We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore

Joanne, I am a Republican. Do you find me devisive? Is your experience with me in this conversation one of creating division?

Or, do you sense that I am a uniter? A peace-maker? Do you have a sense that I am honest? That I am a good father? A good brother? Do you have a sense that I hold people who are vulnerable to be worthy? Do you suspect that I attempt to follow the wisdom as summarized in the “sermon on the mount” a couple of thousand years ago? Do you have a sense - as you review my comments here - that I thirst after justice and mercy. That I wake up each morning to put such thirst into concrete action?

Do you have that sense? Honestly?

Here is my point: I am a Republican. And I will vote for Bush.

Please re-consider your stereotypes. That is what I am challenging. And I make that challenge to myself as well.

Someone once said, “a soft answer turneth away wrath.” Let us turn away from wrath. Wrath has never built anything. It has only destroyed - families, relationships, commnities, and even nations. Let us turn away from wrath.

Please challenge yourself to move beyond the stereotypes presented by the media and by our own fears and misunderstandings. Consider that there are people - in red and in blue “states” - who love this country and seek justice for their fellow citizens. Consider that we are Americans together and that we must put aside the anger and the self-righteousness - as good as they feel - to return to the hard work of building each other and our country up once again.

G. van den Bosch - Thank you. I’m sure you realize that I don’t agree that moral clarity can only come from outside, by which I assume you mean your god. I believe the opposite. What is amazing to me is that while you feel it is appropriate and even necessary to look to a political party for moral clarity, you do not seem to believe it is appropriate to look to your government to care for those who cannot care for themselves in our society. Children should not be allowed to live in poverty, elderly people should not go without medicine, no one should be denied health care. If we wish to consider ourselves a moral nation, we should never yield to the temptation to believe that our only choice is to kill or be killed, nor countenance torture, nor institutionalize the taking of human life. We should seek to be merciful and just in our dealings, not aggressive and bullying. Charity begins at home, but the world is our home, so our charity must be borderless. This is my moral vision and I can see it clearly, just as I could when I was a young woman protesting the carnage in Viet Nam.

Yes we all need to talk more, I suppose, and again I appreciate your sharing. Now I’ve taken my turn and I hope you will consider what I’ve said to you. I don’t think you are evil, but I believe you may have turned away from some of what was finest in you when you were a McGovern Democrat.

Joanne, I’ve got to call it a night, but before I walk away from my screen, let me quickly respond:

1.  I do *not* look to my government for moral clarity. I look to what I believe to be a revelation provided by God for my / our moral clarity. For me, this is the Bible. For others, it may be the Torah, etc.

2. I believe we are all responsible for the care of those who cannot care for themselves. I used to represent Head Start at the state and national levels and I am proud of that service. I am a Republican - not a Libertarian.

3. Sad to say, but we are grownups here: Sometimes the choice *is* to kill or to be killed. No need to go over our fight against the Nazis, for example. Nor is it necessary - I hope - to remind us of the lives lost to make people free during the American Civil War. Sometimes the moral choice is to kill or be killed (of such is our choice today, make no mistake ... and wishing it were no so will not make it go away) Killing evil is not evil. Murder is evil. There is a moral difference between force and violence - between killing and murder.

4. Charity is borderless - to an extent. But I will not call on you to help pay for my daughter’s clothing as she returns to school. That is *my* responsibility. Nonetheless, we have a moral obligations to protect ourselves and our families. We also have a moral obligation to stop genocide. Children’s prison. There was such in Iraq. We shut it down. What about the Sudan? Shall we simply watch the genocide and wish it would stop?

Joanne, I read what you said carefully and I agree re-examination is always good. I will always be careful to reform myself to what is good and just. And I will do so with a sense of moral certainty.
What was finest in me as a McGovern Democrat was made more certain through discernment over the years.

Thanks for the challenge ... and good night.

It’s one thing to become more conservative with the passing years, but it’s another to let your perception stand still and not realize that the Republican Party has long since passed from conservatism into the hate-filled, anti-American organization it is today.

