Marc
Human beings act in their own interest. Huge, crazed swine do not. My wife informed me a certain time-interval ago that if I did not lose weight, she would leave me. I have not lost weigh. ... Tonight I will eat. Hugely, and alone. For I am now hugely alone. -- David Foster Wallace in The Broom of the System
Monterey, California
One. Tonight I feel like writing about politics, or at least writing about politics to the best of my ability. For the most part, just like most of you I'm sure, I've been hearing over and over again, since last week, about President Bush possibly lying to the American public in his State of the Union speech. I remember watching some of that speech in my then-roommate Luke's room. They wouldn't turn it on in the living room. I remember being upset about the case that the president was building, with the majority of Congress (the Republicans) applauding every ten seconds for more than ten seconds. I do not specifically remember the line from his speech. I talked to Jesse afterward, while he was still based in Texas, and realized that he had watched it, a, and that he didn't quite know what to think of it because he had also been drinking, b. So, now I'm trying to make up my mind about Bush, a man who I loathe with every fiber of my being. This will take up some room.
Two. As a matter of coincidence, perhaps, I've also been listening to much more talk radio these past few weeks, as I'm sure those of you who read with frequency will remember. Why is the AM dial on any given radio in any given section of the country -- and, believe me, I've been to them all -- completely filled with right-wing politicos? Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, and any of the plethora of right-wing Christian stations. They all espouse the same basic views: support the president, support the Republican party, support the troops and war-in-general, and espouse socialism in all of its forms (whether those forms be welfare, education reform, tax reform, etc). All you hear on the radio is support for Bush and support for what happened in Iraq, peppered with phrases from time to time about how they regret that dozens of young Americans seem to be losing their lives halfway across the world in a country that doesn't seem to matter ... except for the oil. It boils down to this question -- What did we get out of this war? In other words, why were we there? There are repressive regimes that exist, and that have existed, all over the country. Some we've supported, some we've ignored. Iraq was one that we supported in the early 1980s, and that includes Secretary Rumsfeld. Why did we pick them out of the many regimes to destroy and to bring "democracy" to?
Three. Every occassion within the past few months in which I've used the word "democracy", I've immediately thought back to the last chapter of Zinn's A People's History of the US. If less than half of the people in a country voted -- and this half will include me, for those of you keeping score -- and less than half of those who voted cast their vote for the current president, how can we call it a democracy? The country is being run by a person who has less than 25 percent of support from the general public. The reasons for non-voting are varied and many. Laziness. Disinterest. Dissatisfaction. Etc. Why is this called a "democracy", and more importantly, why do we feel that we should spread this wonderful thing to countries like Iraq, where it could turn even more deadly than it was before, and even more wholeheartedly against us? The "No War For Oil" crowd seemed too loud, and too overbearing before the war, but looking back on it, it seems as though they may have been the closest to being correct about what was going on in that corner of the world. Halliburton, Dick Cheney's close friend and former employer, has picked up a large number of bids for rebuilding the country, and will almost assuredly reap some kind of profit from the rebuilding of that country's oil program. Bush, while he may seem to have supported and pushed the war for all the right reasons -- weapons of mass-destruction, human rights violations, de-stablization concerns in the region, and so forth -- is nothing if he is not an oil-man. He, no doubt, will have some kind of connection that country's oil program either after he leaves office, or even while he is still in office, though I doubt we will know about it.
Four. I simply believe that now is the time to get Bush, and more importantly, to get the Republican Party. It dawned on me today, while thinking about why the Republicans have been so dominant recently, that this is the era of the Baby Boomers. They are now getting old, and along with that increase in age, they are becoming much more conservative. First they were the hippies, then the Me Generation in the 1980s, and now, if something drastic does not happen, they will be the right-wing of the political arena. And how can they be either balanced out or dissuaded from their newfound conservative viewpoints? One, Bush needs to go. Can anyone depend on the Democratic party to do this? Most likely not. The Democratic party is just the more liberal wing of the Republican party. We need something new, something left, and something worthwhile to come along and kick someone in the ass to get Bush out of office. Doesn't this all make the snipping and sniping about Clinton and Lewinsky seem a little foolish, and more than a bit unneccesary? We have Americans dying on a daily basis in Iraq. And for what? For what are they losing their lives? Democracy? For a country in a region where democracy is the last thing on everyone's mind? Even Alexander Hamilton was not a believer in true democracy, and he is one of our Founding Fathers. How can we expect a country without a true democracy (ourselves) to bring this democracy to a country without any idea of what democracy is or how to achieve it (Iraq)? Something needs to change.
Post script: I've re-read this, and most of it doesn't make sense. For this, I ask your forgiveness. I'm writing off the top of my head. Thank you. Good night.
Up Next: Hail to the Thief by Radiohead; Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco; and, Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace.
Tomorrow: Monterey. SFO. ORD. Chicago.
