Al Gore Speaks Of A Nation In Danger

[RestoreGore]

Question is, will we listen? How do we undo the immense damage caused to our Democracy by our own submission to fear, propaganda, and ignorance? I believe you cannot have a true Democracy without a truly free press, and that is where we need to start. But how? A national boycott? Do we all join together and buy them out? Are there enough of us in this country now who even give a damn? What will it take to truly turn this tide? The Internet is instrumental in breathing life back into this shattered Democracy, but is it enough? This truly is the moral challenge of our lives, and we cannot allow distractions to make us look away from the crimes any longer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/books/22kaku.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

And yet for all its sharply voiced opinions, “The Assault on Reason” turns out to be less a partisan, election-cycle harangue than a fiercely argued brief about the current Bush White House that is grounded in copiously footnoted citations from newspaper articles, Congressional testimony and commission reports — a brief that is as powerful in making its points about the implications of this administration’s policies as the author’s 2006 book, “An Inconvenient Truth,” was in making its points about the fallout of global warming.

This volume moves beyond its criticisms of the Bush administration to diagnose the ailing condition of America as a participatory democracy — low voter turnout, rampant voter cynicism, an often ill-informed electorate, political campaigns dominated by 30-second television ads, and an increasingly conglomerate-controlled media landscape — and it does so not with the calculated, sound-bite-conscious tone of many political-platform-type books, but with the sort of wonky ardor that made both the book and movie versions of “An Inconvenient Truth” so bluntly effective.

Mr. Gore’s central argument is that “reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions” and that the country’s public discourse has become “less focused and clear, less reasoned.” This “assault on reason,” he suggests, is personified by the way the Bush White House operates. Echoing many reporters and former administration insiders, Mr. Gore says that the administration tends to ignore expert advice (be it on troop levels, global warming or the deficit), to circumvent the usual policy-making machinery of analysis and debate, and frequently to suppress or disdain the best evidence available on a given subject so it can promote predetermined, ideologically driven policies.

End of excerpt.



Thank you Mr. Gore for making us think and hopefully bringing us to action as I do fear this is our last chance to save ourselves, and our only home.

[RestoreGore]

1. And I also think many of us do get it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=939072&mesg_id=939072

[RestoreGore]

2. Thomas Jefferson On Reason

My hope that we have not labored in vain, and that our experiment will still prove that men can be governed by reason." --Thomas Jefferson to George Mason, 1791. ME 8:124
"I have so much confidence in the good sense of man, and his qualifications for self-government, that I am never afraid of the issue where reason is left free to exert her force." --Thomas Jefferson to Comte Diodati, 1789. Papers 15:326

"Let common sense and common honesty have fair play, and they will soon set things to rights." --Thomas Jefferson to Ezra Stiles, 1786. ME 6:25

"It is comfortable to see the standard of reason at length erected, after so many ages, during which the human mind has been held in vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles; and it is honorable for us to have produced the first legislature who had the courage to declare that the reason of man may be trusted with the formation of his own opinions." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1786. ME 6:10

" principles founded on the immovable basis of equal right and reason." --Thomas Jefferson to James Sullivan, 1797. ME 9:379

"A government of reason is better than one of force." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Rush, 1820. ME 15:284

"The idea of establishing a government by reasoning and agreement, publicly ridiculed as an Utopian project, visionary and unexampled." --Thomas Jefferson: The Anas, 1797. ME 1:419

"Our people in a body are wise because they are under the unrestrained and unperverted operation of their own understandings." --Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, 1802. ME 10:324

"This blessed country of free inquiry and belief has surrendered its creed and conscience to neither kings nor priests." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, 1822. ME 15:385

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804. ME 11:33

"Truth and reason are eternal. They have prevailed. And they will eternally prevail; however, in times and places they may be overborne for a while by violence, military, civil, or ecclesiastical." --Thomas Jefferson to Rev. Samuel Knox, 1810. ME 12:360

"Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known and seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:547

"A patient pursuit of facts, and cautious combination and comparison of them, is the drudgery to which man is subjected by his Maker, if he wishes to attain sure knowledge." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2 7

"Shake off all the fears and servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787. ME 6:258 Papers 12:15

"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814. ME 14:85

"It is surely time for men to think for themselves, and to throw off the authority of names so artificially magnified." --Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 1820. ME 15:258

"Lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision." --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787. ME 6:261

"In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance." --Thomas Jefferson to David Harding, 1824. ME 16:30