It’s strange to me that there are a lot of moderate Republicans who don’t seem to realize their party is being run by hypocrites and lunatics, by bigoted hate-mongers and subliterate fools. They seem surprised when I tell them this is how the Republican Party is perceived, as though time has passed them by and they have simply ignored the changes that have been going on in their party since the late 1970s.

I long for the days Mr. Keillor speaks of, when Republicans were a necessary part of the political process, because they WERE conservative, and they were reasonable, and their conservative reasoning counterbalanced the emotional rhetoric of liberal Democrats. But those days are long gone and they ended with the rise of Ronald Reagan.

The Democratic Party has too many liberal extremists for my taste, but at least the thinking people are still at the top instead of at the bottom, as they are in the Republican Party.

If there are any reasonable Republicans like Mr. van den Bosch out there listening, you need to overthrow these wild-eyed radicals who are ruining your party and ruining the country with their pandering dissimulation and their unbridled intolerance.

A nice bit of “Bush-bashing”; however, The ONLY
way Kerry will ever be President of the USA is
if God wants to punish a wicked and unrepentant
nation with much grief and tribulation.  Kerry would be just the person for the job, and would make Bush look like a rank amature.  RCK

Soldier on! Thank you for insightful, well thought out facts to help counter the flow of BS. As a religious conservative I have been ousted by my family for not swallowing the witch burner rhetoric. Wake up “compassionate conservatives” our hour is NOW!!!!

Thank you for insightful, well written stuff that some of my cohorts will still open their well scrubbed minds to. As a religious conservative I burn with shame to see the TV preachers use God’s holy name to endorse this hypocrit. I have been ousted from my family because I won’t swallow this witch burner mentality. I call on all “compassionate conservatives” to lend their voices to shout down this perversion of the Bible and our religion to feed the greedy and starve the needy. Shame on those who go along to get along. Someone has had to stand against the prevailing winds in many church errors (racism for one example). Join and stop this evil man.

Oh how I share your passion!  Thank you and another AMEN from another old lady.

G. Van Der Bosch,
I want to start by saying that you have come closer than any Republican in this exchange to being a truly exemplary person. I do get the feeling you practice what you preach. I will also add that I have an IQ of 135, a bachelors degree from college, and I’m a former Southern Baptist who was baptized into the church at the age of 9. I do know what I’m talking about.

You ask Liberals to be more kind, understanding and broad minded. How many letters of similar nature have you sent to Rush Limbau, Pat Robertson, or your beloved President? It seems to me that for 40 years now Liberals have been “weighing issues,” “seeking dialogue,” and trying to be fair. While we pondered, the Radical Right has gathered their forces stabbed us in the back and slit our throats. It was your own presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, who declared a “Culture War” and urged his fundamentalist supporters to take it to the streets, if necessary. You urge Liberals to be kind, forgiving, and embracing, as if there had even been one shred of such high minded ideals in your own party.

I am a Gay man, G, and any Christian who thinks I should be subject to a death penalty, and a number of Christian leaders have spoken that sentiment in clear public terms is most certainly my “enemy.” Any moralistic judgmental bigot who stands outside my dead friends memorial service praying for his damnation is most certainly my enemy. I have been in a solid committed relationship for TWELVE YEARS! A heck of a lot longer than many of the serial marriages of the moral arbiters who want to “defend heterosexual marriage” by denying my access to it. If you want to defend marriage, out law divorce for straight people! Yes, anyone who says I cannot love and devote myself to whichever human being I choose is my enemy.

In five or six years my nephews will be old enough to be drafted. Any and all gods willing, by then Iraq will be a memory but there will be no shortage of new unnecessary wars for the military industrial complex to goad the government into fighting. Anyone willing to sacrifice those precious boys blood for ill gotten profits and the bloated egos of cowardly men is my enemy.

