As the would-be presidents continue to polish their messages we begin to see a clear delineation between the parties. Two nights ago we saw the democrats speaking about ending the endless war campaign of George Bush, concentrating on our own problems in THIS country. Talking about long-forgotten priorities such as healthcare, education and civil liberties. Supporting the troops by insisting they come home alive.
Then the nine neo-cons and Ron Paul took the stage tonight and presented the other side. The delusional side. The fearful side. The dark side. These were not politicians tonight. They were snake oil salesmen, selling the only product they have left to win elections anymore, fear. I exempt Ron Paul from the gang of nine, because he was the only sane voice in the cloud of testosterone in New Hampshire tonight. He was the only true conservative voice again, talking about less government and a non-interventionist foreign policy. The only person who seemed to get it; that you cannot force democracy through the barrel of a gun.
Unfortunately, the remaining candidates were simply merchants of fear tonight. Desperately trying to cast Iraq as the central war on the vague concept of “terror”, the death-traders continually tried to justify this failed war of choice. Playing fast and loose with the facts and with history, they have again proven that the clear choice in 2008 will be between continuing to have our sons and daughters come home in body bags or come home alive. Fear is a powerful weapon, wielded skillfully by the Bush administration for the past six years.
I fearful populace doesn’t stop to think about the decline in education in this country. A fearful populace doesn’t stop to think about the disastrous state of healthcare in this country. We forget that this war was sold to us on lies. That the entire premise of the war is false. That hundreds of thousands of people are dead because of it. People who are afraid do not notice when the president decides to ignore over 800 laws as his party stands silent. They are too worried to notice when 9 out of 10 would be presidents think that the treasonous outing of a covert CIA operative is cause for a presidential pardon.
The gang of nine mocked the democrats for daring to suggest that the Iraq War needs to end now; the prevailing opinion of an overwhelming majority of Americans. You want to know all you need to know for the 2008 elections? While the democrats were talking about your needs as Americans, 90% of the republican candidates were talking about tactical nuclear strikes against Iran. That is what you are voting for next year. Do you embrace the future of this country or cower to the politics of perpetual fear?
For forty years we were told to fear the communists. We had air raid drills, where children had to hide under their desks, mimicking a nuclear attack on the country. Communists were evil and hated us because of our freedoms. Personal freedoms were curtailed, wars enflamed, and Americans died. They died all for the industrial war machine. Defense budgets skyrocketed and the deficit ballooned. Things like healthcare and education took a back seat to the primary ideological struggle of our time. It was such a good model that it lasted for forty years. Fear reigned supreme and the citizenry remained controlled. But a funny thing happened on the way through the Cold War; it ended. The Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its own failed economic policies. That’s right die hard repubs, Reagan had very little to do with the collapse of the USSR. He just happened to be there when the wheel came around.
The 1990’s were a wasteland for the old-school defense mongers. Their power was receding, their money was dwindling, and their relevance and very existence was threatened. Like a cornered animal, they fought back after 911. They realized they did not have to reinvent the wheel; they just needed to replace the communist, with the terrorist. It is the exact same model. You now need to be in continual fear of the terrorist. What is great about this version of the model is that there is no primary country to target. It has become a mobile model. It started in Afghanistan and when we wanted to blow Iraq up; we simply said that was the new front in this fictitious war. Never mind that Iraq under Saddam hated al Qaeda and vice-a-versa. Never mind that they had no connection to 911. All we have to do is invade the country and call anyone who is willing to fight for their country and insurgent, or a terrorist, and voila, Iraq is the new central front on the war on terror. It is a war that never has to end either. Once Iraq is spent, we can shift it over to Iran, maybe Syria. The truth doesn’t matter because the enemy has no face and no home. They are a generalized idea. They are a generic concept. They are of some Middle Eastern descent, or Islamic fundamentalist in nature, or hate our freedoms like the communists before them.
It is the perfect blueprint for election platforms too. Just mock anyone who claims the danger is not real. Scoff at the notion that maybe we can concentrate on THIS country for a change. Trump up any minor incident to be the impending end of life as we know it. You saw it tonight as the gang of nine repeatedly referred to the recent JFK and Fort Dix plots; what I like to call dumb and dumber. The facts surrounding these cases are eerily similar. Both deal with informants setting up the accused. Both are dealing with plans that are so far fetched there never was any danger to begin with and both were trumpeted from the rooftops as proof that there is a war on terror and that we are “winning.”
Never mind that winning is never clearly defined and when it is the goal posts simply get moved. Whether it was capturing Baghdad, capturing Saddam’s sons, capturing Saddam, electing a parliament, Iraqi’s with purple fingers voting, standing down as the Iraqis stand up, troop surge number one, or troop surge number two. It doesn’t matter because you can always change the benchmarks; you can always change what “winning” means. All nine tonight spoke eloquently about winning, but never had a clue what winning actually meant because the real concept of “winning” is the continuation of the war, not the ending of it. It is just fear on a repeating loop and tonight you met the merchants who would continue to sell you death.
I pray to God that you are no longer buying it.
Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 41-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
Excellent Anaylsis - ONE word in paragraph seven could be replaced:
Change the preposition 'after" to 'with' like this:
"The 1990’s were a wasteland for the old-school defense mongers. Their power was receding, their money was dwindling, and their relevance and very existence was threatened. Like a cornered animal, they fought back after 911."
Change that to read:
"...their relevance and very existence was threatened. Like a cornered animal, they fought back WITH 911."
The old-school defense mongers who had created and nurtured the now defunct Cold War fought back by creating and conducting 911 in an effort to stampede the population of the former USA into a new and even more lucrative conflict - only this time the 'designated enemies' were to be 'swarthy hordes of evil Muslims who hate us for yadda yadda... same old script.'
