Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships. They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and… return to article
-
subscribe to print magazine
-
email this article to a friend
-
Reader Comments (1673)Come now, cowpox, the war beween the states is long over and the union still stands. Further, I cannot for the life of me understand why you folks continue to support the Republicans when the Southern states have the lowest per capita incomes in the country and send the most troops to be slaughtered so the boys in the back room can drive their gas guzzlers, pocket their golden parachutes, and hide their oil profits.
You can pray for the troops and hate the war and despise the president who sent them there.
Go Garrison!
nana
Posted by naughtynana on Aug 28, 2004 at 7:09 AM Everyone has said it already, so I’ll just add one more superlative: BRILLIANT!
Thank you, Mr Keillor….
Janice
Posted by Janice on Aug 28, 2004 at 7:19 AM You know how this election makes me feel? There should be an amendment to the Constitution that states that when one registers to vote at age 18 (for me it was age 21—how many of you remember those times?) you get ONE CHANCE to cast TWO votes when you feel, “This is the most important election of my life”.
The fly in that ointment is that we would have used it up when we were younger. I certainly would have (Nixon-McGovern?).
I have felt since the 1960s that if our Republic survived Richard Nixon, it can survive anything. Now I’m not so sure.
Posted by Richard Stark on Aug 28, 2004 at 7:32 AM I think the scariest thing about what’s going on in America right now is that children are growing up thinking Fox News is a legitimate news organization. Actually they’re not so much thinking, as blindly accepting: “it’s on TV, it has news in its name, etc.”
Those on the left need to fight back against this and so many other things. For instance, why can’t filthy-rich Democrats fund a start-up that produce voting machines that DO provide a paper trail? I’m a computer programmer living in one of the 10 or 15 wealthiest counties in the country, and I would work for such an enterprise for HALF what I could make as a cog in the overarching corporate wheel America has become.
Think I’ll cross post this to the Williamson County Democrats Yahoo group. Now YOU go do something too ;)
Posted by George on Aug 28, 2004 at 10:48 AM A raindrop of logic and common sense in a roiling, broiling sea of inconsistancy, maliciousness, and bad intent.
Posted by Joe Pound on Aug 28, 2004 at 11:08 AM There once was a president (Let’s call him LBJ), who decided to support equal rights for blacks. “How can this be?” said the southern Democrats. “He’s one of us! A southerner…. a Democrat… a Texan, for God’s sake.” Having none of this, these southern Democrats became southern Republicans… taking their bigotries with them.
So, in response to Mr. Keillor’s question… “How did the Party ... transmogrify…? This is meerly an example.
Posted by Hoodel on Aug 28, 2004 at 11:26 AM Dude…awesome! How do you know you’re not Mark Twain? Keep “telling the truth and shaming the devil.” Everyone. Thanks!
Posted by jef schultz on Aug 28, 2004 at 11:38 AM I too believe in my heart that this republic will be gone if Bush fanagles his way into office for four more years.Mr.Bush has put in place his own judges to control the direction that he wants the country to go.He has gutted and/hamstrung any protection of the environment,for the benefit of the richest industrialists and to the detrement of all the citizens of this country and the world.Freedom has become a dirty word to the world thanks to W..
Don’t be fooled.Mr. Kerry,if he is elected will not look good and probably will not be re-elected because it will take four years to clean up the mess that Mr.Bush has made of this country.Meanwhile the republicans will make hay of the fact that Mr.Kerry did nothing and will win re-election and continue on with the destruction of this country.One president can’t pull this country out of a deficit hole that we have been pushed into.
I see a very bleak future for this country with fewer freedoms for the people,less money,and a strangle hold on the windpipe of hope.So sad.
I am an independent and I will vote for Kerry just in the very faint hope that Bush will be expelled from our already clogged throats,but I see dire times ahead for this repulic.Ed P.
Posted by Ed Pleskovitch on Aug 28, 2004 at 11:58 AM Kerry is NOT the answer! Sorry, he is one of the many who are part of the problem! He and GW are cousins and are both pledged to the same Club. They ultimately have the same aims. There is an alternative: Mr. John Joseph Kennedy of NC, who is dedicated to the Constitution (the Original!) and who needs to be our next President. Please check him out and lend your support NOW—the campaign is ON and growing. We need to remove the dross that is part of BOTH of the two main parties!
Posted by John Weiler on Aug 28, 2004 at 12:38 PM To john sKerry,
If you had any guts at all you’d use your real name. But like most of your ilk you hide behind false names, threats and foul language. What is it that makes you and your kind react like this? Honestly, what is your problem?
Posted by Ken Hayes on Aug 28, 2004 at 1:29 PM Sorry, Mr. Keillor, it is worse than that.
All you say is true, but why aren’t the Democrats calling liars liars? Kerry should call Bush a liar on a daily basis. He not only has lied from the beginning of his political career, he did it before the last election to decive the voters, and he has gotton more brazen as time goes on, and it will get worse. Democrats should call for impeachment even though the Republicans control Congress with malvolent intent.
It will be good for Kerrry to lose so that the modern version of Calligula and Nero can drive the population to revolution.VOTE NADAR!
Ronald James
Posted by Ronald James on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:02 PM Oh, poor Woebegon Garrison!
A discussion on the Republican Party is certainly fair game (although this was NOT a discussion but a monologue - which is OK too), but Mr. Keillor rants fit nicely into the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party. Keillor as Mark Twain? Sure. And Twain, as great a writer as there was, proved woebegonfully wrong on the great issues of his day. Don’t let anyone of us forget 9/11. It changed forever the history of this country. Over 200 years to forge our greatness without serious threat has ended. New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles are now the front lines of a war against Islamofascism.
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:05 PM You are wrong, Mr. Killor! It is worse than you say.
Bush is a liar. He should be told each day by prominent Democrats he is a liar.
Posted by Ronald James on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:05 PM And WHY aren’t our Democratic politicians speaking out with this fervor?? It is SO frustrating and depressing.
Posted by Kym Farmer on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:17 PM Interesting article, for sure. What I am certain of is that a discussion whether Americans should pick a Democrat or Republican for next president is futile - it is the whole system that needs changing. The corporations already own all of the institution of the so called democracy. Mark Twain said it well, a long time ago: We have the best Congress money can buy!
If you are serious about change, you need to start looking outside the box. Remember Pat Buchanan’s words: The democratic and republican parties are but two wings on the same bird of prey. I don’t see many solutions, other than voting with your feet and your wallets. The choice you are presented with for this presidential election is a pseudo choice.
Posted by Martin on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:38 PM “Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral.” (Of course the problem with Republicans like Mr. Oplas is that they are unable to see that this country is in a serious period of crisis since they are snookered by all the lies… So good luck in the afterlife…)
For all of the others, however, let’s join the author and say our piece too! Come along with the growing crowds who have decided to speak up and show their opposition to this administration and what it does to this beautiful country: just wear red every Friday between now and election day.Wear a little or a lot—just be sure that when you leave your house to go about your day—to work, to school, to the store, to the gas station, wherever you go in your daily routine—that everyone who sees you will see that you are wearing red because you believe in freedom and you don’t agree with our current administration’s policies at home and abroad. We’ll see that lots of us are wearing red for freedom—because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. Between now and election day, ask everyone you know to wear red for “Freedom Fridays”.
Posted by Gil B. on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:44 PM “Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral”. (Of course Republicans like Mr. Oplas are unable to see that the country is in a serious period of crisis since they are totally snookered by all the lies… Good luck in the afterlife…) For all of the others however, let’s say our piece too! Just wear red every Friday between now and election day.
Wear a little or a lot—just be sure that when youleave your house to go about your day—to work, to school, to the store, to the gas station, wherever you go in your daily routine—that everyone who sees you will see that you are wearing red because you believe in freedom and you don’t agree with our current administration’s policies at home and abroad. We’ll see that lots of us are wearing red for freedom—because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. Between now and election day, ask everyone you know to wear red for “Freedom Fridays”.
Posted by Gil B. on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:49 PM Garrison,
I, like pretty much everyone who has posted before me, agree with you!! What you have said is what needs to be said, and needs to be shouted from every tower! It needs to be heard… not just by the Democrats and the left leaning, but it needs to be heard and understood by the center and right as well!!
But where I disagree with you is that this is a Republican problem. It is not just republicans that are causing the problems in this country… it is all of right (and all of the left who refuse to stand up to them), and militants.
That being said, it leaves us in a very scary situation for this coming election because there is no candidate who is far enough left to make things better. There is no candidate who is not a militant… there is no candidate who will fix this country. I don’t even think it could be done in a single term, or two, or three, but Kerry is not the man to do it.
We need a president who is farther left than we will ever have a president be. We need someone who will represent the people and not allow politics compromise their beliefs.
We need a second party.
Eli Scott
Posted by Eli Scott on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:49 PM Sadly, America has become the Land of the “sometimes-free” and Home of the scared.
One thing I don’t get is how can Bush use 9/11 to get re-elcted when he is responsible for the greatest FAILURE of government in history?
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:53 PM Garrison
As another gentleman posted, I love you too, and thank you for putting such great words around our currnet national, and world tragedy. A lot of reading in the decline of empires really does suggest ours ma have already started down the decline on the backside, we are following observable historical patterns.
Just one quibble, though. A great portion of my work of late has centered on racism, its history, and the evolution of racist strategies. While I appreciate your images of Republicans of the Fifties and the era in general, wow, only White folks in small midwestern towns could see Republicans in that one light you cast (or a good deal of politicians in general). Those were still the days of Jim Crow, back of the bus, Whites Only drinking fountains, lynchings and all (of course we still have our occasional lynching). How that era is less open to criticism than our own, especially the “conservative” wing of it, is a bit perplexing, other than as a rhetorical tool.
The current neo-con false administration is so deeply evil, so deeply anti-human rights that it does not need the false idealized contrast from the Fifties. One more election in this direction and democracy’s murder will be complete, unlike Mark Twain’s who was able to say reports of his were premature.
I don’t think I have to look much further than to your words to find our generation’s Mark Twain.
Peace to you, peace to all, love your words, from a guy who used to live just down the road a piece from Lake Wobegone.
Dan Jordan, PhD
Posted by Dr Daniel Jordan on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:54 PM Having George W. Bush for President of the United States is a big mistake.
He should be impeached.
Posted by john T. Lytle on Aug 28, 2004 at 2:58 PM As a student of political history, I agree with poster Eli Scott. Although a Republican, I grew up in a house with a strong Democratic history. It is clear that conservative ascendency over the past 40 years has sent the liberals into a tailspin from which they have yet to emerge. Liberals laud Bill Clinton, but his success can be attributed to the co-option of moderate / conservative policies despite his best post-term efforts to plant a liberal face on his presidency. I would actually look forward to an unrequited liberal make a serious run for the presidency, whether within or without the Democratic Party and have a real debate on the political philosophy of the country. As an aside, during the liberal cowardice over the past 40 years, the one issue for which liberals should NEVER have ceded the high ground was on national defense. Despite the utter error of McGovern, the conservatives have made liberals pay for that mistake forever. McGovern NEVER represented historic liberal positions on national defense, yet the entire movement was branded as McGovernesque without proper response. A great failure of the movement. Christopher Hitchens represents the true historic liberal thought on defense today: he supports the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because they ARE wars of liberal intervention, despite what GWB has called them. And the great mistake of today’s leftists? They hate Bush so much they don’t see what Hitchens sees. Another huge error that has helped to destroy liberal legitimacy in today’s polity.
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:01 PM This is wonderful. How quickly this list has grown. We are living in uncertain times. The economy, the newly exposed “threat” made by Mr Greenspan yesterday re: Pensions and Social Security, the perpetual war on terror I won’t go on. There is, despite everything the Republicans would like us to believe, a malaise that permeates evry aspect of our daily lives. The Image of the Twin Towers falling remains a chilling reminder of the failures of this administrations ability to lift us up out of our collective depression. It just keeps falling!
It is amazing, that more people aren’t out there
expressing their outrage. How we’ve changed. Once upon a time we had leaders who thrilled us with their often, passionate views of; who we are, what we have accomplished and what we still can do to make our lives and the lives of others better.
I am old enough to remember: JFK /MLK/ Malcom/ and the other Great Americans of our generation who never flinched from telling it like it is.
Our current leaders treat us like a herd of cattle.
How are we going to rekindle theses flames? Where are the leaders who will resurrect our passions- relight the fires of our dreams and soothe the wounds still burning from the events of 9-11 with the balm of Gilead we so urgently need.
Bush offers us perpetual war. Kerry I am not sure but atleast I know that at one time in his life he turned his boat around to save a life!
Posted by Neil Friedman on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:18 PM “Soothe the wounds still burning from the events of 9-11 . . .” What does that mean? The wounds to the left are self-inflicted because of their denial of its impact. The wounds to America remain unhealed because the threat exists. It is NOT Bush who ” . . .offers us perpetual war.” It will NOT BE Kerry who ” . . .offers us perpetual war” should he be elected. It is the Islamofascists who offer us perpetual war, safe in the knowledge that mutual assured destruction does not apply as a tactical response (despite our best efforts). New York. Minneapolis. Los Angeles. Moscow. London. Paris. Tokyo. Would that it not be so.