I’m self employed, struggling mightily toward the kind of self sufficiency your party gives lip service to. I pay almost 15% of my income into a social security system that is annually drained for the sake of pork barrel special interests which your party is every bit as guilty of as any other. There is no money left for a “personal retirement fund” no matter how generous your tax breaks, and yet your party has every intention of making sure social security wont be there for me when I retire. There are people in this world making hundreds of times my salary and paying no income tax at all, but I don’t have enough money to finagle a similar tax shelter. There are businesses thousands of times larger than my own humble endeavors that receive millions of dollars a year, of which my oppressive taxes are a part, while my efforts don’t merit a single dime. You dare to embrace those policies and then claim the moral high ground???

I can’t afford insurance and because I don’t have it the healthcare industry routinely charges me as much as ten times as much as they charge insurance companies for the same treatment. The drug companies charge Americans many times as much as people in other countries are charged and your party dares to claim our “free market system” superior to any other? It undoubtedly is for those with the affluence to buy stock in it.

I don’t smoke marijuana or tobacco. I tried marijuana. I did inhale. I didn’t enjoy it. My property is my property, bought with my own hard earned money. I think I should be allowed to grow anything I want for my own consumption. It doesn’t matter whether that is Tobacco, tomatoes, pot plants, or Belladonna to kill myself when the fascists knock down my door and come to take me away, anybody who wants to tell me I’m free to buy poisonous cigarettes and alcohol from corporate sources but can’t grow any plant that I want to, on my own property, is my enemy.
Currently, The FBI can secretly search my house, filter my email, track the books I read in the library, and the purchases I make with my credit cards. If I had the chance to speak out to loudly, or effectively, against this creeping fascism I might well find myself mysteriously on a “no fly” list unable to travel at will, and with no recourse or appeal. Your party thinks the government should have still greater powers to oppress my personal freedom. Pardon me for being blunt, but anybody who thinks these powers are not being misused now, and wont be misused even more egregiously in the future is a gullible idiot, and yes, anybody who thinks this state of affairs is excusable or acceptable is my enemy.

I could go on for pages. You seem like an intelligent, rational, even sincere, person. Are your eyes open? Are you honestly evaluating the party you support. Is the illusory fantasy of “moral certainty” so compelling in and of itself that you care not for substance?

I’m sincerely sorry your ideals were shaken and your utopian view of the world disappointed. There are shallow, ignorant, and yes, even evil people everywhere. I know from personal experience the backbone of the conservative Christian church, which itself is the backbone of the modern Republican Party is made up of people apparently like yourself. People who have, in spite of being reassured that “Jesus their PERSONAL Savior” and that God has an individual interest in them, been paradoxically convinced that they are so unworthy that they must depend on some outside higher authority to dictate their standards and ideals to them. This in spite of the fact those arbiters are every bit as human as the people they lead. Desperation for some shred of certainty in an uncertain world gives these people the tolerance to overlook even the most breathtaking moral lapses from their “leaders” while self righteousness allows their leaders to guiltlessly commit the most grossly venal of wrongs with God’s approval. Hypocrisy thy name is Conservative Christianity. What would Jesus do, indeed?! I no longer believe God smiles with particular ardor on Republicans OR democrats.

You were kind enough to share all the reasons that you become disillusioned with liberal philosophy. Among others, I too appreciate that. However, you offered very little about what the Republicans have done to impress you, beyond cloaking their own self interest, self righteousness, and personal agendas, in a veneer of moral superiority. Please do convert me. My mind is open, despite what you may think. Show my the 24 carat gold lining inside the sulfurous cloud that is George Bush. Given the fact that I do not own stock in Haliburton Corp., received mere pocket change in Tax relief, am as frightened and revolted by the actions my own government as by our alleged terrorist enemies, and do not have a hollow core of personal insecurity that must be validated by idol (with or without feet of clay)puking forth debased moral certainty, what is there about George Bush that I should admire? His drug addiction? his cowardice? His consistent failure in every business enterprise he’s attempted? His scholastic ineptitude? His complete lack of both curiosity and intellectual aspiration? Certainly not his compassion, humility, and unflinching honesty, because he has none.

