obama wins, the Republicans will use this ACORN non-controversy to say his presidency is illegitimate or to contest the election. They are already using it as an excuse to purge valid newly registered voters from the roles in several states. The byproduct of the US attorney purge. Maybe a few blew the whistle but how many are in place that were more than willing to go along with Karl Rove's plan to ensure a permanent Republican majority?
If McCain wins, the Democrats may have a majority in Congress but don't forget how many are Bush Dog Dems and centrists that have been going along with the Republicans since 2006. Besides Bush & Cheney already pushed the power of the Executive to a new level, basically declaring it above all of our laws including the Constitution. McCain and Palin will revel in that power and find new ways of abusing it.
When Bush "won" reelection, there was a part of me that thought...
I should have left when it first occured to me as well. Unfortunately, I continued to believe that justice would prevail.
You keep thinking, 'it' won't really happen here. And then you realize, 'it's' been happening well past the time you first realized it was. Hell I should have left in the 80's if I wanted to really play it safe.
Paraphrasing Churchill (only slightly).
...The enemy is either at under your heel or at your throat.
Some people are beyond reasoning, and the Republican base comprises these people, almost entirely. They simply need to be fought and defeated.
the republican base left the party long ago.
r3VOLution!
Perhaps the saddest part of what we have seen transpire in leading up to this election is the influence of Christian fundamentalism. You would think that the influence of religion of any kind would soften or enoble the race for the Presidendency. But as we all know, it has the exact opposite effect and instead has increased the divisions and intolerance of one another's ideas.
When fully one half of the America people demonize their neighbors simply because they think differently about how we should be governed, then you have truly stepped into a very dark landscape. it is time for church leaders to worry more about our hearts and souls and less about war and taxes.
Only when it is dark enough can we see the stars. For every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. It may have required forty years of delusion, fear, doubt, and a culminating wakeup call in 2008 for us to slingshot into the future. In other words, flawed rule has pulled us back and from that built up energy of being held back through wedge issues, we will realize the energy to unify and go forward, once we finally let go of the divisive and harmful past that the McCain campaign symbolizes.
Lastly, the 60s might have shocked America into a forty-year dreamscape and we are now waking up from our deep slumber. Think about all that happened during that decade. It is no wonder America took a sedative and went to sleep. The 60s were too traumatic to the aggregate conscious, we had to think on it for a while or we had to suffer the amnesia and the aimless wandering that comes from being hit over the head by political assassinations, war, societal upheaval, and landmark legislation. We have had our forty years of meditation in the desert. Let us now find our oasis of mutual respect and concern that will guide our continued journey into a promising future. We are right on time for a brighter tomorrow.
You have hit the nail squarely on the head. I have never been so afraid of an election in my 63 years. I had hoped we had outgrown the hate but can see we have not.
I am reminded of a story about the Nazi regime:
They went after the Jews but I wasn't one so I didn't worry
They went after the gypsies but I wasn't one so I didn't worry
and so on. I don't know who to attribute it to so I'll let imagination do the rest. The one thing we cannot do is let this go. We must fight this or we'll be next.
Palin-MCain '08, Armageddon '09
Thank you for articulating many of my fears. As I have watched the McCain/Palin campaign implode my initial excitement has turned to plain old fear.
Al Qaeda is likely cheering them on because it suits them fine to watch the US flail about trying to get a thorn out of its side. I suspect their game plan is to get the US to spend ourselves into oblivion just like the Soviet Union a few years back. Once we do that, all they have to do is trigger the powder keg currently being loaded by McCain/Palin with culture and race tensions.
I am so fearful for the safety of Barack Obama and the future of my country right now. I hope I am just overreacting to the hatemongering but......
Thank you Steven. Again, you speak the truth. Our nation craves leadership but the hatemongering
'fear of the other' is rearing it's ugly facist head. We have to be vigilant and speak out against those that threaten our democracy. We can go backward or we can go forward and survive this century. Thanks
for helping us try to go forward.
Protect the Vote! Unless Obama is 20 percent ahead, Rove's crew is poised to steal the election.
Stealbacky
http://www
The voters will decide if we progress or stay as we are. Unless the Democrats have a commanding control of the Congress change will come slowly.. Their are many who wili attempt to put up roadblocks but the Congress must push on through and eventually they will succeed. 2009 will be a real test of Americas spine.
I hope tonight's town hall style debate, favored by McCain, is not also packed with McCain supporters. My guess is that it will not be vile tonight. He will attack the Democrats and Obama for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, he will attack Obama for the 1 Trillion proposed social programs he wants budged for working people, he will attack Obama that taxing small business (most of which will not be taxed, I know) will destroy jobs, and he will be suddenly for government oversight and regulation.
I hope the audience is balanced.
Yeah, the Nazis came to power in pre-WWII Germany by taking advantage of the crushing National debt they were left with after WWI, preying upon the population's fears, and focusing hatred at a specific minority group.
We should all be asking ourselves, "Am I the NEXT target?!"
Valley_Forge, I woud say, that simply by virtue of our postings on this site, we would most certainly be a MAIN target.
Great post, as usual, Steven.
I read with horror Dana Milbank's article in the Washington Post this morning. He attended a Palin rally in Florida which turned very ugly, spurred on by Palin. Members of the press were vilified (especially the members of a minority) and someone actually shouted "Kill him" when Palin was talking about Obama. There is no place in this melting pot of a country for such ugliness; particularly when fanned by a "responsible" candidate of a major party!
What alarms me the most, is that during the primaries, it seemed as though a lot of that ugliness had been put behind us; now we have candidates encouraging it, and it was there all along -- or are some people just so suggestible that they can't think of it themselves; they have to wait until a wack-job like Sarah Palin dredges it up once again.
Palin's call to "Joe Six-Pack" has its historical origins in Germany in 1923. Amazing how the appeal to our baser instincts so often goes to the same frailties of the Human Mind. Give them what they need to free them from their inhibitions, ... and fill their minds with hatred to act upon for our, and not their, benefit.
http://www
We must NOT be afraid, but rather vigilent and vocal.
Well said! When we forget history, we are destined to repeat it until we get it right!
Haven't seen a single Repugnican Bumper Sticker or Yard sign....so
I live in Indiana and drive a Jeep. This year, (for the first time in my life of 45 years), I'm seeing a single Repugnican Bumper Sticker or Yard Sign. This even though Indiana polled at a 46/46 tie today. I personally know Repugnicans who bragged on Primary Day that they had crossed party lines to participate in Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Sabotage".
Right now my wife and I have switched cars due to gas prices. I drive a gas guzzling Jeep Wrangler and it's a lot closer from our home to her work than it is to mine.
She's loaded my Jeep up with Bumper Stickers that I just know are going to incite vandalism from the Right.
Every day I wait for the inevitable call that she's either been attacked or that my Jeep has been keyed or had sugar put in the gas tank or the tires have been slashed...
It's just a matter of time.
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