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:26 PM Yes, indeed, Keillor, what you say is true but begs the question: why did we allow it to happen ? Are we stupid or greedy or both ? Why is it that, of all nations on earth, we honor the conservative and bash the liberal the most ? What is there in being a conservative other than wanting to keep what you’ve got, no matter the consequences ? Isn’t that a sickness ? Why should the qualifier “liberal” have fallen into disrepute, when its intent means spreading freedom to all equally ? We have been the willing victim, propelled by our own greed, of a cabal of leeches intent on securing the wealth of a continent to themselves. Before we can hope to get rid of those parasites, we ought to have a good look at ourselves.
Posted by Yvon Oscar Heckscher on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:37 PM Great, except that those who need to read this the most probably never will.
Posted by David P. Brown on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:41 PM Thank you, Garrison,
I think Kerry’s greatest challenge is to create the definite impression that he can outstrip Bush in taking care of the terrorist situation. AND, looking “friendly.” These are the only two things which some voters are clinging to as reasons for choosing the shrub in recent polls.
I want to be proud of America again!
Posted by Gloria C. on Aug 28, 2004 at 3:59 PM A couple of years ago a child in Atlanta starved to death. Its unemployed parents could not find public relief or even shelter. The city’s resources were expended, and so the child died.
The President’s motto “Leave no child behind” ought to be reworded: “Leave no Republican child behind.”
Posted by David Schulenburg on Aug 28, 2004 at 4:08 PM “I want to be proud of America again!” What’s stopping you? Stop with this self-pity stuff. What would make you proud? France and Germany agreeing with us on something? What makes the United States wrong and those countries right? And Mr. Shulenburg, your implication that GWB is guilty of the child’s death is, well, not truly worthy of the liberal mindset. Blame and hate never won an election. Just ask the Gingrichites about the 1996 election.
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 4:16 PM It’s either going to be Bush or Kerry. Which one would we rather have for the next four years?
Please vote for Kerry.
Posted by Doug on Aug 28, 2004 at 4:16 PM It’s time for action! One small thing we can all do: e-mail all tv news sources and suggest that they drop the “swift boat” coverage and use the time to report the lives taken (American and Iraqi) in this failed and illegal war. Parents who attempt suicide should NOT be the only mourners to receive the media’s attention.
Posted by LaVonne on Aug 28, 2004 at 4:23 PM Unless we wish to be in the armies invading Syria, Iran and Noth Korea all Americans who love this country and Democracy need to register and vote against the Radcons currently occupying the White House. It is time to take our country back from these imposters. We need to be smarter and anticipate Karl Rove’s moves to get us embrioled in useless controversies that take the heat off the Bush regime’s record. Ignore Rove and co. and keep Bush’s failures and lies in the forefront.
Posted by Lyle Shargent on Aug 28, 2004 at 4:37 PM “Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican party.”
The real problem is what has happened to the Republican party in the last thirty years. The development of win-at-any-cost, scorched-earth campaigning has finally (and, sadly, necessarily) spread across the political spectrum and that is tragic. I have memories of true conservatives and principled Republicans, men like Goldwater, or Rockefeller, who could disagree and compromise at the same time. They could do so, I believe, because they were men of principle, not ideology.
In my youth I investigated ideologies, learning the arguments of everything from Marxism to market and I can argue dialectical materialism as easily as anarcho-libertarianism. As I have aged I have come to the conclusion that no ideology is safe or defensible. They are not safe because they do not admit compromise. The historian Shelby Foote once observed that “The real American genius is compromise.” I believe that he was correct, certainly that is what the American history I know teaches us. The great strength of ideology is the fervor it can inspire in its adherents. Its great danger is that its true believers are, as a consequence of their rigidity and refusal to question their own beliefs, vulnerable to manipulation by those with other goals. That, I believe, is what has happened to the Republican party. Ideologues have fallen prey to those who have agendas predicated on other priorities.
Mr. Keillor once satirized Unitarians as folks who believed that “a small light burned, somewhere…” That is the problem facing progressives and Democrats. We do not have the natural advantage of a rigid ideology. We endorse diversity and, yes, pragmatism, not the easy answers of orthodoxy.
We find ourselves the victims of our own success. We have been so free, rich, and safe, for so long, that the majority of the population no longer sees the need for voting. Or for the necessary self-education required for responsible voting, right or left.
We do need to respond to the hyperbole of the right, and I thank Mr. Keillor for doing so, and making me laugh. But we also have to perform a political miracle. We must forge a coalition of outraged moderates. I know, that sounds as oxymoronic as ‘soviet journalist’, or ‘compassionate conservative.’ But since I consider myself a ‘dead skunks and yellow stripes’ voter, since I want to do what is best for the country, and since I am viscerally outraged by the course the country has taken of late, I have a hope it is possible. Surely there are others like me out there? Look, I don’t care if you’re a Judeo-Christian-Islamic literalist or worship the Goddess or strive to realize the Eightfold Path. And I don’t care what you choose to do in your bedroom. I can honestly say that I don’t care what your position is on almost any issue. I can work with you if you are willing to honestly assess the best objective evidence and make policy decisions based on what is best for the nation, not some ideology. If you already know the answers to serious questions before I ask them, you’re in my crosshairs.
It’s time to put the grown-ups back in charge, and that’s going to mean some spanking.
Posted by John on Aug 28, 2004 at 5:17 PM An invasion of Syria will not be necessary, thanks to a number of factors that will bring down that despotic regime soon: the democratization of Iraq, the REAL freedom fighting against the Al Assad dictatorship from within by the Kurds and the persistence of American covert action. Is this a bad thing? NO! An invasion of Iran will not be necessary, thanks to a number of factors that will bring down that theocratic regime soon: the democratization of Iraq and Afghanistan and the popular uprising of the younger Iranians, whose movement the United States supports with the same fervor the Wahabbists supported the Islamics in the 1970s. An invasion of North Korea will not be necessary thanks to a number of factors that will bring down that relic soon: Implosion. Implosion. And implosion. Implosion with help from the United States and Japan. And China. And Russia. A bad thing? For you perhaps. For the North Koreans, Iranians and Syrians. No. Liberal intervention? Yes.
Posted by Rich on Aug 28, 2004 at 5:24 PM Julie, here’s another try. I’m doing fine. Talk to you later.
Dick
Posted by Dick Partlow on Aug 28, 2004 at 6:40 PM Okay, gang; we’re all just preaching to the choir here. Start thinking of ways to get the message out to the enlightenable unenlightened!
Posted by Dennis Abbott on Aug 28, 2004 at 6:59 PM The entire basis of the intervention in Iraq was bogus logic. The idea, essentially perpetrated by Wolfowitz, is that to stabalize the region, one must create a controlled destabilization, and that other countries in the area will then be awed into submission. Wolfowitz concluded that arabs can be impressed with power, and that that is the only way to deal with them.
The experience in Iraq proves that that is not the case. Instead of creating a controlled destabliziation to resolve the problems in the middle east, we have created a quagmire. Every day, more people join the cause against us, and the nations around Iraq, rather than being frightened of us, know that we cannot intervene. Recently, when told that North Korea could very well possess operational nuclear weapons, Bush shrugged. NK knows that there is no chance that we could interevene, and, with the necessity of pulling troops out of the penisula to shore up Iraq, the chance of the war continuing increases.
In the end, every president should be judged on their record, and Bush’s record is that he is a failure. Even regardless of whether you support his policies at home (policies well laid out by Mr. Keiller), you should vote against Bush because his model for dealing with foreign affairs is fundamentally flawed.
Posted by Lionél Dripps on Aug 28, 2004 at 7:11 PM Sir,Remind me to give you a hug if Im in town.How’s that lake said again?I’ll listen to your show on NPR in case you say it again.Thanks,Gary
Posted by Gary Moraco on Aug 28, 2004 at 7:21 PM Good Stuff Mr. Keillor!
What you say is clearly true, but only one way of expressing what many of us feel and live every day.You hardly touch on the creeping loss of liberty that the economic exploitation of everything imposes on the peoples of the world. This loss is a mere symptom, but an important indicator of the state of our country and of the world. People do not freely choose to be bombed or shot or locked in a cage and held without contact with the rest of humanity. Doing these things to people creates the sort of hatred that those 19 used to drive themselves on 9/11. Doing these things is clearly wrong and will cost all of us for decades or perhaps centuries into the future.
Hatred and the ideas that fuel it are passed from person to person, but only take root in those that have hope driven from them. Neither hope nor hate has ever appeared in any bank balance, so the forces of capitalism that wield much of the power in our country will never respect them. Something else must serve to save our country and the world from fear and hate and give us hope. Flag waving, cheap food and 150 channels of cable will not do it.
You speak of the degradation of the Republican party. The Democratic party is hardly better today. Hardly different.
Perhaps the differences are enough…
You speak of fear. You demonstrate for the rest of us that we can conquer fear and do what is necessary. It is as noble a demonstration as any warrior shows in battle. Your celebrity, and the way you gained it, gives you both a podium and an obligation. You are to be commended for your courage in fulfilling that obligation, though you surely know some will not agree with you. Thank you for speaking your mind.
Change is in the air and your thoughts are a bellwether.
A.M.
Posted by A. McNibble on Aug 28, 2004 at 8:04 PM Thank you,thank you Mr.Keillor. Now if we can get you a weekly spot on TV (or radio).You really know how to negate the lying, swill we are getting from the neocons.
It’s to late for a ticket with Keillor/Maher.But thank you guys for being there.
Posted by Stan on Aug 28, 2004 at 8:06 PM Garrison -
I very much agree with your commentary.I am a life-long Republican that will be voting this year for John Kerry. I’m not sure that he will do any better by Americans than GWB - I’m doing it mainly to fire the incumbent.
And if John Kerry wins and doesn’t do something about the flow of American Jobs to Asia, I’ll vote to fire HIM in 2008!
www.rescueamericanjobs.com
www.fairus.com
Posted by Stephen Landess on Aug 28, 2004 at 8:24 PM “Sir, you will never understand the depth of Southern Rancour.”
Mr. Cowpox: WHO CARES!?! Your side lost the war you pathetic racist trash!
Posted by John on Aug 28, 2004 at 9:45 PM It does my heart good to know that there are passionate people out there with a will to think for themselves and try to understand how this country is being twisted to the agenda of a few elite few in power… but it makes me sad that so many of us have misdirected anger.
“Our current leaders treat us like a herd of cattle.”
I am unsure who the ‘us’ is referring to, but I will take it that it is the American people as a whole, and with that in mind I cant disagree… we are being treated like a herd of cattle because we are living like a herd of cattle. The larger group of Americans, young and old, right and left, punk democrat or republican, eat what they are told with no real urge to think, fight, or act for themselves…
“Americans who love this country and Democracy need to register and vote against the Radcons currently occupying the White House”
This makes me happy too! Because I do believe that Americans need to rally against radcons and take this country back to where I really believe it could be… the problem is that that will not happen via voting in this election. The left is virtually non-existent in national politics. There are no good options open to us. If i had to name one thing about this article and the replies to it that I agree with the least, its that this is the fault of the republicans… I do not believe that. It is too narrow to say that republicans are to blame for everything… conservatives and passive liberals are the larger group that bares the burden.
Any American who understood it should be enraged about something like the USA PATRIOT act being passed, and every single congressman (save one) voted for it… that is because conservatives pushed it and liberals didn’t have the spine to stand against it. Our ‘representatives’ didn’t and still don’t represent us.
That is the problem, not republicans or a view differing from ours, it is the one-party system that has been created in this country that is the problem.
Eli
Posted by Eli Scott on Aug 28, 2004 at 10:32 PM I couldn’t agree with Mr. Keillor more, and I am glad he has a pulpit. I am also thankful that so many of the people that replied have intelligent and incisive comments about Mr. Keillor’s commentary.
I am disappointed, but not surprised by the foregoing Oplas comment because it typifies the sanctimonious, ignorant attitude that so many bushies have about their flawed hero. Let’s not forget, this president used to blow up frogs with a firecracker when he was a kid, and while real men and women were fighting or protesting during Vietnam he was a drunken cheeleader vomiting his way through Yale and the Air National Guard. Tragically for us and much of the rest of the world, this frat house fool gifted with too much money and too little brains has done well (well, that is if you count the hand up he’s had all his life from his daddy’s friends).
It is a sad comment on the current state of the country and the ability of a people to critically think that such an untalented, illiterate individual could become president. I feel sorry for Oplas and his or her ilk because it must be terribly unfulfilling to be so enamored of mediocrity. At least my heroes deserve the accolades.
Well, enough said. Please, all of you vote this November - our country is at stake. Oh yeah, Mr. Keillor, please keep on spearing the republicans and bring the Prairie Home Companion Show to central New York. Thank you.
Posted by Chris on Aug 28, 2004 at 10:47 PM You have expressed my feelings in a way I could not.Those who would put the present resident back in the White House do not want a President but a Dictator. We are headed for an autocrisy the likes of which the modern world has never seen. Garrison, I am reminded of the old hymn that says “We are the sweet selected few, the rest may all be damned, there’s room enough in Hell for you, we don’t want heaven crammed.” It’s time for a huge change !!!
Posted by Donald Rahn on Aug 28, 2004 at 10:51 PM Someone posted that those who can afford to make political contributions, should. True, but ... even if you cannot afford to write a big fat check, go ahead and make a donation to John Kerry’s campaign. Is there any way you can afford 4 more years of George W. ?
Posted by Chrissie Ford on Aug 28, 2004 at 11:56 PM My brother Garrison speaketh my mind, and I am grateful.
Posted by Jeany on Aug 29, 2004 at 12:19 AM My greatest regret is that there is no real punishment for the likes of George Dubbyah Bush.
