I have refrained from joining in the chorale feeding frenzy on Mark Foley, as the Wizard rightly observed in a comment on my previous post. Part of my restraint comes from a hope that Progressives distinguish themselves from 'regressives' and 'retrogressives' in taking the high road on issues and not the low road of the politics of personal destruction. And another part comes from a sensibility that one should not take his eye off the ball in the main ball game - the strategic 'big' picture - which is the central subject and purpose of this Vigil I am keeping.
That big picture is Bush, himself. Bush and his extra-constitutional excesses, foreign and domestic, which threaten to shake and erode our American heritage to its foundations every day he remains in office. But that's just me and my personal thing with Bush.
I do not minimize or otherwise find fault with pundits, comedians, bloggers or demonstrators who are thrilling to the chase from Foley to Hastert and beyond. Liberals will do what Liberals will do. I wish them well and Godspeed in dismantling the GOP machine, wherever it shows weakness, brick by rotting, crumbling brick. The sooner we have Congressional majorities, the sooner we can have oversight, the sooner we can have subpoenas and sworn testimonies and the sooner we can get the truth out, etc., etc. At the end of this road, sooner or later, we will get to the man himself. As I said this morning on The Enigmatic Paradox,
I don't really care who joins in on tearing the clothes off the emperor. I'm just impatient to see all his soiled and torn remnants on the floor.My real problem is with certain complacent Liberals and traditional tax-minded conservatives who say they 'don't like Bush much but, oh well, he'll be gone in a couple of years'. These so-called anti-Bush ("tch-tch") conservatives can be thought of as Weimar Republicans: along with the passive liberals, they pretend that Bushsolini and Rovebbels are running just one more in a long line of Republican presidencies, peopled by superannuated ex-prep boys and fraternity pranksters, recipients of 'legacy' privileges at Ivy League colleges and who are preoccupied with avoiding their estate taxes. They are deluding themselves.
Bush and Cheney are not so much constitutionally-guided office holders as they are members of a megalomaniacal junta driven to maximize power at the expense of the constitution. As such, it will not be sufficient merely to throw their party out in 2008, as in the normal natural order of succession in American politics. These Neocons have wreaked such a potentially lasting and devastating effect on our domestic order and international standing, that they have to be repudiated through impeachment before their term is up.
It will simply not do for the American electoral system to merely digest them for another two years and excrete them in 2008. This crud has to be puked out before it rots our Constitution any further.
"...one should not take his eye off the ball in the main ball game - the strategic 'big' picture"
ReplyDeleteVigilante, You consistently display a level of integrity, intellectual honesty and clarity of thought that is rare inside the political blogosphere.
You and I will continue to disagree on certain issues (and occasionally agree), but I always respect your opinion and find your viewpoint important.
I will continue to recommend readers of all political viewpoints read and carefully consider your opinions.
the Wizard...
Vigilante , I agree and think you are being actually kind to Bush. As I have said I don`t believe the so called Democratic party , even if they control the Congress can be trusted to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteI believe they also are being controlled by the same very negative forces as the Republicans.
Does any one here think that Bush will be in power a year from now.?
No one knows the future , but it would seem that many dire things are in store.
The politicos may decide to go ahead now to rabble rouse the American people into a conflict with Iran or Korea, or who knows who else.
We have to admit the Dems also played this part leading up to the war in Iraq.
Also our economic house of cards is dependent on the rest of the world to not pull a card or two out, we are the largest debtor nation in history.
Will the world take revenge on us which is a very natural human emotion, for our actions .?
That would mean biting the hand that feeds it , and occasionally that does happen.
We are standing today at the edge of a precipice.
Other forces that are not suspected could intervene in our disastrous, politically induced tragedy, that is playing out.
Buckle up for the crash test people.~!~ Vigilante , I believe they shredded the constitution some time ago. What we have now is a pseudo-America. Both sides are guilty.
Has anyone noticed how amenable, condescending and non-specific Wizard is when he wants to 'make nice'?
ReplyDeleteI can't figure Wizard out. But Vigilante seems to be saying that (a) many more American voters care more about preventing their legislators from getting in the pants of their young employees than they care about preventing their military (and their Israeli buddies) from bombing the shit out of the hapless Shi'ites in Iraq and Lebanon and (b) that's okay with him as long as they vote the rascals out, one way or another.
ReplyDeletemessenger... Haven't you noticed that I always make nice? Respecting someone's opinion doesn't mean you have to agree with them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have found it is counterproductive (at best) to insult or belittle someone when you disagree.
I note, with great interest, how Vigilante has engaged and involved Skip Sievert into the discussion here.
Vigilante drew a line when it was necessary, but otherwise made Skip feel welcome. Likewise Vigilante has made me feel welcome even though he and I have disagreed (rather violently) on occasion.
By doing this he has set a tone where I find I can both learn from him (even if he may never agree with me) and I can recommend his blog to others, even far right wing conservatives and Bush supporters.
the Wizard...
