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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Great American Class War: Plutocracy Versus Democracy
The Great American Class War: Plutocracy Versus Democracy
December 13, 2013 Bill Moyers http://billmoyers.com/2013/12/13/the-great-american-class-war-plutocracy-versus-democracy/
I met Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1987 when I was creating a series for public television called In Search of the Constitution, celebrating the bicentennial of our founding document. By then, he had served on the court longer than any of his colleagues and had written close to 500 majority opinions, many of them addressing fundamental questions of equality, voting rights, school segregation and in New York Times v. Sullivan in particular the defense of a free press.
Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan in his chambers. (AP Photo)
Those decisions brought a storm of protest from across the country. He claimed that he never took personally the resentment and anger directed at him. He did, however, subsequently reveal that his own mother told him she had always liked his opinions when he was on the New Jersey court, but wondered now that he was on the Supreme Court, Why cant you do it the same way? His answer: We have to discharge our responsibility to enforce the rights in favor of minorities, whatever the majority reaction may be.
Although a liberal, he worried about the looming size of government. When he mentioned that modern science might be creating a Frankenstein, I asked, How so? He looked around his chambers and replied, The very conversation were now having can be overheard. Science has done things that, as I understand it, makes it possible through these drapes and those windows to get something in here that takes down what were talking about.
That was long before the era of cyberspace and the maximum surveillance state that grows topsy-turvy with every administration. How I wish he were here now and still on the Court!
My interview with him was one of 12 episodes ..........
Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan in his chambers. (AP Photo)
Those decisions brought a storm of protest from across the country. He claimed that he never took personally the resentment and anger directed at him. He did, however, subsequently reveal that his own mother told him she had always liked his opinions when he was on the New Jersey court, but wondered now that he was on the Supreme Court, Why cant you do it the same way? His answer: We have to discharge our responsibility to enforce the rights in favor of minorities, whatever the majority reaction may be.
Although a liberal, he worried about the looming size of government. When he mentioned that modern science might be creating a Frankenstein, I asked, How so? He looked around his chambers and replied, The very conversation were now having can be overheard. Science has done things that, as I understand it, makes it possible through these drapes and those windows to get something in here that takes down what were talking about.
That was long before the era of cyberspace and the maximum surveillance state that grows topsy-turvy with every administration. How I wish he were here now and still on the Court!
My interview with him was one of 12 episodes ..........
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The Great American Class War: Plutocracy Versus Democracy (Original Post)
Coyotl
Dec 2013
OP
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)1. Not much interest, so far. K&R
I'm still surprised at the number of people here that still defend this shit for no reason other than they believe it will be their turn someday.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)3. The lottery tickets are selling like Big Macs.
There probably are hungry people not eating their daily Dollar Meal for that chance in the lottery.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)2. I think it's likely that many technologies are developed & used before the general public gets wind
of them.