It's also based on might making right but not the way Abe Lincoln meant it when he said in his February, 1860 Cooper Union speech prior to his July presidential nomination that year: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He later expressed a spirit of reconciliation with the South and kind of humanity George Bush has contempt for in his second inaugural address in March, 1865 when he spoke of "malice toward none (and) charity for all" only weeks before his life was taken by an assassin's bullet. Imagining that language from George Bush, and meaning it, would be to imagine the unimaginable from a man who likely doesn't even understand it.
What is imaginable in the year ahead and thenceforth is a world without George Bush and his neocon extremist administration leading the nation on a path to hell. Those wanting justice demand the Congress act to impeach him and the vice-president and then remove them from office allowing for the chance charges will be brought against them both and others in their administration so they'll be held to account in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague or another judicial venue where officials may be prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. They committed them all and more against the people of Iraq, at least two of the three in Afghanistan, and a legion of others against the people of the United States and its Constitution.
It'll only happen if it comes from the bottom up, from enough public outrage bubbling to the surface vocally demanding justice be served and the rule of law restored and again respected. No one at any level in public or private life should ever be allowed to get away with the kind of reckless and gross criminality that's been rampant and out-of-control in Washington for the past six years under Republican neocon rule.
It's long past time to put an end to this criminal class of rogues in charge, running the country like their private fiefdom in a culture of galling corruption and scorn for the law that exceeds anything here ever preceding their tenure. Already there's a groundswell of growing outrage slowly building in size and intensity. As the new year approaches, it remains to be seen if a combination of those people of conscience can unite with enough others in the body politic to give us all what everyone should want and demand - an end to wars, a renewed respect for the law, accountability for those in government who violated it, and a commitment to serve the public interest with equity and equal justice for all in the true spirit of a real democracy restored from the grave and once again respected and cherished.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
That Dear Sir, was the most comprehensive article that I have yet to read on the Bush administration, and the plight of our democracy. I agree with everything you said. I hope that the next year brings us closer to bringing back values that havn't been present in our country for many years. Thany you for a great article.
by
Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 11:28:00 AM
I'm very grateful for your comments. I just emailed Editor Rob Kall telling him this article was my venting to sum up all feelings I have about all other articles I wrote during the year. I'm glad you liked it.
by
Stephen Lendman (252 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 76 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 12:52:08 PM
I say this as a positive statement, not as a negative.
THAT WAS A GREAT ARTICLE.
But...
It goes off at a few points in some other directions and could probably be edited down a bit. It's not that ANYTHING you said wasn't worth saying, just that you can only say so much at once.
LIBRARIES will be filled to the brim with books on the evil and incompetence of the Bush Administration. Entire books can be written that won't even BEGIN to cover how much they have done to destroy our country and the world.
Nobody should even TRY to put it all into one article, no matter how noble a cause that might be.
Let's hope, some day, we can write about things getting BETTER for Planet Earth and her people.
CharlieL
Portland, OR
CLL2001@gmail.com
by
Charlie L (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 677 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 2:20:09 PM
Seems some of you obviously missed the memo after George was sworn in as President.The Constitution is null and void and it is the new Survival Game.Survival of the fittest. Old ,young and sick must go first.Money is the only measure of a man.See, you missed it too.!!!!
by
cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 3:27:40 PM
If I may quote Stephen :
"At the end of the sixth horrific year under the reign of the Bush modern-day extremist Jacobin-neocons, we can now look ahead, but to what. We have an administration in charge for another two years one longtime analyst characterizes as "a bunch of crooks, incompetents and perverts" with the president's approval rating plunging as low as 28% in some independent polls and a growing number of people in the country demanding his impeachment and removal from office.
It's not likely from the new Democrat-led Congress arriving in January, as their DLC leadership took it off the table and so far only promises more of the same failed policy other than some minor tinkering around the edges to create an illusion of change no different than the deceptive kind of course correction proposed by the Baker "Gang of Ten" Iraq Study Group (ISG) that guarantees none at all. It doesn't leave members of the body politic with much hope for the new year that will likely just deliver more of the same rogue leadership and policy engendering growing public discontent and anger but not at a level so far to scare the those in power enough to want to address it."
In my opinion the very worst thing about this last six year "reign of terror" is the abysmal lack of opposition to it from the so-called opposition party. While more and more citizens of these United States are increasingly outraged by the excesses of this heinous administration we still hear silences and platitudes from the "loyal opposition". It is this climate of appeasement that allows Bush to continue to destroy our democratic processes.
Whenever one cites the numerous examples of such complicities by the Democrats the DLC supporters rush to both ignore the list and to castigate the left for being "unrealistic" or too "demanding". It is the ignoring of the record by these conservative democrats, so-called centrists or democratic libertarians that should make everyone understand that they do not have our best interests at heart. They seek only to restore the power of the Party and not the legacy of our nation.
I wonder at the slate of candidates for the office of the President in '08 that the Dems will field. Hillary, despite her vast accumulation of wealth, some of it from her buddy Rupert Murdoch no doubt, is slipping in the polls. Obama, the primary reason for that slippage is, at the same time, a neophyte to national office and extremely eloquent. He is also, apparently, enmired in a budding scandal as well, over cronyism. Edwards is positioning himself rather well and actually pounding on the real issues. He I would consider voting for.
The real problem in this nation remains that far to many folks would never vote for a man named Barak Hussein Obama, and that is a national scandal. The lack of a party of national stature that is willing to defend our constitution is another scandal as well.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 7:25:25 AM
particularly for his attention to detail. I still would like to add something:
Hypocrisy had always been a part of the US religion. It was needed to connect the official Christian set of values with the rule of mighty dollar. By no means it was aa unique endeavor: this phenomena more or less exists in any human society and if you read the world literature you can find it in Germany or Britain, Japan or Thailand or etc. But in the US it developed in the most ugly form of all- it became a 'genetic part of the character'. Hypocrisy in fact stopped being a tool and became a natural part of life. It effectively replaced the real human qualities. I characterise that as a deliberate madness.
In most societies totally consumed by hypocrisy the only way to cure was a catastrophe. We here are heading for one ( the neocon parasites are the symptoms of that) unless we introduce a new wording into the pledge of allegiance:
' US is the same as any other country
The US people are no different from anyone else
God, please, do not bless the US, bless the Humanity'
Amen
by
Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3465 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 8:29:56 AM
7 comments
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