Have you visited the FDR memorial in Washington DC? I did this passed spring. The dozen or so quotes from Roosevelt literally brought tears to my eyes. I felt embarrassed that I was so ignorant of how great a man he was and I dispared to think there was a single “statesman” in America today who could speak such high minded ideals with even a pretense of sincerity.

G. Van Der Bosch,
I want to start by saying that you have come closer than any Republican in this exchange to being a truly exemplary person. I do get the feeling you practice what you preach. I will also add that I have an IQ of 135, a bachelors degree from college, and I’m a former Southern Baptist who was baptized into the church at the age of 9. I do know what I’m talking about.

You ask Liberals to be more kind, understanding and broad minded. How many letters of similar nature have you sent to Rush Limbau, Pat Robertson, or your beloved President? It seems to me that for 40 years now Liberals have been “weighing issues,” “seeking dialogue,” and trying to be fair. While we pondered, the Radical Right has gathered their forces stabbed us in the back and slit our throats. It was your own presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, who declared a “Culture War” and urged his fundamentalist supporters to take it to the streets, if necessary. You urge Liberals to be kind, forgiving, and embracing, as if there had even been one shred of such high minded ideals in your own party.

I am a Gay man, G, and any Christian who thinks I should be subject to a death penalty, and a number of Christian leaders have spoken that sentiment in clear public terms is most certainly my “enemy.” Any moralistic judgmental bigot who stands outside my dead friends memorial service praying for his damnation is most certainly my enemy. I have been in a solid committed relationship for TWELVE YEARS! A heck of a lot longer than many of the serial marriages of the moral arbiters who want to “defend heterosexual marriage” by denying my access to it. If you want to defend marriage, out law divorce for straight people! Yes, anyone who says I cannot love and devote myself to whichever human being I choose is my enemy.

In five or six years my nephews will be old enough to be drafted. Any and all gods willing, by then Iraq will be a memory but there will be no shortage of new unnecessary wars for the military industrial complex to goad the government into fighting. Anyone willing to sacrifice those precious boys blood for ill gotten profits and the bloated egos of cowardly men is my enemy.

I’m self employed, struggling mightily toward the kind of self sufficiency your party gives lip service to. I pay almost 15% of my income into a social security system that is annually drained for the sake of pork barrel special interests which your party is every bit as guilty of as any other. There is no money left for a “personal retirement fund” no matter how generous your tax breaks, and yet your party has every intention of making sure social security wont be there for me when I retire. There are people in this world making hundreds of times my salary and paying no income tax at all, but I don’t have enough money to finagle a similar tax shelter. There are businesses thousands of times larger than my own humble endeavors that receive millions of dollars a year, of which my oppressive taxes are a part, while my efforts don’t merit a single dime. You dare to embrace those policies and then claim the moral high ground???

I can’t afford insurance and because I don’t have it the healthcare industry routinely charges me as much as ten times as much as they charge insurance companies for the same treatment. The drug companies charge Americans many times as much as people in other countries are charged and your party dares to claim our “free market system” superior to any other? It undoubtedly is for those with the affluence to buy stock in it.

I don’t smoke marijuana or tobacco. I tried marijuana. I did inhale. I didn’t enjoy it. My property is my property, bought with my own hard earned money. I think I should be allowed to grow anything I want for my own consumption. It doesn’t matter whether that is Tobacco, tomatoes, pot plants, or Belladonna to kill myself when the fascists knock down my door and come to take me away, anybody who wants to tell me I’m free to buy poisonous cigarettes and alcohol from corporate sources but can’t grow any plant that I want to, on my own property, is my enemy.
Currently, The FBI can secretly search my house, filter my email, track the books I read in the library, and the purchases I make with my credit cards. If I had the chance to speak out to loudly, or effectively, against this creeping fascism I might well find myself mysteriously on a “no fly” list unable to travel at will, and with no recourse or appeal. Your party thinks the government should have still greater powers to oppress my personal freedom. Pardon me for being blunt, but anybody who thinks these powers are not being misused now, and wont be misused even more egregiously in the future is a gullible idiot, and yes, anybody who thinks this state of affairs is excusable or acceptable is my enemy.

