A delusional state

My friend Jack says that "this about sums it all up" ...

Delusional State Of The Nation
By Richard Girard

"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." Demosthenes (c. 384–322 B.C.), Greek orator. Third Olynthiac, sect. 19 (349 B.C.)

What is it going to take for the American people to say, "We have had enough," George W. Bush wiping his ass with the Constitution on prime-time television? Judge Samuel Alito has been confirmed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and our Constitution is on life support. Control of our ports is being ceded not only to foreign corporations, but also to corporations that are owned by foreign governments.

As a nation, our most grievous fault, our most glaring weakness, is that we have not found a way to insure the active participation of our citizens in our nation's governance. Little more than fifty percent of those eligible to vote for the office of President do so. Anytime we have fewer than 150 million voters’ turnout in a general election, it is a stinging indictment of the non-voting citizens' indifference to our democracy.

Thomas Jefferson wrote (in an 1817 letter to Alexander von Humboldt) "...[T] he will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism." Our third President, unlike most contemporary Americans, clearly understood the innate value of every single vote.

Please, read it all here ...

Comments

[ainelivia]

Hallo Tamar, when I first read your post and the linked article,I went away, in... (it's a word I'm loathe to use), a kind of despair.

This morning watching TV, Joan Baez being interviewed by Andrew Marr; Marr asked the question, "where's the protest? where are the Woody Gutherie's, Joan Baezs and Bob Dylan's for now?"

Joan answered "well we have Michael Moore, and of course there is Cindy Sheehan. A woman who is willing to sit in a ditch outside POTUS's house, until he tells her why her son died".

Joan letting a little light shine. And there's your little light, and mine and millions of Americans and the rest of us, asking where exactly are we going? I hope.

[Tamar]

Thanks so much for that information about Joan Baez, Ainelivia. I wish I could have seen that interview. She is one of my favorite people.