Thank you Anthony! Well said. I believe that many people are just waking up to the lies of these merchants of fear. At least I hope so.
Now is the time for us to simply stop listening to them. The Democrats and the Republicans are both conspiring together (and perhaps they always have).
They are never going to provide us with health care and better education. We must all begin learning to care for ourselves. My parents and their parents were born at home. There was no 911 phone number to call for help. Education was taught mostly at home.
It is time for us all to realize that these merchants of fear are just that. Merchants of fear. Shut them down. Ignore them. Laugh at them.
Aimee
DataOptions.com
Change those light bulbs.
Drive Less.
Consume Less.
by
Aimee (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 100 comments)
on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 10:22:49 AM
Since WWII we've become a Warrior Nation on steroids.
How do you promote peace when you have a military presents in over 120 countries? How do you call yourself a nation of peace when you spend more on weapons than the rest of the world combined? How does one square leaving their own people with a sham of a education system and health care system as the so-called representatives of the people call for an enlargement of an already massive military?
We've created a monster that needs blood and destruction to survive. With the kind of profits one can make off of selling weapons who would think that those that manufacture and sell them would want to stop? And there is only one way to keep the profits coming, make sure that we and the world are in a perpetual state of war. We don't promote peace, we promote war for the sake of war. After the threat of Communism fell they tried to make the drug cartels the "enemy", but that didn't fly so enter PNAC's "Pearl Harbor" 9/11 event. And if anyone thinks that this country wasn't part of that attack than they were at least the most incompetent of administrations and should of been removed for that alone. But instead these bumbling war-mongers were made to be heroes. Go figure?
If I were a younger man or had the means I would renounce my citizenship in this now shameful and shamelessly corrupt nation of fools, liars, self-indulgent, sex-obsessed, deluded, ignorant, spoiled, war-mongers and find a saner more peaceful place to live.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 1696 comments)
on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 11:07:01 AM
If I were a younger man or had the means I would renounce my citizenship in this now shameful and shamelessly corrupt nation of fools, liars, self-indulgent, sex-obsessed, deluded, ignorant, spoiled, war-mongers and find a saner more peaceful place to live.
I catch myself daydreaming along similar lines. I can't afford to leave so I tell young people to learn Spanish, Portuguese or Chinese and get the hell out of here. It is still possible to find "a saner more peaceful place" but there's no guarantee that it will remain safe.
by
Max Ward (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments)
on Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 4:41:00 PM
Reporter Arrested At Republican Bash For Asking Questions
Police Arrest CNN Affiliated Reporter On Orders Of Guiliani Aide
Reporter To Seek Criminal Indictments Against Guiliani Staffers, Police For Assault And Abuse Of First Ammendment Rights
Amazing footage of a reporter for an independent news site asking a member of Rudy Guiliani's staff valid questions about the presidential candidate, during a Republican media function last night, and then being removed and arrested by police, on the direct orders of the Guiliani aide.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 5:23:00 PM
Actually Anthony, you've got the dates a little wrong, it's not forty years but more like 100 years.
Whilst it's very heartening, to see a small number of Americans finaly come awake and start to realise what they have been supporting for 0ver 100 years, it must be remembered that the MAJORITY of Americans still suck from the same breast, and still support their Military Fascist Goverment Corporatisation to the death.
I'm not American, (and I thank the powers that be every day for that fact) and I can work out for myself, the reliance of the U.S. economy on it's militarisation and supporting infrastructure.
I knew at the collapse of Communism in Russia, that we were in for a hell of a change, if the bogeyman of Russia was gone, who was gonna replace them to continue the mayhem ?
Did that collapse mean the reduction of U.S. forces in Europe ? Hardly. On the same note, who is the bogeyman in Japan ? Why is it neccessary to station thousands of troops there, the war there was over a long time ago, or so we are led to believe. Same for Korea, the two Koreas have tried for over 50 years now to come to terms with each other, but everytime it looks like they may do so, the good old U.S. of A. sticks their noses in and destroys the good work that's been done.
But seriously people, let's pretend for just a moment, that all the newday dawners had their ways and the militarism from the U.S. ceased tomorrow, ever soldier was returned to the shores of the U.S.A. and interference in other countries internal affairs ceased forthwith,(YEAH, I know, I'm only imaging things OK ?) where would that leave Corporatisation and the manufacturing indusrties of America ?
How many people would loose their jobs overnight ? How much pork barreling would cease overnight ? With what would the unemployed be replaced with ? We hear of the impact China's rise has had on employment in the U.S. and over the World, this would be miniscule in comparision to what would happen should the bottom fall out of the militarisation manufacturing business. Would these people then still support the new idea ? Somehow folks, just between you and me, I seriously doubt it very much. All the nicey nicey feelings and new dawn era feelings, would in my humble opinion, hit rock bottom darn super quick.
In my 57 years on this earth, there's one thing I have learned very clearly, and that is, Not one life outside the U.S. is worth one U.S. life. Quiet the contrary, I've learnt that 1 U.S. life is worth 1,000 others, just like good old Israel, and as long as that attitude prevails, we are gonna be stuck with what we have. It's really up to people, do they desire change, change that will in the long run, benefit the bloody World, but there's a poison chalice there too, it's gonna HURT bigtime to effect that change, and the HURT is gonna effect zillions of people all over the World.
Question is, do we have the internal fortitude and determination to bear the shorterm pain for the long term benefit ?
IMHO, the answer is NO !
by
Eddy Schmid (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 207 comments)
on Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 4:18:15 AM
6 comments
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