Like his father before him, the worst that can happen is he’s thrown out of office, then he promptly joins the boards of hundreds of companies, and uses all the connections he’s made while in the oval office to peddle influence and profit personally.
Where’s the downside to that?
Posted by Garry Daniels on Aug 29, 2004 at 12:43 AM For the first time since the Republicans stoned the finest President of this land without mercy for a human foiblewhich although not ommendable has been common among those in power, and at horrendous cost, and then with the grace of the high and mighty judges of this land stole the presidency away from the party preferred by the vast majority of US citizens I read your letter and begin to have a wee bit of hope again. Not pride; Mr. Bush has demolished my pride in being an American, and my hubris and security are gone.
I was stunned when a friend whom I’d previously thought astute admitted being a supporter of this inept, power seeking megalomaniac who has been bought and paid for and stamped fini by those whose agenda does not include support for this planet, let alone our countrymen. And he doesn’t even know it, pauvre petit puppet!
Incredible what diabolical PR men can create out of smoke with a burlap bag full of dollars, making a mahogany desk out of a knotty pine bough. But not for you, and not for me.
VOTE!!!
Posted by Pat Stephens on Aug 29, 2004 at 12:49 AM Great writing, Mr. Keillor, as usual. Some thoughts for all of you other scribes -
I just spent a large part of my day canvassing door-to-door for Kerry and our wonderful, idiosyncratic Senator Russ Feingold. You all may remember him as the only senator who did not vote for the Patriot Act. The man most likely to oppose him, once the Republicans have their primary next month, has a commerical running where he takes Feingold to task for failing to support “our president.”
You must understand that the Republican Party/Media Machine have succeeded in convincing themselves and much of the population that they actually won the last election. Even those who voted for Gore or Nader fail to emphasize that Bush got the votes of far less than half the voting population last time, and that translates to a small percentage of those actually qualified to vote if only they had done so. One must never stop repeating this truth. One must never use the term “reelection” in reference to Bush, simply because he was not elected in the way most people understand that term.
Further, this may be the first time in history that a campaign strategy has been based on characterizing more than half the voters as morons and traitors. How is it that non-Republicans have been willing to sit still for this for nearly four years? I never fail to firmly point out to any right winger I encounter that in fact, there is a substantial number of people who love this country who believe our current president is an illegitimate occupant of the White House, that we have tolerated his shenanigans without taking to the streets or even being particularly disrespectful, and that we have given him every reasonable chance to discharge his duties with competence and grace. He has utterly failed to leverage the opportunity provided to him by the Supreme Court, and now shall have to make a case for himself in the court of public opinion.
The good news is this: I spoke with many people today in an area that is solidly Republican. The majority told me that they would never vote for Bush again, meaning they had last time. They further told me that their wives/husbands, parents/siblings, etc. were all voting for Kerry. The few Republicans I encountered who are still supporting Bush were often willing to answer my questions about their concerns as voters and all but one named health care as their number one concern. Many of them are going to split their tickets and vote for Feingold. Whenever I heard this, I asked them to take another look at Kerry, and some said they would.
The Bush supporters were uniformly defensive, though I am a middle aged woman, introduced myself as a neighbor and was very laid back, smiling, etc. Their houses tended to be adorned with flags and wooden flag ornaments, and lots of signs saying, “God Bless America.” They seemed afraid…embattled.
The Kerry supporters, by vivid contrast, were defiantly angry. They were all in that mode of “I’m mad as hell and I’m just not going to take it anymore!” It was energizing and inspiring to speak with these people.
Then there were a few undecided voters and most of them were willing to discuss their issues. I asked them if they really believed the current administration was going to address those needs over the next four years. None stated confidentIy that they felt that was the case. I asked them to consider Kerry. I know that I made a difference today.
So, if you possibly can, please volunteer to walk a neighborhood. Dress nice, put on your party manners as my mother used to say, and just get out there and talk with people. I think there are many people who simply need to see that there are lots of nice, normal, sane people supporting Kerry. Change is frightening for some people, but we can make it less intimidating. We can show them that they don’t need to be afraid. Give it a try and if you just can’t bring yourself to talk with your neighbors, or folks who are a little different from you…well then maybe you better work on that.
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:06 AM I’ve just emailed this piece to friends and family. I’m doing my patriotic duty tomorrow morning - marching past Madison Square Garden and protesting the RNC. We don’t want them here. They are exploiting 9/11 and it is shameful. I’m glad to see that the firefighters told Bloomberg and Bush that they would only do a photo-op in one of the fire houses that were closed down due to lack of money. Right on guys! My sister is a NYC cop and she supports Kerry. Any union member that votes for Bush needs to seriously re-think their position and vote in their best interest.
Posted by Kim on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:06 AM These words are beyond anger—they are laced with an agony of our beloved country snatched from us. This is the election of our lives. The course of America must change or we will end up like the Soviet Union—decayed, hopeless, and fractured—and unspeakable poverty for the working class. Bush should be impeached for incompetence at the least and abuse of power at the most telling. This IS a call to arms at the voting booths. We absolutely must energize our young people to vote and then take their rightful place in making this country great once more.
Marty Meyer, Ph.D.
Posted by Marty Meyer on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:14 AM Inre “A Pen Warmed-Up in Hell,” we shout Bravo!
Posted by Leo Goeke and Anne Fullam Goeke on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:16 AM I LOVE YOU, Garrison! Be you scathingly serious or phenomenally facetious, you are always THE GREATEST! (Love those Republican sketches you do on radio!)
I keep telling myself that the right and the good have got to prevail because God will not have it any other way. Yet in these times it seems practically hopeless. It is totally scary the way the right-wingers have appropriated the radio airwaves unto themselves; one can scarcely find a sane voice in that genre anymore, you and PBS being that rare exception.
PLEASE - KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT; WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE!
Posted by E. C. Roy on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:49 AM Forget what you have always voted. Forget that your parents always voted the same way. Ask yourself if you are better off today than you were 4 years ago (health care, education, jobs, economy, veteran benefits, Clean air, etc), then vote your conscience on November 2, 2004. Don’t buy into the argument that you don’t change Presidents during a war. The war against terrorism will continue far beyond the 8 year presidential tenure possible. The war against Iraq was unjust and has cost the lives of over 972 Americans. The arguments for this war were all bogus - the only reason for going to war was if the threat was imminent - it was not. Americans don’t initiate wars without just cause. Vote Bush and his chickenhawks out on November 2, 2004.
Posted by Cummiskey on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:06 AM Hey Rich,
Knock it off. This is not a chat board. State your position then get the hell off so others can post.
Posted by Cummiskey on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:13 AM Trillions of dollars are at stake and the facist right will leave no stone unturned to continue on their present path. A second Bush administration will finish ripping the guts out of our national treasures. If the neocons are succussful in re-installing him as President, my mom’s favorite old saying will ring true. It is simply, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Posted by Phil Henderson on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:14 AM I LOVE YOU, Garrison! Be you scathingly serious or phenomenally facetious, you are always THE GREATEST! (Love those Republican sketches you do on radio!)
I keep telling myself that Good and Right have got to prevail because God will not have it any other way; however, in these times it all seems so very hopeless. It is totally scary the way the right-wingers have appropriated the talk-radio media unto themselves. One can scarcely find a sane voice in this genre anymore - you and PBS being the rare exception.
KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT; WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE THIS ONE!
Posted by E. C. Roy on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:34 AM A piece sent to me, on the internet, spewing hate for the Arabs and claiming that they would never say they were sorry to the prisoners abused at Abu Garib. made me realize that the party of compassion ‘under God” jad lost all sight of humanity, but were hateful war mongers, greedy, self-serving, self engrandizing with no thought how small our planet is and that we need to care for it and all those alive on it.
Your letter encapsulates it beautifully and the extent they will go without an ethical whim to win at all costs - truly, we are looking EVIL in the face.
I always thought this country was strong enough with checks and balances to withstand any idiot in the White House, but GWB has proven me wrong over and over again. His henchmen have had over 30 years of experience in Dirty tricks and he is their pawn and willing puppet.
To save our democrcy as a way of life - we must support Kerry/Edwards - men with honor and not the depraved history of GWB.
Posted by Betty on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:44 AM Hmmm…<a >Lincoln</a> was no friend of liberty:
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.
—Abraham Lincoln
I would argue that the Republicans are returning to the policies of Lincoln (strong centralized government).
The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good
Hmmm…Kerry’s net worth is <a >20 times more</a> than George Bush’s net worth. Or look at the party affiliation of most of the <a >top 100</a> individual contributors in this election. Methinks Keillor doesn’t really mind the concentration of wealth and power—he’s just upset that the power isn’t being concentrated in the hands he favors.
If Keillor were really concerned about the concentration of power, he would be advocating downsizing government, and returning money and power to individuals and local level goverments. Unfortunately, both Keillor’s candidate Kerry and Bush are just fighting to see who gets control of an ever expanding government.
Posted by Christopher Rasch on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:52 AM How honored I feel to have adopted Minnesota as my home. THank you Mr. Keillor. Let me echo Jacob’s call for those who can support Kerry financially to do so, and those of us who cannot to volunteer and volunteer again. WHen Mr. Reagan was elected I lit a candle, closeted myself in my studio, cried and prayed because of what I feared this election might hold. Thus when Mr. G.W. Bush was elected I hoped that my worse fears would prove to be unfounded (as they were to a degree by Mr. Reagan’s election). I was wrong. Our civilization is already in steep decline and in grave danger if we allow these people to continue to run rampant.
Posted by elizabeth on Aug 29, 2004 at 3:04 AM I don’t understand why the party of the most intelligent people can’t un-seat Bush. Democrats have as supporters, actors and actresses who can convince the world with such powerful portrayals of any human characteristic and personality at will. They now also have big money behind them. Why can’t the Democrats convince the moderate Republicans that Bush is dangerous and undeserving of another term? What am I missing?
Posted by ron on Aug 29, 2004 at 3:28 AM Dear Garrison, I spoke to you at the Tanglewood concert last year about how afraid I was by this governement. You said it would be alright, don’t be afraid. Are you afraid now? We gave in without much protest to the sham in Florida and the Supreme Court appointment, thinking it was best for the country. But now we will not go the way of Germany in the 30s. Good people there were deceived too until they lost all rights and it was too late to protest. We must look at Corporationism. Corporationism gives the legal right to businesses to do what individuals cannot do with out breaking the law. This governement in attacking government itself is trying to free corporations from all laws that require that the common good be protected. This is not Americanism. This is not freedom and justice for all. This is the beginning of capitalistic totalitarianism. I am so glad you are writing plainly.
Posted by Molly on Aug 29, 2004 at 3:42 AM Read your article. I totally understand your anger because I feel it too. It runs through my veins, it pulses in my head, it hardens my heart.
I have seriously thought of moving out fo the country should Bush win. People do not realize what damage this administration has caused and how much time and effort it will take to repair the damage both domestically and foreign.
Posted by alicia on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:05 AM Books that expose this administration are best-sellers.
F-911 is the highest grossing documentary on opening weekend ever.
Theaters and auditoriums are SRO when liberal and progressive speakers are in town.
The majority of actual votes were for Gore in 2000.
Look up the definition of juggernaut in the dictionary. But God forbid any liberal might sound strident!
Posted by Jcaldicott on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:07 AM Thank you so much for this. Please keep writing, sharing and helping us to articulate this very very long list of what this administration has done to us and our country.
Posted by Ann on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:18 AM It’s amazing that so many “little” sheep follow this. I’m sorry that you all are angry about losing the 2000 vote. I’m sorry that you all have lost the Senate and the House. You all should really get a grip on fighting back, (except for this mess).
I truly feel sorry for the Dems becuase you all have to support John Kerry.. had you nominated Joe Lieberman you would have been all set, but you made the choice of John Kerry. Just don’t blame us, because you all like to do that. And don’t cry on Nov 3rd becuase you all like to do that also.
Posted by Joel Pfyffer on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:24 AM Observe playground bulllies. They inflate their self-images by belittling others and calling those whom they harass crybabies, whether anyone is crying or not.
Bullies: your punching bags aren’t crying now. They’re angry, and getting organized, and learning to use their mouths too, only with brains engaged.
Posted by Jcaldicott on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:38 AM Wow.. you are feeling the heat, becuase I was not even rough.. it’s ok.. we’ll comfort you on Nov 3rd
Posted by Joel Pfyffer on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:45 AM I agree with everything that Keillor says, save for his oft-heard statement that America is a “great” country. Isn’t this type of egoistic pontificating the very same slogan that the Republicans often use to incite Americans into a type of national chuvanism that encourages us to rationalize support for everything the U.S. government ever does, here and abroad? Is this slogan and belief not the very crux of the misuse of patriotism by those overladden with hubris?
I am not looking to get anyone here angry, nor try to diminish any of the wonderful observations and anecdotes that Keillor made in this article, but simply to add a bit of critical thought on the validity of that one particular slogan. Let’s concentrate on turning America into a nation of *good* people, rather than encouraging to think of ourselves as *great.* From the perspective of most of the rest of the world, America is not “great,” but a problem. Let’s see it as such until we can make it over as per Keillor’s suggestions, and not dive head-first into the same type of thinking that is used to justify the draconian actions of the post-Nixonian Republicans.
Posted by Chris N on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:58 AM Mr. Keiller,
I’m the daughter of immigrants; my father and mother came to America in 1956 with only the clothes on their backs, not knowing a word of English. They came here fleeing Communism.
