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Introduction
I'm in a particularly peevish mood as I write this, but bear with me. It's time to strip away comforting illusions and get down to cases, especially in our political choices. I hope you will be catapulted out of your armchair, and set marching on the road (not necessarily to Damascus). That's what this piece is about.

Philosophy Has Consequences

Forlorn Hopes

Nicholas Kristoff, a New York Times OP-ED contributor, writes in the December 6, 2003 edition that Dr Howard Dean is another McGovern, who will lead the Democratic party to disaster. "McGovern" has become an adjective, epitomizing all that happened to Democrats in the 1972 Presidential election, and suggesting that it was McGovern and his followers who caused the donnybrook.

Kristoff's opinion follows another controversial article, "Hold the Vitriol," in which he blamed "liberals" for being too outspoken and noisy in their criticism of the Bush Administration. That opinion was heartily endorsed in a widely noted Wall Street Journal editorial.

So, it should be no surprise that Kristoff's slur on Dean repeats what many Republicans (hereinafter, R's or Repugs or Rethugs, variously) and the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) have been screaming. It's not harmful that Repugs think those thoughts, as that only consolidates the R's base while clouding the true nature of the Dean insurgency. That makes it more likely the R's will be defeated, because their campaign will be miscued.

The DLC views are more troublesome, because they have been widely repeated by Democrats - especially conservative Democrats - and have caused some dissension within the party. Now, those folks might be right: a Dean candidacy might be a loser. But, maybe they are "right" another way: they just aren't Democrats, and certainly not Lefties (Progressives).

I am a Progressive, always have been. So, the meaning of Kristoff's writing is pretty clear to me: Kristoff isn't on my side. People like Kristoff, and groups like the DLC, are much more comfortable with George Bush and his cronies than with people like me. THAT'S ALL IT MEANS.

Kristoff tells of his youthful disappointment in Yamhill, Oregon when George McGovern did not get elected, despite his best efforts. That experience was formative of his present views; he cannot endure being disappointed.

I understand why Kristoff feels that way, because I traveled in Oregon when I was a young man. In those days, Oregonians were moderate, unassuming people. Oregon was clean, maybe because it rained a lot, and those who were ready, willing and able could make a living in the mills. Oregon was far, far away from Vietnam, nuclear missiles and braceros.

But, all of that is gone. Oregon has its Berkeley and deepest Orange County on opposite banks of the Willamette: Eugene and Springfield. Logging companies, workers and their families were decimated by foreign competition, over cutting, spotted owls as well as private and public mismanagement. I know this, because I've lived in Oregon and known some of the dispossessed.

Oregonians aren't moderates any more; no one is a moderate when the persistent unemployment rate is over 7% or 8%. When the government, regardless of the party in power, negotiates "solutions" and fails to implement them, people become cynical.

Like Nicholas Kristoff, I yearn to return to that Oregon of yesterday; I remember that Oregon vividly. But, it is all gone, never to come back, except in my memory. In this world, even those living in the most remote paradise are not free from the intrusions of Greater America, the Empire.

Middle Muddle

The great American middle, self-concerned and apolitical, hasn't grasped what is happening in Washington. They don't get it, don't want to get it, and, so far, don't care that they are it.

On the Sunday, December 7, 2003, "talking head" shows, no one mentioned Pearl Harbor. The attack on the World Trade Center, "9-11", has finally displaced World War II as the defining event of our American era. All the talk was about Iraq, all the shows featured Sen. Hilary Clinton, and everyone asked the proverbially useless, silly "Are you running ...?" question.

Little noticed in all those December 7th words about terrorists, democracy and Iraq was Tim Russert's question to both Hilary Clinton and Newt Gingrich: what is at stake in the 2004 elections? Sen. Clinton said the New Deal, explaining that Republicans are trying to privatize Medicare and Social Security and end the programs which built the middle class. Newt Gingrich said Republicans are still working on his "Contract for America," and will further lower taxes and expand choice. Using different euphemisms, the two politicians agree that a re-elected Bush Administration will fundamentally change American institutions.

So, what does the great middle think about all this? Yawn. Who will be the primary beneficiary or target, depending on your point of view? The Middle Class, singing La-De-Da.

I resent that response because I warned everyone, last year especially. For example: see my 11/2002 SOFTWARE CIRCULAR. I also sent around a very mild e-mail, noting what was at stake in the election; viz., the things which have been happening. What I got back was a storm of protest from the right wingnuts, screaming I was too political and why don't I shut up. Well, now you know: conservatives in power don't like criticism or exposure. They do what they do under cover at night.

I am furious, sad and disdainful. The people who can't think about things, who maybe don't think at all, who are too busy doing little things in their little lives, will get exactly what they deserve. I watched a rerun of "BRAVE NEW WORLD" a week ago, starring Leonard Nemoy. Definitely scary because remarkably like America, 2004. Eternal vigilance really is the price of liberty.

I'm disgusted, even though I won't be around much longer, so it doesn't matter to me. Maybe I should have a very hard nosed (disdainful) attitude: if those folks don't care about their own destruction, why should I?

That's it. If you can't see what's coming, what's plainly in front of you, you deserve what you are going to get. Make no mistake about it.