I could go on for pages. You seem like an intelligent, rational, even sincere, person. Are your eyes open? Are you honestly evaluating the party you support. Is the illusory fantasy of “moral certainty” so compelling in and of itself that you care not for substance?

I’m sincerely sorry your ideals were shaken and your utopian view of the world disappointed. There are shallow, ignorant, and yes, even evil people everywhere. I know from personal experience the backbone of the conservative Christian church, which itself is the backbone of the modern Republican Party is made up of people apparently like yourself. People who have, in spite of being reassured that “Jesus their PERSONAL Savior” and that God has an individual interest in them, been paradoxically convinced that they are so unworthy that they must depend on some outside higher authority to dictate their standards and ideals to them. This in spite of the fact those arbiters are every bit as human as the people they lead. Desperation for some shred of certainty in an uncertain world gives these people the tolerance to overlook even the most breathtaking moral lapses from their “leaders” while self righteousness allows their leaders to guiltlessly commit the most grossly venal of wrongs with God’s approval. Hypocrisy thy name is Conservative Christianity. What would Jesus do, indeed?! I no longer believe God smiles with particular ardor on Republicans OR democrats.

You were kind enough to share all the reasons that you become disillusioned with liberal philosophy. Among others, I too appreciate that. However, you offered very little about what the Republicans have done to impress you, beyond cloaking their own self interest, self righteousness, and personal agendas, in a veneer of moral superiority. Please do convert me. My mind is open, despite what you may think. Show my the 24 carat gold lining inside the sulfurous cloud that is George Bush. Given the fact that I do not own stock in Haliburton Corp., received mere pocket change in Tax relief, am as frightened and revolted by the actions my own government as by our alleged terrorist enemies, and do not have a hollow core of personal insecurity that must be validated by idol (with or without feet of clay)puking forth debased moral certainty, what is there about George Bush that I should admire? His drug addiction? his cowardice? His consistent failure in every business enterprise he’s attempted? His scholastic ineptitude? His complete lack of both curiosity and intellectual aspiration? Certainly not his compassion, humility, and unflinching honesty, because he has none.

Have you visited the FDR memorial in Washington DC? I did this past spring. The dozen or so quotes from Roosevelt literally brought tears to my eyes. I felt embarrassed that I was so ignorant of how great a man he was and I dispared to think there was a single “statesman” in America today who could speak such high minded ideals with even a pretense of sincerity.

It’s time to stop this wishy washy pandering to Republicans. Republicans are the party of ‘of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations.’ Anyone who supports the Republican agenda deserves to be despised.

The trick of how to respect your opponents when they don’t respect you is very difficult. I had the same problem over here in England during the Thatcher years of the 1980s. Many of my friends (normal, decent people) supported her and her policies while not realizing the damage that was being done. The only thing to do is explain over and over again why they are wrong-it is a long and drawn out process but it works eventually.

Also you do get to keep your friends!

Aside from the fact that I disagree with most of G.W. Bush’s policies/actions (Environment, War on Terrorism, Energy Policy, Economics, ...) there is one thing that strikes me again and again. To quote Bush:
“I don’t like discussion. I prefer clarity.”
What kind of accommodation can be made with an attitude like that?

Cheney says that he is “not introspective. [he doesn’t] like looking back. How can he learn from his mistakes?

... and what about this Karl Rove joker?

It seems to me that G.W. Bush is not a President. He just isn’t that bright. Bush is a political figurehead for a regime orchestrated by Karl Rove to implement plans conceived by Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz as motivated by big oil (including Enron), pharacuticals (Pharma) and agriculture (Monsanto).

The vote from the Supreme Court that put Bush in office was cast by Clarence Thomas, previously an attorney for Monsanto.