My father fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; a few years ago, his fellow Freedom Fighters (who are now all proud American citizens) choose him to represent them when then-Gov. Edgar proclaimed October 23rd Hungarian Freedom Fighter Day in honor of their attempt to fight down the mighty Soviet army with molotov cocktails and blood, sweat, and many, many tears.
My parents came to this country so that their descendants could live in peace and freedom. As your masterful writing and my very own eyes have shown these many years, the dream of my parents—and the sacrafices they made to come to this nation—may soon have been in vain.
Fortunately, there *are* those who show themselves to be heroic in trying and difficult times—risking their own comfort and security and position for the greater good.
Thank you for being counted among the heroes, Mr. Keiller.
In gratitude,
Ilona======================
P.S. As Elie Weisal stated at the occasion of accepting the Nobel Peace Prize:
“And then I explain to him how naïve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.
Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.”
Posted by ilona on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:52 AM If Bush gets in again we will be in another war. We have a murder rate that would put any other western nation to shsme.
What did the Taliban do with the money (43 million dollars) that Bush gave to them in May of 2001?
Richard
Posted by Richard White on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:22 AM I don’t know the Republicans ever as the party of moderates (“the Nixon moderates vanished like the passenger pigeon”). It has its deluded moderate followers but never its leaders. Keillor does not mention Joe McCarthy, the great Republican immoderate from his neighboring state of Wisconsin of whom Nixon was just a twin in those sainted years of the ‘50s. But this is just carping. Keillor hits the nail on the head when he talks about W. The only way out of the quicksand that guy is immersing us in and which Keillor so well describes is to vote Kerry in on Nov. 3rd.
Posted by Bob Silk on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:24 AM George the II’s accession to the presidency of the United States will mark the date in history when our nation’s experiment in republican democracy ended. With an ersatz election under his belt and an unauthorized war against a third world country to dispose of a tinhorn dictator, the constitution has become a dead letter and the congress a “confederacy of dunces”.
Freedom of speech and association will be the next victims. Already, those who do not support this cabal are being accused of treason. Soon, under the guise of homeland security and faith-based initiatives, government spies and infiltrators will be everywhere; in the workplace, in the churches, in the universities, all with the acquiescence and compliance of the media. Some citizens will be silenced and then “re-educated”. Others will simply disappear. Am I paranoid? You had better believe it! The bright shining light that was America has been extinguished. The dark ages have returned and we shall all “Inherit the Wind”.
Regards,
Joseph V. Purcell
1400 Forrest Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee 37206
615.650.0141
Posted by Joe Purcell on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:04 AM Garrison should have spoken these words at the Democratic convention. Of course, the networks and cable outlets would not have allowed them to be “aired”. Just so much hype. Well these words in his article are so powerful and so true, it is imperative that the American public hear them over and over again. This nation is in peril if Bush is again “chosen” (never elected). We have a hard job ahead, and we must all get to work. Our survival depends on it!
Posted by Grace Love on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:39 AM Lots of creative hand-wringing and intellectual muscle-flexing going on here, but what are you all doing? Could we hear some comments about how folks are reaching out to others in their community to persuade them to join us in actively opposing Bush? We need to encourage one another to get on our feet and actually do something! It doesn’t take any courage or effort to sit around and talk to our like-minded friends about how bad things are getting.
One thing that’s been pointed out, and I think accurately, by the media is that the Democratic Party is not really a party, but a coalition of interest groups with little in common aside from their loathing for George Bush. I’ve been out canvassing among working people, and doing follow-up phoning, and this is true. If we work hard, we may achieve a victory in November - but that will only be the beginning. We must continue to work and sacrifice beyond the election to build a true progressive coalition that will support local candidates and begin the strangulation of this fascist/corporatist weed that has taken root.
It is true that in many ways Kerry just puts a prettier face and an expanded vocabulary on the situation in which we find ourselves. It’s not going to be enough to replace this president and his advisors and turn the clock back to the Clinton regime. Once the election is over, no matter which way it goes, the real work will begin. It’s not going to be enough to stop the ship of state, we then have to turn it around in a very narrow channel.
Are liberals and progressives willing to roll up their sleeves and make some personal sacrifices to do this? It is clear that the Republican base has been persuaded to vote in a manner that is contrary to their economic interests to support this regime. You could argue that they are not aware of the threat to their civil liberties and world peace, but you would be at least somewhat mistaken. They don’t always see it that way. They are, in fact, willing to sacrifice some of their own liberties in order to deny them to homosexuals, women seeking abortions, those who do not attend churches of which they approve, and anyone whom they perceive to be a threat to their personal security. This is what we are confronting.
So, what are we willing to do beyond posting to message boards, congratulating each other on our profound grasp of the situation, and joining the occasional march down main street? This is going to take lots of money and muscle. Have we got it?
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:37 AM What a shame that many of these “solemn” comments are filled with bile and name calling, not only of President Bush, but of his supporters.
Posted by Rich on Aug 29, 2004 at 12:20 PM A brief note to three posters before signing off. I have enjoyed receiving others’ postings since I posted on Friday night, but the volume of emails has overwhelmed me (and I have some hay fields to cut today).
First to Joanne—you’re right that we must work, and work hard, in the next ten weeks to trim Bush. I spent last Monday and Tuesday in West Memphis, Arkansas registering new voters—13 hours a day in the sun, but worth every minute. I helped register at least 56 new voters, 95%+ of whom are Kerry supporters. Two of them had not voted for decades (one woman for 31 years!!) but to a person, everyone felt that they could not stay on the sidelines this time.
If well-grounded fear is what we need to revive our democracy, then I can say that “it’s all good”. But it will be better if we do everything necessary to retake America from the right-wing coup that started in every community that denied people the right to vote in 2000 and ended in the Supreme Court. So all of us should carry voter registration forms with us at all times, engage everyone we know in a brief political conversation and—if someone presents an appropriate opportunity—we should register them on the spot. You can download voter registration forms for your state easily off the net, or pick them up at your election commission. We have about a month in most states to get this done.
Two final brief notes: To Christopher—Kerry’s fortune is not 20 times greater than Bush’s wealth; his wife’s fortune is. And Republicans keep forgetting that her first husband was a Republican. So please don’t confuse who accumulated that wealth with where it ended up.
And Joel, Joel—what can we say, oh ye of simple mind and simpler phrase? Yes, we feel the heat of righteous indignation, and it is impelling many more of us to action than ever before. And in November, you will see the light—attached to a speeding, hundred mile long train—filled with fed-up folks who will send your squashed self behind your suburban, walled-in gates, to sulk in Humvee-wrapped silence. But don’t be surprised to find fewer of your too-well-off neighbors with you. Because those neighbors whose prior Republicanism was based on some of the worthy principles that Garrison articulated early on in his article won’t be there with you. They’ll be outside the walls that Duh-bya helped build between us, sharing with the rest of us the free air of a no-longer-foundering democracy.
As one of the Arad news reporters said in “Control Room”, “The world doesn’t need another superpower to keep America in check—we have democracy and the Constitution to do that, as long as the American people continue to embrace and use those tools for their own sake and the sake of the world at large.” How true. And how sad for those like Joel who crawled out from under their rocks a while back. The heat and light of a democratic sunlight will crack and wither their slimy skin and festering brains soon enough.
Defend women. Defend children. Defend the elderly. Defend the soldiers. Defend people of color. Defend America. Defend the earth. Defeat Duh-bya.
Posted by Bernie Ellis on Aug 29, 2004 at 12:58 PM I’m not the biggest Keillor fan. If Mark Twain were Keillor, he’d have written about the good, old Tory colonial days swilling a cool one at the Tubby Boar Inn or dancing at the corn shuck—instead of writing about things like slavery.
But he does hit one over the fence now and then. This one is good writing _and_ significant.
Posted by steve on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:05 PM Garrison Keillor is a soft-spoken genius with an incredible gift for telling tales that take all of us to where we would like to be. I listen to the PHC every week. Someone else said it right that he hit the nail on the head so hard that the head popped off. My hat is off to an amazing patriotic man whose mission I share. I love and celebrate you, Mr. Keillor.
Posted by Brad Turner on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:18 PM National treasures? For this administration, they are just resources to be exploited.
Social programs? For this administration, they are evil, and need to be bankrupted so even a new administration won’t afford to reinstate them.
Posted by Kurt Christensen on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:23 PM I’ll have you know I voted for the mouthpiece of NPR before I voted against him.
Posted by Dave on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:41 PM Bush is evil and is hiding behind someone he calls God, and someone I call evil. The idiots that will vote for Bush cannot see the evil he exudes. This is a battle against evil and all it entails.
Posted by Mary on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:44 PM I LOVE YOU, Garrison! Be you scathingly serious or phenomenally facetious, you are always THE GREATEST! (Love those Republican sketches you do on radio!)
I keep telling myself that Right and Good have got to prevail because God will not have it any other way; yet, in these times, it seems so very hopeless. It is totally scary the way that the right-wingers have appropriated the talk-radio medium unto themselves. One can scarcely find a sane voice in that genre anymore - you and PBS being the rare exception.
KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT; WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE THIS ONE!!!
God bless and keep you!
Posted by E. C. Roy on Aug 29, 2004 at 1:45 PM If this is the “best President since the end of WWII” it must be worse than I thought.
This is the person who has difficulty understanding the difference between “prosecution” and “persecution” (“W” speech in 2001), someone who has misjudged (as indicated by his own admission last week), misled (by the findings of the 9/11 commission) and mismanaged (by the indications of the lack of leadership in regard the prison incident, to Najaf, Haliburton, etc, etc, etc.).
Posted by Tim on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:06 PM It is sad when so many in our country are sitting in the dark and have yet to see the light. If going to war in Iraq after 9/11 was not enough to turn on the light, then I’m not sure what is. Instead of fighting the terrorism that hurt and killed so many innocent people, the powerful leaders in Washington have created a “hotbed” for it to grow. We need a man who is a leader and stands for what he believes in instead of an illiterate puppet on a string who does what those under him (like his daddy and Cheney) tell him to do. This country was built on democracy and freedom for all, but that freedom is slowly being taken away. Wake up America before it is too late!!!
Posted by Virg on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:07 PM Thank you,keillor, I am glad you are expressing the sentiments of so many of us that are not represented in the main stream media. I always say, “they aren’t polling me!” I am depressed as many of the commenters seem to be. I work as a hairdresser in an area where people are from all economic levels and I am upset because so many people have no Idea how much worse off we are after 3+ years of the bush administration. We need to get that liar and his corporate cronies out of office! It is going to take years to udo the damage, and our children will be paying for the mistakes we have made. Lets get everyone to vote for Kerry/Edwards in 2004. as Arianna Huffington says"Bush republicans have offered a messianic vision of a new world built on tax cuts.This call has proved incredibly alluring:its clear,it’s broad, and it’s accessible. Democrats need to present a vision that is equally clear, broad and accessible, and that answers the fundamental question:what sort of america do we want to live in?”
Posted by cindy on Aug 29, 2004 at 2:52 PM I believe the Bush administration’s power derives from the nation’s love affair with passive media absorption. We’ve become a nation of followers and cheerleaders, and we follow politics and the discussion of cultural values with the blind allegiance of a sports fan, my cause right or wrong. We talk the talk, but no longer walk any walk. No Existentialist angst allowed, you are what you “believe”.
Someone mentioned the incongruity of GOP support by low wage earners and uneducated people generally. The reason is distraction, to avoid discussing real, more complex issues, issues that demand more than the voter’s arm-chair indignation.
Bush has made a political career out of pushing issues that do not require citizens to actually do anything, other than be pissed off at some group they’d prefer to judge than try to understand. The great uniter, indeed!
Bush convinces his adherents that support for these issues means he’s on their side, when his real agenda continues to be completely handing over the regulatory functions of government to those special business industry interests, who do not have the good of the citizenry at heart.The next time a right-to-lifer is spewing their uncompromising opinions, ask them how many underprivileged children they’ve adopted, or what contribution they’ve made to easing the suffering of the world’s most unfortunate.
The next time an Iraq-war supporter explains why your children should die in a foreign land to protect American oil interests, while the Bush administration pays lip service to any real alternative energy plans, which might free us of our dependency on foreign oil, check their credentials. This will weed out the growing ranks of Chicken Hawks, who identify themselves these days, by congratulating you up front, for your service.
I always believed that the conservative view of business was the less regulation by the government, the better, except when it’s clear that a business or industry is acting against the public interest. Teddy Roosevelt was a great example of a conservative president who embodied this value. Jim Hightower recently joked that the business special interests no longer have to worry about lobbying the government, as they have, in effect, become the government, a fact reflected in Bush naming only industry figures to key regulatory posts, from the cabinet level on down.
This is an aspect that is never discussed by the GOP, and instantly draws name-calling and ridicule from the right when someone raises the issue. To use one of far too many examples, does any one seriously believe that Dick Cheney, and the Enrons of the energy industry, held private meetings to develop energy legislation, so that they can further the interests of the average citizen?Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
Posted by Steve on Aug 29, 2004 at 3:27 PM Total elitist BS.
When the left starts praising Nixon and the Vietnam war, it is obvious that they are as unprincipled as their critics said they were when they protested them.
Dennis
Posted by Dennis on Aug 29, 2004 at 3:51 PM Our nation is at peril for what we once took for granted, but Kerry is showing himself to be totally inept at getting his arms around the issues.His response to the slime Swift boat ads was late and limp, and this demonstates to many that his leadership skills in a time of such crisis for his campaign are lacking, as so much of his campaign has been.
