"If not, George Orwell has replaced Jefferson as the preeminent architect

[understandinglife]

... of American democratic ideals.

This is why the midterm elections must be a civics debate. But I am not certain that either party is ready to engage in that discussion. I was disheartened when it was reported the Major Paul Hackett was asked by Democratic Party leaders in Ohio to drop out of the U.S. Senate race. The lawyer, Marine reservist, and Iraq war veteran was prepared to run a campaign stating forthrightly, what many Democratic members of Congress are content to nuance: This is the wrong war at the wrong time!

Republicans don't want that debate because it would call into question their lack of authentic leadership; Democrats don't want that conversation because, with few exceptions, they've been preoccupied with staying within the so-called mainstream. This however, does not diminish the fact that the American people need it.

I need to know whether or not Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton are still relevant in what is becoming America's postmodern democracy? Should we continue to be instructed by leaders such as Lincoln and Martin Luther King, who the found the nexus of the public morality in the inspiring words contained within the Declaration of Independence?

If our self-governing underpinnings are still in tact then we must have the debate so that we can change the country's current moral direction. If not, George Orwell has replaced Jefferson as the preeminent architect of American democratic ideals.

More from Congress the 'Capitulation Branch' of Government by Byron Williams at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/byron-williams/congress-the-capitualiti_b_16431.html

To help focus that debate, one would only need to have our fellow Americans read and demand discussion of:

Ike Saw It Coming

by Bob Herbert on 27 February 2006

<clip>

The way you keep the wars coming is to keep the populace in a state of perpetual fear. That allows you to continue the insane feeding of the military-industrial complex at the expense of the rest of the nation's needs. "Before long," said Mr. Jarecki in an interview, "the military ends up so over-empowered that the rest of your national life has been allowed to atrophy."

In one of the great deceptive maneuvers in U.S. history, the military-industrial complex (with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as chairman and C.E.O., respectively) took its eye off the real enemy in Afghanistan and launched the pointless but far more remunerative war in Iraq.

If you want to get a chill, just consider the tragic chaos in present-day Iraq (seven G.I.'s were killed on the day I went to see "Why We Fight") and then listen to Susan Eisenhower in the film recalling a quotation attributed to her grandfather: "God help this country when somebody sits at this desk who doesn't know as much about the military as I do."

The military-industrial complex has become so pervasive that it is now, as one of the figures in the movie notes, all but invisible. Its missions and priorities are poorly understood by most Americans, and frequently counter to their interests.

More at the link:

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/opinion/27herbert.html?hp

As Wilton Szeker, whose son was killed in the 9/11 WTC conflagration states in "Why We Fight":

"What the hell did we go in there for?" ... The government exploited my feelings of patriotism, of a deep desire for revenge for what happened to my son. But I was so insane with wanting to get even, I was willing to believe anything."

Best we all understand that democracy is not a "belief system," it is a participatory system in which the weakest link is the uninformed citizen willing to allow his/her government to perpetuate their uninformed status.

A little primer you may want to share with your family and friends, contains among several important documents, the text of Ike's January, 1961, farewell address:

"We the People ..." Have No Clothes

http://missionnotaccomplished.us/WTPv17n.pdf


Peace.

[xchrom]

1. the lesson i've learned is that the public is asleep.

now, have they been willed to the land of nod -- sent there by creatures hidden in the mist?

-- there is something going on behind the scenes -- it's been carefully constructed and carried out -- other wise why would the bushies have been so bold in florida in 00?

they were fairly confident of the outcome -- and they acted confident.

if we're going to give the public a lesson in civics they have to wake upp -- and they have to get REAL concerned.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Perfect - Orwell is our architect. Fits just right. We are always

deluding ourselves. Jefferson, indeed. Jefferson, step aside.

[understandinglife]

3. "The nature of the administration's criminal DNA and modus operandi, ...

... however, shows up in a usefully robust specimen of its characteristic dishonesty.

That President George W. Bush comes to power with the intention of invading Iraq is a fact not open to dispute.

<clip>

Much more at the link to Lapham's essay:

http://harpers.org/index.html

Discussed at DU here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2482898

Further reading for the civics lesson of 2006. On March 2, at Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, in NYC, Lapham will be joined by Congressman Conyers, Elizabeth Holtzman, John Dean, and Michael Ratner in a forum moderated by Sam Seder entitled IS THERE A CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT?


Peace.

[understandinglife]

4. "To those who don't worry about giving up their rights, programs like the

... NSA's may seem fine. But others of us appreciate the blood and treasury this nation expended, both indirectly and directly, in securing those rights. And I am convinced my generation will fight to the end to prevent the zeal of good intention in fighting terror, from letting the terrorists win by permitting the government to take those rights.


From John Dean's Why Should Anyone Worry About Whose Communications Bush and Cheney Are Intercepting, If It Helps To Find Terrorists? at:

http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/dean/20060224.html

It's not as if we don't have expert mentors willing to contribute to the civics class of 2006.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

5. "Ike warned us, but we didn't listen." -- It's long past time we did ...

... more than just listen.


Peace.

[Psyop Samurai]

6. K & R

n/t