Freedom to choose? Try to find a corn chip that hasn’t been genetically modified. Hard to tell? Guess what, Bush is against labeling. Milk without growth hormones? The real cause of death “by natural causes?”

I think about all of the intelligent Americans out there, who are relatively well informed who still want to support Bush, and sigh. The only thing I can think is that their values are vastly different than mine.

Mr Keillor,

Thank you for a most thought-provoking essay.
I think you touched on some important issues.

But all praise to your correspondent Ronald James.

Bring on the revolution !

Until the residents of the USA take up their responsibililty and abolish their political system, there is no hope of meaningful reform.
If you wish to have democracy, you must have participation. That is, not just a single vote once every 4 years, for vague promises that are quickly abandoned.

You need, at least, binding citizen-instituted referenda, and you need to see your own history of state secrets.
If you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it. If you can’t actively respond to that knowledge, you’re a prisoner.

I can hardly comprehend the disaster your Mr Bush has wrought. But he must be reelected, so he can be charged, indicted, impeached, and imprisoned for the crimes he has instigated.
I don’t see the Kerry crowd holding him to account, or substantially changing domestic or foreign policy.
Why bother ? Just write the cheque to someone else. If Bush et al go free, what’s to stop the next tyrannical miscreant from doing the same or worse ?

Dante’s hell may well be reserved for those that remain neutral in times of crisis, but there might still be room left for those that perpetuate your dilemna by other means.

Good luck, America. Your election is a worthless charade as you only have two right-wing members of the same party. By eliminating Nader, Kucinich and others, you have already adopted the black-white discourse that guarantees you will never hear the real problems, let alone find solutions.
Even if they couldn’t or didn’t win, you could still listen to them ? No ?

“Democrats” and “Republicans” look all the same to me. Like sheep. With blinkers.

To Bruce—I can’t speak (or write) for van den Bosch, but I’d like to respond to your post.  This is not in support of the Republican Party (which I think is almost as bad as the Democratic Party!) but a defense of some of what are commonly thought of as “conservative” principles.  Again—Republicans do not always govern as conservatives.

What we need in this country is LESS GOVERNMENT, especially at the federal level.  I agree that if you want to grow something on your property, you should be able to (as long as it doesn’t infringe on your neighbors’ rights somehow). 

With respect to your complaint about paying your 15% FICA tax, what I think we need is to have NO FICA tax at all because we need to have NO federally-mandated inter-generational income transfer scheme (which is what Social Security is).  Yes—I think we should eliminate Social Security (I would do it only for those under 40 on 1/1/05, but that’s a subject for another debate).

As for FDR—I don’t know of which statements you write, but I do know this.  FDR was President when a lot of legislation was passed and signed that created the welfare state that we have toda, with its too-large, instrusive federal government and bureaucracy.

I will be voting for Pres. Bush in November just like I did in 2000 (it didn’t “count”—I live in Michigan).  I will vote for him, not because I think he’s perfect or because I support everything he has done, but because he has 1) done what in his judgement he needed to do to protect this country (Afghanistan and, yes, Iraq) and 2) he is more likely to govern as a conservative than John Kerry is (despite the Medicare drug bill, campaign finance reform, and other decidedly non-conservative legislation he’s signed).

Thanks for reading.

I have never laughed and cried so much at the same time.  Thanks Garrison.

G. van den Bosch - G. van den Bosch –
1. Excuse my mistake, but before you ‘outed’ yourself, you did not come right out and refer to the Bible as your source of moral clarity, and you did state that you were seeking moral clarity in your political leaders, hence my mistake. It is clear now that you are seeking leadership that agrees with your interpretation of the Bible, in word if not in deed. Thank you for clarifying that point. Please don’t pretend that you give equal credence or respect to the principles embodied in the Torah, Koran, or any other spiritual tradition. And it would be a healthy step to also acknowledge that you are a member of a group or church whose interpretation of the Bible is only one of many among practicing Christians.