Posted by Al Henry on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:00 PM Excuse me, for I suspect my message will not be immediately welcome in this “fest”, I just want to say something to you in all sincerity:
1. You all sound so intolerant of those with different political views - of different world-views. This does not sound like my image of “liberals” - well known for their tolerance of their neighbors. Just re-read this conversation thread and you will see it.
2. Have you heard of the “electoral college”? Do you know what it means? I am curious. And please be honest. What would be your reaction if - after the *next* election - we all discover that Bush won the popular vote but Kerry (or Nadar, for that matter) won the electoral college vote and - backed up by the supreme Court - is thus elected the next President. Would you consider him (Kerry or Nadar) the true President? It would be ironic, true. But, honestly, what would be your reaction? And what would you want of the Republicans as they address and work with the newly elected President?
I send this as a former Democrat. I voted for Gore and every Democratic presidental candidate before him - beginning with McGovern. I am not stupid. I suspect my educational level is “higher” than most engaging in this covnersation. I am not greedy and I am not hateful. In fact, I love my family, my neighbors, and my counry. For 22 years, I have worked for non-profit organizations serving vulnerable populations and I have sacrificed higher salaries to do so. These are my credentials I provide so that you will be more open to consider what I am sayng in this comment.
I say this because I want to challenge you to do what you seem to want “the others” to do - i.e. to take a look at the beam in your own eye before trying to pick out the sliver in the other’s eye.
I am challenging you all to look beyond stereotypes. Just review this covnersation thread. What do you see? Can you see the stereotyping?
As a former liberal, as a former Democrat, I see it clearly and I am challenging you to be a more introspective about all of this. I am challenging you to dare to think that we all have much to learn from each other. None of us - on the right, left or center - holds a corner on the truth.
It is a mistake to underestimate the other and to overestimate ourselves. Can you accept this challenge?
Remember, we are all Americans. Those of us some of you call “Bible-thumpers” or “right-wingers” love justice and peace every bit as much as you do.
Please check your language with love. And if “Republican” Americans are your “enemy”, love your enemy. And reflect on the fact that you are talking about your fellow Americans as if they (we) are your enemy.
Sincerely sent.
Posted by G. van den Bosch on Aug 29, 2004 at 4:53 PM Dear Garrison,
Thanks for your excellent lament re the lamentable Republicans. I counter with my lament, which is also a call to action, and which I imagine myself orating (don’t laugh) from the podium at the DNC:
Doug Lane
Los AngelesHOW CAN THEY BE SO STRONG?
How can the likes of Cheney and Perle be so strong? They look very weak to me: liars, swindlers, operators in the shadows…... How does Cheney’s 4-alarm heart go on beating? And Bush? This is a strong man? He’s barely there. But he’s propped up pretty firmly. These guys are only as strong as the American peoples’ capacity for self-deception & delusion, which is very very strong. They’re strong the way the NRA hysterics who fight for the right to party with assault weapons are strong, they’re strong the way election saboteurs like Katherine Harris are strong, they’re strong the way Halliburton war profiteers are strong, they’re strong the way pro-life terrorists and assassins are strong, they’re strong the way TV talking-head thugs are strong, they’re strong the way lumbermen colluding with Ann Venneman and Gayle Norton to pillage the national forests are strong, they’re strong the way cynical Tom Delay-led Congressmen who pass taxcut after trillion dollar taxcut for the upper 1% are strong, they’re strong the way Tom Ridge strongly warns us of another terror threat every time Bush’s polls need goosing, they’re strong the way Rumsfeld strongly flung the Geneva Convention into the trash can while he gave the go ahead to torturers in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, they’re strong the way the Big Brass is strong when they decide to let wretched lowlife reservist PFC’s like Lynndie England take the heat for the Abu Ghraib scandal, they’re strong with the strength that comes from pulling America out of nuqular disarmament agreements, international law treaties, Kyoto environmental treaties, they’re strong with the strength that comes from devastating our ties to former friends & Nato allies like the French and Germans, they’re strong with the strength that comes from never using diplomacy but always relying on violence, they’re strong with the strength that comes from penning dissenters in barbed wire “free speech zones,” they’re strong with strength that comes from asking others to sacrifice while they and their cronies cash in with no-bid contracts, corporate welfare, golden parachutes, and deficit raids on Social Security and Medicare, they’re strong with the strength that comes from fixing the rules of the economic game Enron-style and calling it a free market, they’re strong with the strength of always seeking to divide, not unify, they’re strong with the strength of voters whom they induce to vote against themselves, they’re strong with the strength that comes with fanning the flames of fear, they’re strong with the strength born of narrow self-interest, they’re strong with appeals to family values even as they shred families by destroying the working and middle classes, they’re strong with the strength of outsourcing, they’re strong with the almost overwhelming strength of hypocrisy, they’re strong with the strength of lobbyists, of special interests, of backrooms, of government for sale, they’re strong with the strength of men who tell the American people what to think instead of encouraging them to think for themselves, they’re strong with the strength of loathing for learning even as they promise to leave no child behind, they’re strong with the strength of men who never admit their own mistakes, no matter how devastating and bloody those errors of judgment have proven to be, they’re strong with the strength of lies asserted with perfect conviction, they’re strong with the strength of fraud, they’re strong the way those who never dialogue, who are incapable of dialogue, are strong, they’re strong the way rulers who have perfect contempt for the people are strong, they’re strong the way a people who have perfect contempt for themselves, and who therefore surrender ultimate responsibility for themselves, are strong, they’re strong the way a stubbornly blind faithbased contituency is strong, they’re strong the way a nation which has lost its way is strong, they’re strong the way a nation of gluttons in a starving world is strong, they’re strong the way Chickenhawks who let others bleed for their mistakes are strong, they’re strong the way spinmeisters who base policies on polls are strong, they’re strong the way media monopolists are strong, they’re strong the way Uncle Toms are strong, they’re strong with the strength of homophobia, they’re strong the way men who see the flag as a brand to be exploited are strong, they’re strong because they see patriotism as the last refuge of scoundrels such as themselves, they’re strong because they’re stamping out Liberty’s light, they’re strong because they preach Freedom Freedom Freedom and they practice repression repression repression, they’re strong because they gut the Bill of Rights, they’re strong because they use the Constitution as asswipe, they’re strong because they pray the Old South will rise again, this time with wage slaves of all colors, they’re strong because they encourage Christian and Jewish fundamentalists to hate Moslem fundamentalists, they’re strong because they ride the back of the tiger and spur the tiger on, they’re strong because they’re oilocrats, they’re strong because they destroy wildlife refuges on principle, not simply out of greed, they’re strong because they love hate and embody hate while purporting to love, they’re strong because they deify greed, they’re strong because they institutionalize injustice, they’re strong because they foster lies and live by them, they’re strong because they operate in shadows & secrecy and hate the light, they’re strong because they bully and intimidate and deceive, they’re strong because they admit nothing, they’re strong because their words & images mean whatever they pay them to mean, they’re strong because they’re Humpty Dumpties and they’re sitting on a wall, they’re strong because they subvert the vote, they’re strong because they don’t do what Jesus would have done, they’re strong because they would rather build more nukes than get rid of them, they’re strong because they attack the wrong enemies and offend former friends, they’re strong because they play into the hands of our enemies, they’re strong because they believe power is the highest good and they will hold it by any means necessary.
They’re strong because 9/11 is the best thing that ever happened to them, they’re strong because they did not hesitate to exploit the fear and goodwill and unity of the nation and the world. They’re strong because they’re going it alone and letting others do their fighting for them. They’re strong because they see respect for the truth as weakness. They’re strong because they say one thing and do another and they rarely mean what they say or say what they mean. They’re strong because their highest allegiance is to narrow self-interest, not to the nation or the world. They strong because they cannot imagine the future or remember the past and are blind to the present. They’re strong because they shamelessly and cynically invoke the name of God and claim God is on their side instead of praying that they are on God’s side. They’re strong because they shoot first and ask questions later. Actually, they never ask questions unless they are forced to because they believe they already have the answers. They’re strong because they believe that power comes out of the barrel of a gun and they cannot imagine power that is not violent. They’re strong because they believe they are the chosen ones, the frozen ones. They’re strong because their front man never does his homework, but gladly allows them to do his homework for him. They’re strong because they have a crushing contempt for the facts. They’re strong because they silence whisteblowers and exile dissenters and slander those who would tell truth to power. They’re strong because they love bad science. They’re strong because they’re denying we’re warming the globe. They’re strong because they somehow imagine they can engineer an apocalypse without going down themselves, or else they’ve so lost sight of joy or are so eaten up with hate & fear that they’re turning the whole world into a carbomb with themselves at the wheel. They’re strong because they lead the fight against terrorism yet they are themselves terrifying. They’re strong because they promise to save the nation they are destroying. They’re strong because they’ve alienated America from the rest of the world and they’ve alienated Americans from ourselves. They’re strong because they find a government of the people, for the people, by the people to be a laughable, exploitable, slogan. They’re strong because they exploit our weakness and indifference and ignorance at every turn. They’re strong because they think they are the ultimate players and they’re playing us and they’re playing the world and they think governing is great game, not a sacred responsibility. They’re strong because they think they will go on forever.
Let’s prove them wrong. Before they take us down with them.
Posted by Doug Lane on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:07 PM Great comments Garrison.
What I have come to determine about people who support the President is that they can only see the world from the standpoint of “what’s in it for me?”. This doesn’t mean they’re bad people but that they just can’t stand back and think about things clearly because they are overcome by some kind of patriotic religion and belief in self-interest.
Fact is that if one of these people has something happen in their life that forces them to confront the realities of their positions (read Dick Cheney and his Gay daughter, Nancy Reagan and stem-cell research, etc.) then they tend to see that things are more gray than they think and the idea of “the greater good” slips into their mind. Governments, and participation in a society (or even an economy) cannot be based strictly on “what’s in it for me?” approach.
Unless America wakes up (and soon) I fear for the entire stability of the world. If Bush gets in this fall he knows they will not likely win in ‘08. So he will have a “scorched earth” policy over the next four years to set things up so they simply cannot be turned back. This is VERY dangerous and we have to stop it.
It’s time for Kerry to wake up and stop being so polite or I am afraid I will blame him for what results.
Posted by Dick on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:32 PM I would sincerely like to reply to Mr. Van der Bosch,
How can you speak of us being “not educated” as much as you are? I am sorry that you feel like you are such an elitist and we are uneducated retards. We are voicing our opinions and we have the freedom to do so. You likewise have that freedom, but you could be a little nicer about it. Are you German? I notice that your name is of a foreign origin. How well read are you on the regime of the Third Reich when they blinded the german people to the truth and led them to utter destruction? We are all aware that the people can be swayed in their beliefs as well as you. What we are voicing is that this is what is happening in America now.
I’ve got the coffee on come on over and have a cup when you wake up and smell it. And that is the Rest of the Story. Good Day.
Posted by Dee Lochala on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:36 PM Can eloquence and articulate elucidation put the kybosh on plain speak jibber-jabber politicking? Can a lucid voice in turbulent times evoke change? Can virtue and reason serve as the metaphorical pooper-scooper needed to toss those gleaming cat turds into the compost heap?
I don’t know, but Garrison Keillor has soothed my nerves. It is refreshing to hear a calm and reasonable voice in the midst of our current political morass. There is far too much shouting going on, and too little communicating.
I’m too young to recall the halcyon days of republican benevolence that Mr. Keillor speaks about, but to some extent I doubt their ever having existed.
Being a regular listener to “A Prairie Home Companion” it has always seemed to me that Lake Wobegon is not Mayberry. Sure there’s that close-knit church community thing the two share, but Lake Wobegon has always seemed more real than that. The fictitious town’s foibles never being presented as either Utopian or innately correct. In the case of Griffith’s Mayberry it was exactly the opposite. There, even chronic alcoholism is presented as a quaint and harmless affectation.
Sure Mayberry is fiction, but it just may serve as a window into the collective psyche of early sixties conservativism. And the view is conveniently devoid of minorities, social strife or boys coming home in body bags. As best as I can recall at least. There may not have been racism, but there was also no one to direct that racism toward.
Bush and his cronies are clearly a breed apart for the passive conservatives of yesteryear. But he must be the evolutionary product of their philosophies. Though there is little that is “conservative” about Bush, it seems to me that he just may represent the long buried Id of the Republican Party.
Kudos to Garrison Keillor for giving our political selves a little fresh air to breath, absorb. He’s right about what he said about angry people. Unfortunately, when I look around, angry people are all I see.
Posted by Michael G. Sivak on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:44 PM Not all republicans are racists and bigots.
However, proud racists and bigots are republicans.
Posted by grasso on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:47 PM G. - You ask us to be more introspective, to stop stereotyping Republicans, to temper our comments with love. You tell us you used to be a Democrat, but you don’t tell us why you are now a Republican, though it is implied that this has something to do with your religion. (If I’ve guessed wrong about that, forgive me.)
You are correct that Republicans embody as much diversity as those in the opposing camp. However, if you choose to identify yourself as a Republican, you will be identified with your party’s position on the issues that have been under discussion here. If you do not personally support these positions, then say so and tell us which are the ones with which you disagree.
I know it’s unpleasant for Republicans to confront their own public image when they step outside the confines of their group. I have seen this in my canvassing for Kerry. The anger of ex-Republicans is not with Clinton or Liberals or Kerry - it’s with their former party and its current leadership. They feel, evidently, even more betrayed than your garden variety liberal, as indeed they should.