"Nothing is so desirable to me as that after mankind shall have been abused by such gross falsehoods as to events while passing, their minds should at length be set to rights by genuine truth. And I can conscientiously declare that as to myself, I wish that not only no act but no thought of mine should be unknown." --Thomas Jefferson to James Main, 1808. ME 12:175

"There is not a truth on earth which I fear or would disguise. But secret slanders cannot be disarmed, because they are secret." --Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1806. ME 11 4

"Unlearned views... are, perhaps, the more confident in proportion as they are less enlightened." --Thomas Jefferson to Caspar Wistar, 1807. ME 11:243

"I think it is Montaigne who has said, that ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head." --Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Randolph, 1794. ME 9:280

"Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck." --Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822. ME 15:409

"It was more in our spirit to let things come to rights by the plain dictates of common sense than by the practice of any artifices." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1800. ME 19:120

~~~~~~~
We have let him down.

[BlooInBloo]

3. I wonder if the war funding setback will motivate Gore to re-think his not-running status?

[RestoreGore]

4. Why should it?

[BlooInBloo]

5. Whoa. Was just wondering.

[helderheid]

9. pssst... RG hates it when people speculate on that. Not sure what wound it rubs salt in.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Oooooh - gotcha. Live & learn, I guess!

[RestoreGore]

11. Actually, I was looking for a good discussion on it by asking that

of course, you sure aren't the one who fits that bill.

[helderheid]

14. From you, that is quite a compliment!

[RestoreGore]

16. Look, if the only reason you are here is the "I know you are but what am I" rhetoric...

Don't waste my time. Your comments here are a clear example of why men like Al Gore don't want to run for president. Good bye.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RestoreGore]

19. Totally inappropriate and baiting. I hope the moderators see this.

[helderheid]

21. I'm sure they will. Welcome (and the only one I might add) to my ignore list.

[RestoreGore]

22. Thank God. Finally.

[Pastiche423]

6. I believe the funding setback

along w/some other major issues will be considered in his decision.

[RestoreGore]

12. yes, Especially in seeing how Democrats also betrayed their oath to the American people

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Question...

and this may sound like I'm bashing Gore, but I'm not...

"Mr. Gore’s central argument is that 'reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions' and that the country’s public discourse has become 'less focused and clear, less reasoned.'"

Does Gore make any particular mea culpa's in this book?

[RestoreGore]

13. I don't know

I will have to look when I get my copy this week. I really have wondered if he actually regrets not running in 2004 at this point. However, I think by not doing it then and by writing this book he has already answered the question. No one who trashed this system and the media as he did in this book is thinking of running of it. And if he is, I sure hope it is as his own man apart from the entire status quo party system.

[mmonk]

8. Al's dead on correct.

We may already be too far down the rabbit hole. Maybe he will run and pull us out of this unAmerican madness.

[RestoreGore]

15. And maybe the people will understand it won't happen unless we pull ourselves out

But at this point I'm not holding my breath waiting for that one, especially since the people of this country as a whole have allowed the politics of fear and deception to run their lives for seven years as they allowed our Democracy to be taken right out from under our feet with nary a whimper, and then think they are deserving of now begging Al Gore to "save" them just so they don't have to walk away from their remotes and modems and other distractions. Maybe, maybe, Maybe... and maybe this planet will miss the tipping point if we all sit and wait and cross our fingers too. I am really beginning to believe that the true message of his book will ultimately be lost on the majority of the populace in this country. No wonder people in other countries shake their heads at us.

[mmonk]

18. I would like to see the book in everybody's hands.

I would like to see them try and argue against it and what it warns us about.

[RestoreGore]

20. So would I...

Unfortunately, this isn't 1776.

[RestoreGore]

23. Thomas Paine: America In Crisis

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."


This says it all, and in my view, Mr.Gore is stating the same thing regarding the conflict we now all have with an enemy of reason even more insidious because it is on our soil and housing itself in our very government, twisting the meaning of Democracy to include only those who fit its definition of being worthy. An insidious force that has taken Democracy and turned it into something ugly.

[kwyjibo]

24. How's the new book?

I didn't even know he was writing. I'm looking forward to reading it!

[RestoreGore]

25. I'm waiting for my copy

Can't wait to read it either. I'm pining for a truly "Jeffersonian" book.

[RestoreGore]

27. Just received it...

Reading the introduction and it reads like a book a true statesman would write in imparting his experience and knowledge to warn our generation, and educate a new generation. And he dedicated the book to his father...very fitting and poignant considering that he has truly let his glory out.

