More's at stake than the most critical Presidential Election of a lifetime

Wes Clark really got my attention during an interview he did with NPR New Hampshire, where he made a direct comparison between this moment in American history, and the period in time when the Roman Republic slipped into becoming the Roman Empire. The interviewer responded with "Wow", which were my thoughts exactly. We are at that cusp. Only future historians, with benefit of hindsight, will easily see how much is hanging in the balance right now, but Clark called it exactly with that simple but chilling sentence. 2004 is 1984, twenty years late but just as diabolical.

Our Democracy is slipping silently through our fingers. While Republican right wingers rail that the United Nations and multi national institutions like the World Court are leading inevitably toward One Big Government, they blatantly push forward the WTO and IMF in a rush toward a Corporate Oligarchy. But it's worse than that. The new master race is Billionaires Without Borders. Money is their passport and they are well on their way toward shuffling national governments and their leaders like so many subsidiary division heads fighting for promotions. Soon no nation will be sufficiently independent or powerful enough to oppose them.

Once upon a time democracy was a check on their ambitions. Now democracy is fast becoming their chosen tool for the consolidation of power. Playing on generations of American tradition, and the hallowed elevation of "the will of the people" as the highest arbiter of justice, they seek the sheen of legitimacy through the shrine of Democracy. Who can challenge their command if it's the people who have spoken?

The electorate is their raw material and our vote is their refined product. They manufacture our decisions using state of the art technology. They copyright the words we speak, and assign them targeted meanings, like they patent the genes of life itself and direct its evolution. It is no longer beyond their means to hypnotize a nation. Political persuasion today bears as much resemblance to politics practiced a generation past as Pong does to virtual reality video games.

George W. Bush is the servant of the emerging master race. His is the rugged true grit Americana face they choose to present when addressing the American people. Their control is rapidly being stitched into a seamless whole, nearing but not quite at completion. Some of the stitches still do show when held up to the light. They must be held up to the light, and they must be held up now. We can argue over whether John Kerry is the best weapon to wield against their force, but the argument is pointless. He is the weapon we have to yield.

I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I will not resent it if John Kerry runs or even governs from the traditional center of American Politics, because the traditional center of American politics is miles to the left of the looming radical right. Honest people of good will need work together to face the threat that is upon our Democracy. Dennis Kucinich to John McCain, Al Sharpton to Chuck Hagel, Michael Moore to Lou Dobbs, I will not overly quibble about our areas of disagreement. In the broadest sense, I will for now judge my "allies" against the standard that has guided Wesley Clark's entire life; Honor, Duty, Service. Once we restore truth to our Democracy, there will be time and places for further debates.

Keep up the good work.

and Watergate.

There can be a moment when a change snaps into place, like an earthquake, but the forces build up below the surface over time. We have had some strong tremblers. You named two. Right now I fear for the big one.

Good writin'!

Keep making the point. The Conservatives are beginning to see that they, too, have been snookered, and that they have traded their birthright for a mess of pottage.

Disagree about anything except Democracy.

--bkl

"I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I will not resent it if John Kerry runs or even governs from the traditional center of American Politics, because the traditional center of American politics is miles to the left of the looming radical right."

That Kerry is "better than Bush" is unquestionable. A potted plant would be. But, we need to stop the "emerging master race", not merely slow them down a little temporarily.

I'm willing to compromise my principles quite a bit, but when it comes to an unneccesary war and the bloody occupation of another country in order to fatten the wallets of the capitalists, the line is a bit too far to cross. Kerry still supports that war. His motivations may be different than Bush's (politcal expediency vs raw fascism) but the results are the same. Dead people for the sake of political ambition.

I want no part of it.

Dead serious. I hear and read this each cycle. When I scan political history books or review famous speeches, it's hysterical how many politicians abuse that line, regardless of the nation or century/decade.

Not once have I ever read anything like, "This is admittedly an irrelevant period in our nation's history. Basically, we are simply biding time until the really important events of about 20 years from now. I would not consider asking for your vote during a critical time, but right now I doubt I can screw up enough to jeopardize your future."

But I really believe that techniques of data management, psychological manipulation, and synchronized and consolidated dispersement of selective information have evolved to the point where they out strip the capacity of our political economic system to sustain free and open debate in a meaningful way for a large enough percentage of our population.

In prior eras such forces were a) more primitive and b) offset somewhat by a clearer sense of class interests held by a majority of Americans coupled with a more widely held distrust of the motivations of controlling interests. Now we have the growth of Radical Right directed "populism" and the reduced influence of an organized labor movement.

Plus the world moves at a much faster rate, and fateful decisions implemented by those in control quickly bring far reaching consequences that become near impossible to undo by the time their implications become widely known. It is only in a time of obvious perceived crisis, such as now, when issues of both war and peace seemingly are spinning out of control, that manufactured underlying assumptions can be meaningfully challenged. If America had not recently lost 2 million jobs while at the same time 25 or more Americans were dying each week in an apparently endless war, the current Administration would by now be solidly entrenched, and laying down even deeper roots.

By the way the Election of 1996 wasn't presented as America is in deep crisis, by either side really. Sure the Republicans did their best to whip up personal hatred of Clinton and all he stood for, but that was their job. Clinton's pitch was essentially "let the good times roll".

The comparisons are striking.

And there is good reason to believe this one will be. The Supreme Court could lose 2-4 members. The next President will get to choose the appointments to that Bench, thus affecting us for a generation. It is vital that we have someone in office who supports Judges who will continue to uphold the Constitution for all.

I tell this to anyone who thinks Kerry and Bush are the same:

If you think Kerry is the same as Bush, would Kerry nominate Pickering to the Court?
Vote for Kerry.

I am not claiming this is the most important election in our nation's history. 1932 was probably more important, as was 1860 and probably 1804. But this is no normal election year, by a mile. I'm going on 55, and I was very much present thruogh both Nixon and Reagan and this is of a different magnitude in my opinion.