You sound as if you are a pricipled person who has tried to live a life in line with his beliefs, and you have been willing to make financial sacrifices to do so. It seems that you will vote for a President who speaks to your principles, even though his actions and leadership may in fact utterly contravene those same ideals. That is very difficult for many of us to understand, thus the admittedly insulting term of “Kool-Aid Drinker.”
If you can explain how the actions of this administration fit with your world view, or how you have changed your world view to reconcile it with the world as we now see it under the current leadership, I’m sure many would be as fascinated as I to read that.
For the sake of mutual understanding, tell us more. Tell us why. Tell us how not to be afraid of you and for you and your Party.
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:49 PM Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a Christian obligation toward the poor? No—what he really means is that he thinks that Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to think that it is acceptable to use the power of the United States federal government, which includes the power to put you in jail for not complying with the tax code, to continue to redistribute income from those that earn a lot by virtue of their talents, skills, abilities and hard work, to those that don’t earn a lot.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 5:57 PM To follow up on my previous comments—why does a Christian obligation to the poor translate into (increasingly) progressive income tax rates? I think that a Christian obligation to the poor is a private matter, not a matter for income redistribution through the federal tax code.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 6:06 PM Quick note to Joanne Roush: go back to the beginning of Garrison’s article, then look at the “Author Bio” box down the right column. This essay is from Garrison’s new book, “Homegrown Democrat”. You might be overdue for an Emily Latella moment, n’est pas?
Posted by Bernie Ellis on Aug 29, 2004 at 7:13 PM The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy? I don’t know enough about history to say if this is true or not, however I suspect that if this has happened it is because the democracy was in name only and there was corruption at the top. This “concentration of wealth” arguement is not valid justification for (increasingly) progressive income taxation.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 7:19 PM Main problem is that we need a 2ns party let alone a 3rd party. Democrats are almost same as republicans in many ways with the exception of few femine,gay and in favour of evil trial lawyers. Howard dean was thrown out and Clintonism is there. Kerry is almost same, rather more stupid as compared to W. Pity pity pity.
He should have chosedn Ghephard as running mate rather than Edwards and another stupidity that he went after McCain without making sure that he would say yes.
Posted by ASIF KHATRI on Aug 29, 2004 at 7:25 PM One last comment—“...patriotism shouldn’t prevent people from asking hard questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national security at the time”? I agree, however using the word “purportedly” is a cheap shot at President Bush and Republicans. Which Party’s president was in office when 1) the first WTC bombing happened, 2) American embassies in Africa were blown up and 3) the USS Cole was bombed? I don’t think Democrats should get into discussions about “purportedly” being in charge of National Security. Their record as a party is not good in this regard.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 7:49 PM Richard Nixon felt a “Christian obligation?” Personally, it sickens me that he had the gall to call himself a Quaker. The man was a criminal. He should have been sharing a prison cell with Ronald Reagan!
Posted by Stephanie Jacobs on Aug 29, 2004 at 7:50 PM Note to Stephanie Jacobs—with all due respect, and this comment comes in full acknowledgement of Watergate and Iran-Contra, yelling that Nixon and Reagan should have shared a prison cell doesn’t help anyone. I could yell that Clinton should have been in there with them, but this doens’t help anyone either. What we need is substantive debate on the important issues facing our country, like what we’re going to do about Social Security and Medicare, and how to deal with the fact that so many around the world want to do us harm.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 8:03 PM I can’t help myself—this is too easy—is it not ironic that, in an article slamming Republicans, Keillor lauds Eisenhower for declining to get involved in Vietnam, when it was two Democrats—Kennedy and Johnson—who DID us involved in Vietnam? And—more irony—it was the Republican Nixon who oversaw the end of the war.
One more thing—enough with the (implied) analogies between Vietnam and Iraq. There are many many differences, but the most important is this: Republican Bush fought the Iraq war to win and did, while Democrat Johnson fought the Vietnam war with no plan to win other than really wanting to and thus lost. Oh yeah—one more important, and related difference—American casualty total in Iraq: under 1,000, American casualty in Vietnam: 50,000.
I acknowledge that the jury is still out on post-war Iraq, but let’s stop equating the Iraq war and Vietnam war.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 8:52 PM Thank you, Garrison Keillor; in particular, thank you for the last paragraph. It gives me courage to speak out, when I am much more comfortable not speaking out.
Posted by Sylvia on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:29 PM I wish a Prary Home Companion could do a skit about this! It is profoundly serious. You, as you often have, hit the nail on the head. The problem supercedes the Presidency. It must be a message that voters send out at all levels of legislation and judiciary. The real issue is letting folks know that THEY HAVE BEEN HAD! We need to get the apathetic angry enough to vote.
Jim Tuffield, San Diego
Posted by Jim T on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:35 PM Thank you, thank you, Mr. Keillor for having the courage to write this and helping me dredge up the courage to speak up in my own small universe. Perhaps if enough of us do so, we will be successful in removing the current administration from office.
Posted by Sylvia on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:39 PM While I have only read a few posts here, I have still to read an argument from anyone that amounts to anything more than “I hate Geroge Bush and all Republicans because they’re bad people”.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:45 PM To answer Justin Hornburg’s belief that it was two Democratic President’s Kennedy and Johnson that got us into the Viet Nam quagmire let me state that it was in fact a direct result of the Marshall Plan which began in the days after the conclusion of WWII. “In 1949 Truman and Acheson institued a program of direct U.S. Military and economic aid to the French effort in Indochina. Eisenhower and Dulles made the war even more evidently an American cause. Whereas under Truman the French still bore the bulk of the war costs, eisenhower upped both the share of the costs (to 80%) and the volume of Washington rhetoric. Eisenhower also authorized the dispatch of U.S. ground crews when AParis said it could not fulfill it’s own airpower requirements. Most significantly, when France decided to withdraw militarily from Indiochina in 1955, Eisenhower oprdered American advisors to take their place.” This is fronm page 279 of THE IRONY OF VIETNAM: THE SYSTEM WORKED written in 1979 by Gelb and Betts of the Brookings Institute.
Anyone that would like a concise and complete history of what happened and why we were involved in South East Asia in that period will find the answers in this book. My qualifications: I was an 11B40 and for those like Mr. Bush who have no knowledge of what that means, simply stated, I was a Lightweapons Infantryman in Viet Nam from April 1967 to April 1968. I earned the princely sum of .23 1/2 per hour 24/7 to kill the enemy as identified by my governments. In the ensuing years I have read over 400 books on Viet Nam trying to figure out what I was a part of and what happened to me because of it.
All I ask is that people check your facts before you make a statement that is untrue.
Posted by Lyle Shargent on Aug 29, 2004 at 9:54 PM To Lyle Shargent—I defer to your obviously superior knowledge of the history of Vietnam. It was the author of the article (Keillor) who wrote that Eisenhower “... declined to rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam ...” This statement by the author would appear to be in contradiction to what you believe to be the truth. It is interesting that the author is falsely building up past Republicans expressly for the purpose of tearing down current ones.
I thank you for your comment and the considerate way in which you made it.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:04 PM Garrison Keillor is longing for the good old days when, for over forty years of being the minority party in the House and Senate, Republicans were content to eat the table scraps of their Democrat superiors. They were indeed “token Republicans”. As long as they stood in front of the cameras and smiled and said nice things about Democrat legislation, Republicans might hope to sit in on a committee hearing or two, perhaps get invited to a golf outing once in a while. It wasn’t a bad gig, really. Republicans didn’t have to have any ideas of their own (let alone fight for them), or, God forbid,(*gasp) be “confrontational”. They only had to be grateful and blissfully “bipartisan”.
But at some point (oh, probably in Bill Clinton’s first term) something went terribly wrong in the political culture of our society. I’m not sure if it was when Clinton announced that he was putting his wife (an unelected and unaccountable non-public figure beholdent to no one) in charge of socializing the American Health care system, or if it was the looming specter of higher and higher taxes (for those who actually pay them) to subsidize all of those wonderful social programs he though we all wanted.
Whatever the reason, American voters were given an alternative to the status quo and in 1994 elected a majority of Republicans to both the House and the Senate, AND THEY CONTINUE TO DO SO TO THIS DAY. So, it seems that Garrison Keillor doesn’t really have a problem with Republicans so much as Garrison Keillor has a problem with democracy and the choices of Americans. After all, Republicans have always been Republicans. It’s the American people that said “Enough!”.
We will all wait in breathless anticipation for Garrison Keillor’s next essay. Perhaps by then he will grow a spine and call the entire American electorate “racist hairy-backed fundamentalist bullies with Bibles” instead of merely alluding to it.
Posted by Susan Dwightman on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:05 PM Justin thank you for your comments. One final thought on VN and your last posting it was in fact Congress that dictated to Eisenhower not to rescue the French as Dien Bien Phu. The leaders in Congress required a unilateral intervention consisting of American Allies of which none were to be found. Only later was America able to drum up a few allies from South East Asia to meet Congresses requirements. Thailand, Camobia, Laos, Australia not many countries who had troops to put in the field or monies to help offset the cost of the war. Does any of this sound vaguely familiar to the current situation. There are many parallels to Iraq as to be very disquieting.
Posted by Lyle Shargent on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:31 PM Good point, Lyle. Again, your superior knowledge is obvious (and impressive).
As for Brad’s comment on Susan Dwightman’s post (at least I think his comment is in reaction to Dwightman’s post)—this is classic—Susan presents a reasoned argument and Brad’s reaction is to belittle her. I harken back to one of my prior posts—where is the substantive objection to Bush beyond “I hate him”?
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 10:35 PM Justin,
There are now several hundred posts on this thread, beginning on Thursday. They are all available for you to read, and I would really recommend that you do so, rather than reading a “few posts” and then drawing sweeping generalizations about the posters from your small sample.
Many of the posts are very cogent and well-written, and are not one-dimensional. A number of them (including my first one) are from people who have at one time or another identified themselves as Republicans but, for many reasons (including those articulated by Garrison), do not now so identify or at least now have decided not to vote for W in order to bring the Republican Party back toward its own center.
Unlike some of the posters, I have not given up completely on the Republican party. If it were not for Senators Snow, Collins, Chafee, Campbell, (sometimes) McCain and others (depending on the issue), the radical changes in our body politic that Bush’s handlers envisioned would have prevailed. And we would all be the worse for that.
So, again, take the time that it will take you to read what has gone before and then comment. Unlike Lyle, you don’t have to face live fire and then read 400 books to try to make sense of the madness that our foreign policy sometimes thrusts good Americans into. You can just spend a few hours reading and then thinking about what has come before in this thread. I do think you will learn something from that exercise, including that your own political colleagues have not hesitated to be dishonest, scatalogical and simplistic in their responses on this thread. Civil discourse, and resolute action based on principle—regardless of political persuasion—is what will get us out of our current mess. Fortunately, God equipped us with one mouth and two ears to aid that process.
And thanks, Lyle, for your service —then and now. Unlike the Swift Boat Apologists for Chickenhawk Draft-Dodgers, this Kerry supporter respects and is grateful for all veterans who put themselves in harm’s way. And like many posters on this thread, we believe that the best way we can support our troops who are in harm’s way tonight is to bring them home safely ... and soon.
Posted by Bernie Ellis on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:02 PM Again good point Justin. One of the problems with opposing views. I do laud anyone with passion either side but in a respectful way please. No one listens when you are shouting at each other. Point counter-point that is the American way. That is one of the precious gems we are losing under the Patriot Act as it is written. When I have a Bill O’Reilly shouting at me to shut up and I have the Attorney General of my country telling toi watch what I say and think and do then I who have fought for freedom have a huge problem with people like that. When the President of my country tells me that I am either for him or against him I have a problem with that. It is my right to disagree and to state that disagreement as provided for me in the Constitution. I would as Mr. Bush to abide by what our founding fathers gave to us in the future to guarantee our freedoms.The Bill of Rights, the Constitution and Democracy are woth fighting and dying for and some us have fought for them.
You earlier asked about the Christian obligation of redistribution of wealth through progressive income tax and what you should be asking is if a person receives many benifits from a country based on its ability to provide the atmosphere in which said individual is able to amass a considerable fortune should that individual not be expected to share with his/her country some of their bounty? It really is not a part of any religious abligation but a political one.
One last note you stated that it took a Republican President to end the conflict in Viet Nam. This is true so far as you realize that Nixon led the war efforts for 7 of it’s 10 years. 1969 through the conclusion in April 30, 1975. Personally I do not want to see us inviolved in Iraq for 10 years.
I thank you for your kind consideration of all this.
Posted by Lyle Shargent on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:04 PM To Bernie Ellis—thanks for your reasoned comments and good points. I will indeed take the time to read some of the other posts in this thread. You are right to ask me to not make judgements based on such a small sample.
I do not generally apologize for Republicans, but I felt that Keillor’s writing demonized Republicans with too broad a brush and in many cases unfairly and inaccurately. I personally do not wish to be identified as a Republican—I prefer “conservative”, but not in the sense that that term has been portrayed as just the opposite of “liberal”.