Whence America?

The upcoming 2004 election is critical. If the Republican factions hold on to power, as seems likely, the United States will become a different country than what it has been since World War II. Republicans plan to kill the New Deal once and for all, in one stroke turning the clock back to the 1890s. This has vast consequences.

What started with Reagan's crackdown on the unionized controllers (PATCO) will end in the loss of union power and any ability to negotiate wages and working conditions. It will be 'take it or leave it' for everyone, as it once was. This will slowly but surely destroy the American "middle class," creating a huge gap between workers and management. America is already far down that Third World Country road.

Generally, Republicans are removing power from the lower classes and giving it to the upper classes. Decreasing taxes for the wealthy results in reducing benefits and/or increasing taxes for the rest. The high cost of political campaigns excludes almost everyone except the rich and friends of the rich from public office. Republican moralizing is aimed at reducing the sexual freedom of most people, especially women and gays, but places few constraints on wealthy males. An old formula has it, sex=money=power. Republicans are creating a paternal plutocracy.

Republicans are "Nativists." They feel America belongs to its natives, but that doesn't include black, brown, red or yellow people. "Native" means white people born in America, especially those descended from English-speaking or Northern European ancestors. In their belated, grudging acknowledgement of Hispanics, Republicans are giving the nod to SPANISH speaking people, descendants of the Conquistadores. They still don't approve of Mestizos, or Mexicans, who are still near the bottom of the economic heap. Republican gatherings are still a white capped ocean, dotted with an occasional Jamaican wearing white gloves.

Republicans are entrenched in the South, because they are the South. The "family values" we've heard so much about are shouted from Bible Belt pulpits every Sunday. The place of women in society is a regular subject for Bible thumpers; yes, women are still the inferior subjects of men. Caste and class matter in the South, just as they did before the War; the Civil War, that is. The Southern colonies were founded by aristocrats and gentlemen under Royal Charter, and they have preserved Europe's class distinctions ever since. George Bush, for example, spends very little time with people who are not aristocrats (a fact revealed during his recent stay with Queen Elizabeth). The full Republican treatment is the reincarnation of the ante bellum South, in case you haven't guessed that.

The old days of "moderate Republicans" - meaning the socially liberal, Internationalist Northeastern Business Establishment - are gone. That part of the American political structure now has to curry favor with whatever party is in power. They supported Clinton as long as their man Rubin was in charge. They support Alan Greenspan. But, their lobbyists are having far more success in Congress than with this nationalist, even jingoist, White House. At least in Congress, money still talks.

Republicans believe in State supported religion; at least as far as the Courts will permit. Southern preachers are most concerned to bring their congregations "under control." Republicans share that tender concern; they want you to believe as they do. If you don't, you could become an enemy of the State. The Attorney General, presently John Ashcroft, can arrest "enemies of the State" under the Patriot Act without a warrant, hold them indefinitely without trial, strip them of US citizenship, and deport them to somewhere (even if they were born US citizens); all this without judge, jury or trial. How long until you are "them?"

What I believe is extremely gauche: Bushies are just old fashioned Fascists. "Fascism" is the practice of the Corporate State, according to Webster, and that's what we have in Washington. Maybe things won't get as hard core as Hitler's Nazis - that seems far fetched even for the American South, unless racism comes back full tilt. I think Mussolini's Italy, the original example of Fascism, is a fairly good comparison to this Bush Administration.

So, where are we headed? To a really bad place, if people don't wake up.

The Long Struggle

Our task in 2004 is just to stop falling further into Hell. If we manage to get back to Limbo, we'll have done the best possible.

It will be a miracle if the right wingnuts, led by Tom Delay (what a name!), are unseated from Congress. It might happen, but I don't know how. Maybe one of you knows the secret codes; if so, please tell me.

As I said in a recent Political Notes, "the main reason for electing a Democratic President is simply holding the line."

With a Democratic President in office, the veto will prevent this Radical Republican Revolution from going any further. It won't reverse it, but, for the duration, it will just be a stalemate.

If you aren't a Bushie, Gingrich Republican, Neo-conservative or member of the religious right, you should be thinking hard right now. What do you really believe?

Being nothing, uncommitted, doesn't work anymore. Doing nothing has consequences, as those proposing the conquest of Iraq were so prone to saying. If you do nothing, you get the Republican world by default.

Is that what you really want?

So, all of you who think politics is a drag, who don't like confrontation, who don't want to argue, and especially to those who think it will all go away, just keep singing LA-DE-DA.

When they knock on your door, you will know philosophy has consequences. Alas, too late.

An Apocryphal Story

(forwarded from who knows where) by Lindsay

One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Bush asks him, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.

The next night, Bush is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. He calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"

"Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.

The third night sleep is still not in the cards for Bush. He awakes to see the ghost of FDR. hovering over his bed. He whispers, "Franklin, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?"

"Help the less fortunate, just as I did," FDR replies and fades into the mists.

Bush isn't sleeping well for the fourth night, when he sees another figure moving in the shadows: Abraham Lincoln's ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?" he pleads.

As Abe dissolves into the floor, he whispers, "Go see a play."