Part One:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wizard in regard to Skip. Vigilante was patient when I may not have been so patient. Today, I actually find myself agreeing with someone I once found disagreeable and that is Skip. I am sincere when I say that.
Part Two:
While I certainly am a member of the Beat the Bush club, I understand that without his loyal soldiers a leader is nothing but a figurehead. I do not write solely about the shortcomings of the Bushmaster. I write about Foley, Stevens, Hastert, and even a few so-called Democrats, because they are the standard bearers of the Bush Dogma. I write about them because in so doing I expose the hypocricy of the entire gang. This is a case of cutting off the head of the snake only by separating the body: his loyal followers. I'm not sure that made sense, but what the hell!
Thanks friends, of course I will remain, and have remained true to my mission.
ReplyDeleteI do think that we are about to enter a time unlike any other in America, and part of my mission as I see it is to warn people.
Strange days ahead.
Yeah, I think Sievert is a keeper.... Probably.....
ReplyDeleteMr. M. Mike, I think you are making a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteVigilante seems to agree that the Neocon threat to American Constitutional government is wider than just the war/occupation of Iraq.
ReplyDeleteWhat Sievert brings to the table (or so it seems to me) is a willingness to see the war not as an end in itself, but as a very important 'front' in the undeclared class war being waged against the American people. I think that is an important - critically important - thing to consider.
Where Sievert's train goes off the track is where he shit-cans our Constitution.
I think it was actually shit-canned back in the late 40`s, by the system itself. As near as I can figure out it was around that time period that big money took over.
ReplyDeleteI agree with lots of the Constitution.
Human rights is the hallmark of a good society. There are so many negative forces which exalt money above all else that it would seem that a new perspective of how to run a society is needed.
Maybe without money.
With the increase in population, and destruction of natural resources, and also the erosion of individual rights, combined with a schism between our so called class`s , it would seem that a strange divining time is ahead.
We could have a future of being the wildest, most creative, cultured, thoughtful society that ever has existed, or, if we preserve the present system , spiral down into chaos.
Class warfare has destroyed all previous great society's.
We now have the knowledge to create a really brilliant type of society here , which is secular/humanistic, and free of all the baggage of belief. Belief is dogging us now.
There is something really wrong with our current society. Any society that does not value its youth has no future. Young people know they are only thought of in economic terms now and not valued as humans.
You're absolutely right. I just hope we have time to excrete them before they can leave triumphantly at the end of their terms.
ReplyDeleteThe United States has a one-party state. The presidency, the vice presidency, the cabinet, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court-- are all and have for some time been in the hands of the same party. Not only that, but the most extreme factions within the Republican Party: the theocrats, the Neoconservative ex-Trotskiyites, the John Yoo Torture Apologists, the Grover Norquist advocates of Mr. Scrooge plutocracy, the corrupt Abramoffist lobbyists and Delayist horse thieves--they are ascendant. Parties don't investigate themselves. They are about power, interests, and money. They are about winning. They aren't a charity.
ReplyDeleteThe American public has been unwise to allow this one party state to grow up, which is chipping away at our liberties as Americans and creating a new monarchy and a new aristocracy. It works by lies and cover-ups.
Another four years of the one-party state, and the Republic will be finished, if it is not already.
The problem is not "a one party state". The US government was under the control of Democrats for 40 years. The Dem's, whatever else their failings, were not an authoritarian party. The so called "Republican Revolution" has over-turned democratic government and replaced it with a dictatorial presidency and a complicit Congress. The USA has had authoritarian government since 9/11. That is what people need to understand when it is said "Everything changed after 9/11". Indeed, the Bush regime has been steadily consolidating its dictatorship. They have abrogated civil rights; ruled by secrecy; established a system of spying and torture. No wonder why the press does no call a spade a spade about the lies and the deceit. Dictatorships are very intimidating to the press. Just think of all those reporters who have been killed by US fire in Iraq. Its a lesson taught and a lesson learned.
I think you are partially right indicted plagiarist, except I think it goes much deeper than you are thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhile it may be that the Dems have been kinder and gentler in some ways, ultimately they are also run by the Corporatacracy, or big money internationals , that don`t value our traditional freedoms here.
America is seen by them as a place to loot for resources.
Also the dismantling of our constitution was seen by them as a component of controlling our society.
Why track this back to 911.?
Look at the broader historical perspective.
I don`t believe our system will work any better under the Dems.
Why.?
Like the repubs , they are not addressing the real issues , and rely on disinformation and brainwashing also.
Money rules our political system . Both sides.
Money should be taken out of it as a determiner of policy.
No one is serious about that currently.
We are a crooked society , that is now despised by the world.
Pity, we used to have something really interesting and vital to offer the world. We seem to be on our last legs as a culture now.
It would seem to me that we must now change into a better, more practical, reasonable, type of society, or if we continue on in the present construct, we are doomed into a rather pathetic glimmer of what we used to be. It is time for change.