I too, commend Lyle and all who have served our country in the military. I have not, however I do not believe that it is fair to characterize Bush and Cheney and others as Chickenhawks. I believe the implication is that because they did not get shot at in combat that they should not make decisions to commit our troops to battle. They have to—this is the job of the Executive Branch. [We can argue about whether or not Bush pulled strings to get out of going to Vietnam (I’m sure his name and connection helped), but that was a long time ago and he has never made his Vietnam-era accomplishments his main selling points.] They are in a job and they have to do it to the best of their judgement. Again—we can argue about whether or not we agree with their judgement, but let’s not stoop to name-calling. Children do that—adults can make reasoned arguments and understand each others’ perspectives, even if they don’t agree.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:35 PM Garrison,
Just want to say, Love your Radio Show, and Love NPR, you are one of the best storytellers around. I even laughed it up when you had Franken on talking about your book lines.
I am a Republican, who lives in Georgia, and lived in Massachusetts for 19 years and I still find you funny.
Even though you have a great talent for waxing poetic, and storytelling, I find you very short on abilities to protect this country from Al Quaeda or any future attacks.
One Question for you, when have you ever been bullied by a fundamentalist Bible Thumper? Just curious, and it might make for a funny talk episode on your radio program.
And this statement of yours “Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.” You really need to get out of your small pond of Wobegon and get a grip, and realize that making sweeping generalizations about Republicans, Christians, and Southerners really just makes you look mean spirited.
You are in luck, Mr. Keillor, Mark Twain is here in your very hour of need and he has some kind words for you, to guide you. Mark Twain is telling you “GOOD BREEDING CONSISTS IN CONCEALING HOW MUCH WE THINK OF OURSELVES AND HOW LITTLE WE THINK OF THE OTHER PERSON”.Keep the Faith, Keep the Humor, and I look forward to the next time I listen to NPR and you are doing your radio show.
God Bless America, God Bless our Troops, God Bless our President!
Posted by Anne on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:39 PM The answer is fairly easy. The Republicans lost power for over 20 yrs. after Eisenhower and didn’t win it back until Reagan. After the intervening setbacks of Vietnam and the oil shocks, they grasped it with a vengeance, attracting the reactionary classes.
Posted by different barry on Aug 29, 2004 at 11:45 PM Isn’t it great that we can live in a country where we can communicate like this and say whatever we want to say. Many, many have died for that right! Let us not forget…Bush has…
Posted by Thomas Brown on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:03 AM I am an American! Loyal, patriotic, freedom-loving, God loving, and a veteran.
Now, who the hell gives a DAMN what political party I belong to?
I am an AMERICAN! So are you all! That should be first and foremost in all our hearts and minds.
Enticing people to vote based on Conservative or Liberal labeling is a sick joke on the American populus. The finger-pointing and name-calling would cause our Founding Fathers to throw up their hands in disgust and wonder why they went through all their trouble creating this nation when such petty jealousies divide and polarize us all.
Neither Party has any advantage over the other in terms of offering a “better” government of the people, by the people and for the people. Scoundrels occupy both Parties. What is best for all Americans takes a back seat to what is best for the Party. This is political PUKE!!
America was founded as a beacon of hope for ALL peoples, no matter where they come from or who they are. We were promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness WITHOUT having to swear allegiance to any political bent. Yet, both Parties position themselves to be portrayed as the ONLY solution to any problem. And all those in opposition to their views are “un-American” or “un-Patriotic”. HUMBUG!
We are ALL Americans! Period.
If you were a starving Democrat, would your Republican next door neighbor deny you food for nourishment if you asked?
If you were a Republican left homeless from a terrible storm, would your Democrat neighbor deny you shelter from the storm?
Sure, it’s a political season. We all have our opinions. However, it dismays me to see the vitriole being spewed by the Parties in their efforts to convince voters that only THEIR Party is rational, reasonable and honest, at the expense of painting their opponents as the opposite.
WE ARE ALL AMERICANS!
Just as it is wrong to define ourselves as “black”, “white”, “Latino” or “Asian” subcultures, the term AMERICAN applies evenly to us all.
If you were travelling overseas and somebody asked you what nationality you were, would you answer Republican-American? Or, Democrat-American? NO YOU WOULDN"T! So, why must you do that in our own country??
It is ludicrous to believe that only ONE Party believes in strong national defense and lower taxes for all. It is folly to think that only ONE Party cares about school lunch programs and health care for our children.
It is just plain STUPID to judge a candidate on what he/she said or did 30-40 years ago as a youth!
And for those of you who don’t bother to vote, you deserve exactly what you get in return. You have NO right or reason to complain about anything our government does or doesn’t do. If you don’t care to participate in the democratic process of choosing our leaders, then you have no business voicing an opinion about the results! You have chosen to abdicate your right to choose. The only way to vindicate yourself is to RUN FOR OFFICE yourself! If you don’t like your choices, then YOU become one of the choices to improve our political process and government. Anything short of this makes you a hypocrite…enjoying the fruits of those who sacrificed on your behalf while criticizing those who do.
The deep divisions and polarization of our nation can only go so far before everything implodes upon us all. Partisanship is leading our nation to a collapse of the democratic process. Already we are seeing that certain factions are attempting to change our Constitution to reflect their own partisanship on fringe issues. When our sacred law of the land can be entrenched in the meddling of petty divisions, then our very democracy is at terrible risk of destruction.
These are very dangerous times, and WE are our own worst enemies!
But, WE ARE ALL AMERICANS!
It’s time we begin to act like it again and put these polarizing attitudes behind us once and for all.
Shame on us all! Please, Founding Fathers, forgive us!
Posted by Don in Indy on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:04 AM I agree with much of what Don in Indy wrote. Neither party has a lock on the right answers.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:12 AM Thomas Brown—I agree with everything you said up to the last two words. Why do you say that Bush has forgotten that many have died for our freedom of speech?
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:14 AM Dear Garrison: I have just returned to my home in Manhattan after spending the day marching in potest to the RNC and the Bush & Co. dictatorship. Thank-you for your comments, especially for putting 911 into proper context. As we are about to witness, over the next several days, 911, once again, wiill become the GOP’s misguided montra for the election of George W. Bush & Co. If today’s march turn-out is any indication, that montra and it’s conservative based choir will soon be retired.
Posted by Norm Zinker on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:23 AM Nobody saye it better than Garrison!!!
Thanks Mr.Keillor
Posted by Arthur Criste on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:29 AM Amen, Garrison! As a life long Republican who has rarely voted that ticket lately I am appalled at where the party has gone. The vitriol spewed by the platform alone should turn off any thinking American. God Save our wonderful country this November.
Posted by Don on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:43 AM Memo to Cowpox: the war is *over*! Also, were you looking for the ‘Crazy Tangents’ board, or did you actually intend to respond to the essay by Mr. Keillor?
Cowpox reminds me of two things: first, what George Carlin said about Civil War reenactors:
“Next time, use live ammunition, will you please?”
And second, what Morrissey said about copycat writers:
“If you must write prose and poems, the words you use should be your own-don’t plagiarize or take on loan.”
Please don’t drag William Blake into your personal anger problems, Cowpox. Open the phone book to the section on psychiatrists, point to one and pick up the phone.
Posted by D.R. on Aug 30, 2004 at 12:59 AM Mr Keillor’s essay is splendid.
But we can’t guide the immediate future by the good old Republicans of the 40’s or the snappy Democrat Harry Truman or Ronald Reagan a la Phil Collins.
We have to gather our common sense to vote as best we can.
We have to take information where we can, not just from where we like. There were three different VietNams. I liked the first phase of VietNam and I still don’t like Jane Fonda. Which time of VietNam or Jane Fonda gives us very little information now.Some folks really like Bush because he is truly charming and cute. Fewer people like Kelly because ‘he looks like a tribal mask.’ We have to put that aside. It really is irrelevant.
Don’t waste time on tv ads; you know that they’re selling soap.
Neither presidential candidate is perfect. If your sister is a screaming fan of Cheney, Dr Rice, or Bush the Younger, try to
think of something OK about those people.‘The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned’
We need to raise our wisdom and sense and put away our easy
emotion.
Posted by David Hills on Aug 30, 2004 at 1:15 AM Garrison,
Posted this at Posted by Anne on August 29, 2004 at 6:39 PM and you deleted this…wonder why…it seemed friendly enough. Guess you can not take criticizm.
Just want to say, Love your Radio Show, and Love NPR, you are one of the best storytellers around. I even laughed it up when you had Franken on talking about your book lines.I am a Republican, who lives in Georgia, and lived in Massachusetts for 19 years and I still find you funny.
Even though you have a great talent for waxing poetic, and storytelling, I find you very short on abilities to protect this country from Al Quaeda or any future attacks.
One Question for you, when have you ever been bullied by a fundamentalist Bible Thumper? Just curious, and it might make for a funny talk episode on your radio program.
And this statement of yours “Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.” You really need to get out of your small pond of Wobegon and get a grip, and realize that making sweeping generalizations about Republicans, Christians, and Southerners really just makes you look mean spirited.
You are in luck, Mr. Keillor, Mark Twain is here in your very hour of need and he has some kind words for you, to guide you. Mark Twain is telling you “GOOD BREEDING CONSISTS IN CONCEALING HOW MUCH WE THINK OF OURSELVES AND HOW LITTLE WE THINK OF THE OTHER PERSON”.Keep the Faith, Keep the Humor, and I look forward to the next time I listen to NPR and you are doing your radio show.
God Bless America, God Bless our Troops, God Bless our President!
Posted by Anne on August 29, 2004 at 6:39 PM
Posted by Anne on Aug 30, 2004 at 1:48 AM Bernie Ellis - What are you talking about? Did you think when I addressed a comment to ‘G.’ I meant Garrison Keillor? No, my sweet, I was trying to get the attention of Mr./Ms. van den Bosch. Emily Latella…hmmm. Was that on SNL years ago when it wasn’t really funny anymore?
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 30, 2004 at 2:39 AM Someone posted a few posts ago that he or she would appreciate me providing more information on why I left the Democratic party (or a liberal world-view) to become an Independent and then a Republican. I appreciate the question, for I take it as a sincere one. I also sense that there are some in this conversation thread - though not all - who would appreciate actually listening and learning from each other. So, in answer to your question, here is my response:
My journey from a McGovern Democrat to one about to vote for George Bush was actually a long one and the change was more incremental - with, as you can imagine, a final shove not too long ago. Yes, it was based upon my own crtical thinking to experiences and observations. Rather than provide you with a 30 page biograhy, let me provide a few highlights - here are images, descriptions, milestones to my change from a McGovern Democrat to a Bush Republican. These represent times (in chronological order)when I began to re-think and to re-examine:
1. Listening to my friends and walking with them as they looked for employement after coming home from Viet Nam.
2. Reading Waldon Pond by D. T.
3. Reading in the Rolling Stone that Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones all owned share in the same real estate as Frank Sinatra.
4. Listening to countless professors in three graduate programs avoid anything approaching a discussion on morality or moral clarity (they were so morally confused).
5. As I studied philosophy and history. As I learned about presuppostions, world-views, paradigms, and the track record of Marxism (millions starved in USSR, Africa, etc.).
6. As I observed “activist liberals” discussing tactics for political action in a Grand Rapids, Michigan inner city church - grinding their ciggarette butts in the floor with delight in utter disregard and without even a hint of gratitude.
7. Watching someone in a large gathering simply ask a question of Indepednet candidate for president, John Anderson, about his position on abortion - and then getting booed from the entire audience for simply asking the questiom.
8. Hearing a collegue in a Canadian Christian high school faculty lounge verbally express her hope that more American soldiers would be killed in Lebonon so that the Americans would learn a lesson. And, then, watch as not one of my collegues even blinked an eye or said a word.
9. Becoming a father and raising a child - for the most part - by myself. I became more conservative with each passing day.
10. Representing Head Start and interacting with people working in migrant and tribal programs as well as in various government agencies: I soon diascovered that the people assigned to solve a problem are eventually so invested in their careers and thus end up resisting changes that would actually help solve the problems (e.g. resistence to welfare reform and to universal full-day kindergarten).
11. Representing a liberal arts college in Canada and interacting with business people as I solicited financial contributions. Then, coming back to hear members of the faculty make snide remarks about the very people who had made significant donations for their very salaries.
12. Studying logic and teaching public speaking. istening to countless persuasive speeches on various public policy topics of the day.
13. Re-evaluating my life experiences as I matured and realized that good and evil do very much exist and that moral clarity is and must be available. I realized that such a text was available and the wisdome of the ages was - in fact - true.
14. Dealing with the suicide death of my closest friend and the mental illness of my sister. Strugling with my family to care for my sister and her four children. Observing what and who - in the final analysis - was there to help and who was not.
15. Reading many books and articles from various perspecives. Debating both sides.
16. Waking up to September 11, 2001 and watching as so many around me simply went into denial.
17. Countless conversations with liberals, independents, and conservatives via email, discussions groups, and blogs (including my own).
18. Years of relfection on my own shortcomings, on my own accomplishments, and on human nature as I have experienced and observed it.
These are 18 items that give you at least a flavor for why I moved incrementally from a Democrat to a Republican. I do not believe anyone or any group owns or has a corner on the truth. I think we are all quite fallible. We need each other and we can - and we must - learn from each other.
No, as someone mentioned, my name is not German, it is Dutch.
And yes, my religion has influenced my political beliefs. I believe that we are all religious - we all serve a god of our own making or God. There is no one who does not put his or her first and final trust in someone or something.
That’s enough for now. Since you asked.