[Kurovski]

26. Surely Al Gore will see how desperately we need him as president.

The latest action on the part of Democrats proves we've got NOTHING. All the work, all the talking, all the writing, all the money to get them in office, and NOTHING. Goddam fucking nothing, and no one to represent us. And by us, I mean 70% of the entire nation.

Maybe there will be ONE GODDAM person in the world to listen to us, and maybe it will be Al Gore.

It's all coming to a new beginning, or a tired and sad ending very soon.

It's ALL up to Gore at this point. All of it.

The question is, will Gore listen?

[OneBlueSky]

28. whenever Al Gore announces, he immediately becomes the frontrunner . . .

and come election time, should win in a landslide . . .

that's assuming, of course, that Bush doesn't exercise his new, self-appointed dictatorial powers and cancel the election . . .

[Kurovski]

30. I really do believe we're just about finished in America,

The experiment is almost over.

We lost it. BushCo will win.

[RestoreGore]

29. And Mr. Gore IS listening

He's already listening, which is why he has poured his soul out in this book and An Inconvenient Truth. I honestly do find it sad that so many people are too preoccupied with titles and political rhetoric to see that. When is the American populace going to get in the game? We have been allowing our Constitution to be ripped to shreds and have done nothing about it. Do you honestly think we then DESERVE a man of his intelligence and vision? Do you think we deserve this good man after not earning him? Do you think he should have to go back to that stinking cesspool we call a political system when he has already paid his dues and can make great change in the capacity he is choosing now?

I sure as hell don't and I am fine with him doing what his heart calls him to do now because he has walked through the fire and is doing a hell of a lot more than most when he could have just said screw it all. So, I don't think he is turning his back on anything for those who think he is, and I don't think at this point that we have any moral high ground in telling Mr. Gore what to do regarding running. Matter of fact, I think it is arrogant and a sure sign of our own unwillingness to truly see the big picture and our part in it. He is not going gently into that good night, and neither should we. THAT is the point of this book to me, and I thank him for it.

[farmboxer]

31. President Gore Is Correct And He Should Be Allowed

to take office ASAP! He won the election!!! Call an ace an ace and a spade a spade! Where is the outrage about the coup?! Bush is out of his head, appears to be completely nuts!

President Gore is very intelligent. What a different world this would be if President Gore had been allowed to have taken office!

[Raksha]

32. I received my copy of the new Gore book this afternoon,

three days ahead of schedule. Here's what I posted about it earlier today on another forum after I read the Introduction and part of Chapter 1, "The Politics of Fear." I'm now finished with the first two chapters and beginning Chapter 3.
__________________

I have to say that this book is destined to become a classic. Completely apart from considerations of whether Al runs or doesn't run, this has to be one of the best books on contemporary politics I've ever read or could even imagine. His obvious erudition is in no way forbidding or off-putting, but very approachable and accessible. His writing style also has a nice crisp clarity about it that makes the points he raises even more accessible. Maybe he just has a very good editor, but what the hell...it's the finished product that counts. And in this case the finished product is absolutely amazing.

That said, however...one of my first reactions to this book is that if he does decide to run for president, there is absolutely nothing he could have done that is more effective, from a purely TACTICAL point of view, than to write and publish this book. It's absolutely BRILLIANT, a pure stroke of genius!

First of all, he's the only one of the candidates (official and non-official) in either party who is capable of writing something like this. While I was reading it, I found myself thinking "He must be the reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson, come back to us in our time of need." I never thought that about any contemporary political figure, and I never even thought it about Al Gore before either, although at times he reminded me of Jefferson.

What I mean about the book being tactically brilliant, though, is that by writing it and releasing it at this particular time, he has made an end run around the shallowness and vapidity of his critics. He has "innoculated" himself against the inanities of the 2000 campaign by analyzing and debunking their tactics, before they open their big stupid mouths and before he has even officially declared, he has already neutralized them!

Now he only went into the specifics of campaign 2000 one time (in the part I read so far), where he mentions the way the talking heads went on and on about his sighs and apparently didn't notice that he wiped the floor with Bush and won the debate. Now he doesn't come out and SAY he won the debate, but then he doesn't need to. Nor does he need to go into much detail about the 2000 campaign at all. That's Bob Somerby's job, not his.

All he needs to do is talk about the operative principles of our national political debate and the voters and the liberal commentators are quite capable of connecting the dots on their own. Like I said, from a purely tactical POV, it's BRILLIANT!