Human beings act in their own interest. Huge, crazed swine do not. My wife informed me a certain time-interval ago that if I did not lose weight, she would leave me. I have not lost weigh. ... Tonight I will eat. Hugely, and alone. For I am now hugely alone. -- David Foster Wallace in The Broom of the System
Monterey, California
One. Tonight I feel like writing about politics, or at least writing about politics to the best of my ability. For the most part, just like most of you I'm sure, I've been hearing over and over again, since last week, about President Bush possibly lying to the American public in his State of the Union speech. I remember watching some of that speech in my then-roommate Luke's room. They wouldn't turn it on in the living room. I remember being upset about the case that the president was building, with the majority of Congress (the Republicans) applauding every ten seconds for more than ten seconds. I do not specifically remember the line from his speech. I talked to Jesse afterward, while he was still based in Texas, and realized that he had watched it, a, and that he didn't quite know what to think of it because he had also been drinking, b. So, now I'm trying to make up my mind about Bush, a man who I loathe with every fiber of my being. This will take up some room.
Two. As a matter of coincidence, perhaps, I've also been listening to much more talk radio these past few weeks, as I'm sure those of you who read with frequency will remember. Why is the AM dial on any given radio in any given section of the country -- and, believe me, I've been to them all -- completely filled with right-wing politicos? Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, and any of the plethora of right-wing Christian stations. They all espouse the same basic views: support the president, support the Republican party, support the troops and war-in-general, and espouse socialism in all of its forms (whether those forms be welfare, education reform, tax reform, etc). All you hear on the radio is support for Bush and support for what happened in Iraq, peppered with phrases from time to time about how they regret that dozens of young Americans seem to be losing their lives halfway across the world in a country that doesn't seem to matter ... except for the oil. It boils down to this question -- What did we get out of this war? In other words, why were we there? There are repressive regimes that exist, and that have existed, all over the country. Some we've supported, some we've ignored. Iraq was one that we supported in the early 1980s, and that includes Secretary Rumsfeld. Why did we pick them out of the many regimes to destroy and to bring "democracy" to?
Three. Every occassion within the past few months in which I've used the word "democracy", I've immediately thought back to the last chapter of Zinn's A People's History of the US. If less than half of the people in a country voted -- and this half will include me, for those of you keeping score -- and less than half of those who voted cast their vote for the current president, how can we call it a democracy? The country is being run by a person who has less than 25 percent of support from the general public. The reasons for non-voting are varied and many. Laziness. Disinterest. Dissatisfaction. Etc. Why is this called a "democracy", and more importantly, why do we feel that we should spread this wonderful thing to countries like Iraq, where it could turn even more deadly than it was before, and even more wholeheartedly against us? The "No War For Oil" crowd seemed too loud, and too overbearing before the war, but looking back on it, it seems as though they may have been the closest to being correct about what was going on in that corner of the world. Halliburton, Dick Cheney's close friend and former employer, has picked up a large number of bids for rebuilding the country, and will almost assuredly reap some kind of profit from the rebuilding of that country's oil program. Bush, while he may seem to have supported and pushed the war for all the right reasons -- weapons of mass-destruction, human rights violations, de-stablization concerns in the region, and so forth -- is nothing if he is not an oil-man. He, no doubt, will have some kind of connection that country's oil program either after he leaves office, or even while he is still in office, though I doubt we will know about it.
Four. I simply believe that now is the time to get Bush, and more importantly, to get the Republican Party. It dawned on me today, while thinking about why the Republicans have been so dominant recently, that this is the era of the Baby Boomers. They are now getting old, and along with that increase in age, they are becoming much more conservative. First they were the hippies, then the Me Generation in the 1980s, and now, if something drastic does not happen, they will be the right-wing of the political arena. And how can they be either balanced out or dissuaded from their newfound conservative viewpoints? One, Bush needs to go. Can anyone depend on the Democratic party to do this? Most likely not. The Democratic party is just the more liberal wing of the Republican party. We need something new, something left, and something worthwhile to come along and kick someone in the ass to get Bush out of office. Doesn't this all make the snipping and sniping about Clinton and Lewinsky seem a little foolish, and more than a bit unneccesary? We have Americans dying on a daily basis in Iraq. And for what? For what are they losing their lives? Democracy? For a country in a region where democracy is the last thing on everyone's mind? Even Alexander Hamilton was not a believer in true democracy, and he is one of our Founding Fathers. How can we expect a country without a true democracy (ourselves) to bring this democracy to a country without any idea of what democracy is or how to achieve it (Iraq)? Something needs to change.
Post script: I've re-read this, and most of it doesn't make sense. For this, I ask your forgiveness. I'm writing off the top of my head. Thank you. Good night.
Up Next: Hail to the Thief by Radiohead; Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco; and, Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace.
Tomorrow: Monterey. SFO. ORD. Chicago.
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