Posted by G. van den Bosch on Aug 30, 2004 at 2:45 AM Hey Garrison, I always enjoy your words…but I have one disagreement. In your words of August 26th, .....“This is a great country and it wasn’t made so by angry people”...You are wrong…. Angry people gave the “Tea Party”...Angry people changed the way slaves were treated…Angry people, black and white, brought about the civil rights movement and changed laws and history. Angry women changed laws, and the way women were treated…. Anger has changed many things to make this country truly grrrreat!! Anger will get bush and his cronies out of office!!
Posted by J. Peters on Aug 30, 2004 at 2:53 AM Thanks for speaking for all of us. I’m from a large family, half of whom are Republicans, and we can’t talk about politics. This ban has been in effect ever since the 2000 election when I spoke out against W. Come on! How can good people support these criminals who have hold of our country. New Zealand does sound good. My son’s girlfriend is learning Dutch. Canada, how many of us can you take? Better yet, VOTE KERRY.
Posted by Yuma on Aug 30, 2004 at 2:53 AM Yuma—what crimes have “these criminals” committed?
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:08 AM J. Peters, were not the British very angry about the Tea Party? And those Southern plantation owners were hopping mad - so angry that they left the Union (while calling Lincoln a baboon!). Angry people resisted the civil rights movement and enacted many of the harshest and most unjust laws of our history.
Angry people can indeed change things for the better - toward public justice - BUT they must check their anger - channel it - for the achievement of justice. Unchecked anger never accomplished anything. Repeat, unchjecked anger never accomplished anything. No one changes as a result of being yeled at or being insulted by his or her neighbor of fellow American.
Unchecked anger against the strawmen “Republicans” and “Bush” will simply usher in four more years of an administration that many of you hope would go away. Your mission will be defeated by your own unchecked anger.
Name calling? You do it and then you accuse others of doing it. Does the same hypocricy exist on the “other side” as well. You bet it does. We are all human and we are all Americans. How about if we all check our anger and begin listening to each other.
What a novel concept.
There comes a time when Tories and Rebels sit down and actually compromise to build a country. There comes a time when Northerners and Southerners make peace and build a country. There comes a time when men and women begin working together to raise families and work in the workplace to build a country.
When will we begin to listen to each other and consider each other - without the self-righteousness and the unchecked anger of today’s discourse? When will we realize that “we” (you, or us, or they) are not the enemy. When will we begin to work together, again?
It starts by “checking” our anger and listening to each other.
Posted by G. van den Bosch on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:08 AM so, if the republicans win this time, I ADVOCATE A TAX REVOLT. Lets just stop paying for the folly.
Posted by steven tennis on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:11 AM But the anger is so much fun isn’t it? Better to lose an election than to give up me precious anger. Oh, me precious. Oh me precious. Oh me loves it. Me anger.
Clinton killed Vince Foster!
Oh, me precious anger.
Bush kills babies!
Oh me precious anger.
Me loves my anger.Me leaves this country. Yes, Me leaves this country. And me takes me anger with me where’re me goes. Yes, me does. Me precious.
Posted by G. van den Bosch on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:19 AM G. van den Bosch - That was me that inquired about your journey. Thank you for sharing some of your steps with us. What is so remarkable to me is that it would seem we are around the same age and have had many similar experiences. Your list is one of disappointments and disillusionment with the bright ideals and promise many of us felt in the 60’s and well into the 70’s.
I owned my own business for many years, and I paid every employee a good living wage and provided excellent benefits. I did not make much money and when I sold the business I didn’t get much for it. But I can always say I did the right thing and everyone who ever worked for me or with me would tell you that as well. I think there are lots of people like me who found ways to serve the common good, though not in so-called public service.
It’s hard for me to relate to your items that seem to illustrate bad manners (booing, grinding butts on the church hall floor, backstabbing, expressing appalling opinions). I’m also surprised by your two expressions of your need for moral clarity in the context of it coming from outside yourself.
I have read your list twice and have tried to see how these things would lead you to support President Bush. The Republican Party does not seem to me to be offering anything you seem to be looking for in your life. I’ve been watching them develop their platform for the convention. Have you had time to catch any of this on CSpan? I don’t expect you to change your mind, and it was brave of you to reveal so much of yourself, but I still don’t get it. What are the Republicans offering you that makes you want to keep them in power?
I hate to ask for more, but could you please sum up for us?
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:20 AM To van den Bosch—thanks for your commentary. It is very insightful and right on point. We need less anger and more thoughfulness.
Posted by Justin Hornburg on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:24 AM Mostly directed to Justin Hornburg. You seem to be intellegent.You argue with conviction and put down others with a version of the facts,but you wish to paint your picture with an odd pallet of colors.
Our so called friends and allies,the french and germans were against our going into Iraq because they had their own oil contracts with Saddam Hussein and weapons contracts as well.With the U.S. entering into Iraq ,we were bound to find out these things and they are embarrassing poliltically.
The one thing that I took particular offense at was when Doug Lane described Lynddie England as a “wretched lowlife reservist”. People like mr.Lane make me ill. I try not to get into name calling but this really stuck a knife into me.Obviously mr.Lane has not had the remotes contact with combat.I don’t like bringing my combat experiences into this mix,but I have knowledge that I have to impart.I DO NOT condone what Pfc.England and her peers did,but I think that I can understand A reason for what happened. First, not all people are created as equal,we all have frailties and weaknesses. When you share life and death situations with your peers you bond and have an affinity with each other.What they think influences your thoughts and actions.You want to help,protect,and defend these people.If you believe that you are not appreciated by the people that you are risking your life for,you begin to not care about them as humans and only care for your own.When you feel that your government has lost concern for you and your welfare,you pull yourself into a smaller group,such as your squad or platoon.When you hear daily that these people that you are to protect are animals or ragheads or whatever derogatory term is common you start to believe these things.When you fellow soldiers are being killed daily by the people that you see everyday you become very callous about them and their feelings.When you have fear,anxiety,uncertainty,and anger everyday,you become hateful and vengeful,especially when you can’t get at the real people who are responsible and then you go the wrong way and can do the wrong things.These people were not wretched lowlifes!These were people. These were people that have had their lives radically changed,turned upside down. These people probably thought that they were in the service to get an education,so that they could get ahead and have a better life.I volunteered for the army,and for vietnam,but because I was 19 and very impressionable and trusted my government I thought that I was doing the right thing.The point is that I did volunteer and thought that I knew why I was there.These people did not get that luxury.
And finally,some of you people still aren’t getting it.It’s not about democrats or republicans.It is about politcians who have no relationship with their constituents.No desire to help their people,no concern for their well being,welfare,or health concerns.For the most part these politicians don’t even live amoung their constituents.They live in their own enclave amoungst themselves,except when they want to be re-elected.They get into that same mindset that the wretched lowlifes of Iraq do,in that they don’t understand why their constituents don’t appreciate them or understand what they are doing to to help them.
Oh,by the way,our founding fathers were not saints.They had the same foibles that every other person had and has to this day.They were selfish,petty,and jealous among other things.They were able to put together a government by compromising and making deals.They were not saints,so think of that when you invokes their names as if they were saints.Ed P.
Posted by Ed Pleskovitch on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:33 AM Joanne, you are kind to ask. Thank you.
Re: I’m also surprised by your two expressions of your need for moral clarity in the context of it coming from outside yourself.
Joanne, I do not think that highly of myself to find a source for moral clarity within myself. Certainly not in my heart nor in my reason - for I know full well how fallible and easily swayed I am. Some of the most unspeakable horrors of the last century were committed by people finding moral clarity within themselves. *We* are not to be trusted for moral clarity. Such clarity comes - as you describe it - from an outside source.
The Republic party is anything but perfect - that is for certain. But that party is at least striving for moral clarity. It appears the other parties have a difficult time even mentioning - as a fellow grad student once said in one of my classes - “the ’ m’ word”.
It appears the only thing evil in the other party is he (or she or they) who fight(s) evil. It appears “fighting” is evil for the other party - at least for now. I happen to believe that fighting evil is good.
Yes, I often watch C-Span, though not now as I am spednding - belive it or not - time with family. So, no, I did not see what you described.
Re: What are the Republicans offering you that makes you want to keep them in power?
Moral clarity. Recognition that it is better to earn than to be given. Recognition that there are indeed people trying to kill others and us and they will - in fact - kill us - unless they are stopped. The Republicans are more serious about this (sorry, you can believe that John Kerry or Ralph Nadar will protct you and your families if you wish, I simply do not).
Obviously, there is more, but that is enough for now.
Again, thanks for asking - and for considering. Of such is dialogue and it is tjrough dialogue - not through angry shouting - that we will finally get back to building our country together - once again
(ala the Golden Age of the 50s, the Age of Camelot, etc.).Here’s to actually listening to each other.
Posted by G. van den Bosch on Aug 30, 2004 at 3:37 AM Ed P. you have dropped the pearls of wisdom in the middle of your piece! Fear, anxiety, uncertainty - this is the state which our government seeks to instill in us daily with repeated terror alerts, stories about terrorists tampering with drugs; media items about insecure borders, chemical plants, nuclear plants, ports; constant bugabooing day in and day out about all the danger, danger, danger all around us. It’s such a trasparent tactic that I’m amazed at how many people allow this fear to infect their thoughts and actions.
Listen up: if these things are true and disaster is on the way, there is little you can do about it. Roosevelt was right when he said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We all need to give ourselves a good slap and pull ourselves together right this minute.
I personally believe that we will have to deal with both foreign and domestic terrorism for a long time to come. The world is awash in weapons of major and minor destruction, and most of them are labeled Made In The USA. You can take the attitude that some demogogic leader cult can protect you, or you can resign yourself to start thinking with your head about what needs to be done to provide a reasonable level of security for the nation. You cannot hope to secure yourself or your loved ones 100%, but you can strive to be strong and clear headed, to look for leaders who don’t blow smoke up your ass about how they’re winning the ‘war on terror’. The ‘terror’ is in your head. You can make yourself a victim of terror even if there is never another attack anywhere in the world. You can live in fear until the inevitable end of your days. Or not. Choose and move on.
If you’re ready for a President that inspires hope, courage, and common purpose, then consider alternatives to George W. Bush. He’s just not making the grade in this department and he has managed by his own actions to so polarize people (love him/hate him) that he can never hope to lead in an effective way.
I don’t like to slam folks into boxes, but I have to say my experience with Republican Party supporters the past 20 years has been that they love to create division in order to achieve power, and then claim to be uniters who can’t understand why those who disagree with them can’t make an effort to get along. It’s so high school. All this ‘gotcha’ crap all the time, and all the bald-faced institutionalized lying. I can easily understand why the poiticians do it, but I can’t grasp what is going on in the minds of so many of my fellow citizens.
Posted by Joanne Roush on Aug 30, 2004 at 4:02 AM Who said English Majors serve no useful purpose? Bravo!
Posted by K. Goodman on Aug 30, 2004 at 4:06 AM Dear NPR;
I would like to share with you what I think really happened on 9/11. First of all if you really want to know you have to go back to the first Gulf War in 1991 when the U.S. was about to invade Bagdad.
Saddam pleaded to their cheif ally, Russia, to come to their aid so theyr finally did. Russia ordered the Americans out of the country and the very next morning President Clinton declared that the major objective of the war had been completed so the American troops were ordered to pull out of the region, leaving Saddam in power.
After that the free world began buying oil from Russia but there was a major problem with that. The oil in the Caspian Sea area was/is essentially landlocked meaning that it is very hard to get to market.
The best way around that problem was to build a pipeline across Afganistan. You probably remember the war that Russia fought with Afganistan to get access to the best route to the Mediterrian Sea. Well, after several years of fighting with Afganistan, Russia was unable to win the right to cross the Afgan mountains with their oil piplines.
That brings us back to Bush and his desire to overthrow the Iraqi governmemt. Bush and the other people in power in Washington, D.C. then made a deal with the Russian leaders that if the Americans would overthrow the Afganistan resistance that Russia would then allow us to overthrow Saddam.
Well, look at it that is what happened. But to get the American people to support the war on Afganistan a tramatic event had to happen. Move forward to 9/11 and remember that for no good reason our government blamed those events on Saddam.
After that there was a widespread panic and desire to overthrow Saddam and his Telliban which we had previously been supporting during their war with Russia. After going over to Afganistan and nuetralizing the Warlords there and before Osama was even captured Russia gave us permission to overthrow the Iraqi people so Bush declared that to make the world a safer place from future terriost attacks we shoudl overthrow Saddam and capture his vast oilfields.
The best way that I can think of to get the Iraq people on our side is to upgrade their country by giving them portable electrical generators and air-conditioners that they can use until we restore their main power units. After that we can give them refrigerators so that they might start enjoying some of their newly acquired freedom from Saddam and emerge from the third world status that they are in right now.
Thank you,
Henry A. Park
Posted by Henry A. Park on Aug 30, 2004 at 4:13 AM -
register a new account »Posting Security
Also by Garrison Keillor
- A Foul Tragedy
Democrats fled in the face of danger - We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of Newt Gingrich’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk?
Popular Discussions
- The 9/11 Faith Movement
Many Americans believe 9/11 was a conspiracy by the U.S. government
1979 posts since Jul 11 06 - What’s the 411 on 9/11?
891 posts since Dec 21 05 - Democrats: It’s the War
659 posts since Nov 1 05 - Was the Presidential Election Stolen?
462 posts since Jun 19 06 - A Fundamental History Lesson
The rise of National Socialism proved politics and religion don't mix
427 posts since Oct 10 05
© 2004 In These Times | Reprint Policy | Privacy Policy | Powered by Expression Engine | RSS Feeds