2. Head Start is on the Republican hit list and will be gone very soon if Bush prevails. That is simply a fact. You can also say goodbye to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Housing programs, etc. I don’t know how things are where you are, but our churches and community groups are already collapsing under the burden of providing basic necessities for the homeless and hungry in our area. Incidentally, we have one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the country, yet poverty is rampant and visible.

3. Please don’t condescend to me. I stated that we should never believe that our ONLY option is to kill or be killed. I believe that true spiritual leaders from Christ to Ghandi have made this point the centerpiece of their teachings. I believe this tendency to think in such narrow terms is the sign of an immature mind. It is not a matter of wishing things were different, it is a matter of working to make them so. May I remind you that you are not God, and it is highly unlikely that God speaks through your candidate.

4. If you own a home, I will tell you that we all help you pay for your daughter’s clothes in the form of your mortgage interest and property tax deductions. We also paid your way when you worked for Head Start. By all means protect your family. The best way to do that is to see all the world as your family, including Iraqi children for example. Your points about Sudan and children imprisoned in Iraq are silly because I’ve already stated my position on those things.

Finally, I hope you will look carefully at the platform, policies and actions of the politicians you support for election. Obviously, you shall have to choose between the lesser of two evils and it will always be so for someone who is struggling to live in congruence with any humanitarian value system. However, it is an effort that must be made. Think Atticus Finch.

You are most welcome – and good morning!

Ah, more liberal nonsense.  Funny how often the term “rhetoric” is used.  Rhetoric is usually unsubstantiated speech.  I didn’t find much of this article to be justified with any substantial arguments behind it.  Just a bunch of name calling.  Much similar to the Democratic platform of today--rhetoric.

“Hypocrisies shine like cat turds in the moonlight!” I think Twain would be proud.

For one of the few times I find myself disagreeing with Mr. Keillor.  To say that the country is in hock “up to the hubcaps” doesn’t begin to plumb the depth of the debt.  Vote!!!

All the usage of colorful adverbs and adjectives probably isn’t required, but you caught the sad truth.  Through it made it a great read.

For those that think only the Republicans can deal with threats to America - I agree with the awareness
not with the implementation.

It’s a good time to remember what made America!

Adastra

Prayer for all Americans:those of faith or not.
Dear Higher Being(even higher power than George W Bush), Please know we are on the side of each of our God and not stating that God is on side. Please guide and protect the people of the United States who need your Grace more than any time in the history of our country.Yes, George bush must be defeated, but we are not praying just to have you decide an election, but rather to guide us to see the difference between EVIL and GOOD! Please help us to know that it is through love and respect and careing for one another that George Walker Bush will not be relected and never again to be in national government!  Amen

Before I sign off for good (38 emails this morning was a bit much), I owe Joanne a “Never Mind” myself. I do appreciate her drawing G. out on his political evolution, and the moral contradictions therein. If I were a fundamentalist Christian, I would have a hard time reconciling the immorality of the Republican party—the lying (WMD, nonservice in the National Guard, rampant cocaine use W can’t bring himself to admit), the cheating (Enron, serial marriages among those most opposed to granting gays equal protection under the law, putting candidates in nomination—as the Republicans did in Illinois—who ask their wives for public blow jobs) and the stealing (Halliburton, ever-expanding budget deficits). I would wonder whether my Bible contains a loop-hole under “Thou shalt not kill” that allows the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents in Afghanistan and Iraq. I would wonder at the mercy of an Administration that wants to deny medical cannabis to dying cancer patients and to imprison their caregivers, while turning a blind eye (and perhaps worse) to the largest opium crop EVER harvested in Afghanistan.

The introduction of the fundamentalist Christian influence in our politics not only dishonors the wisdom of our founding fathers (and mothers) to keep church and state separate, but it puts us in a position to be unfavorably compared with the Taliban. They too believed that their actions were/are divinely inspired, and they seem to have a similar respect for women as our own “divinely inspired” politicians who want to deny women the right to choose their own lives and paths.

So to me, the moral decision this time is easy. I will vote for John Kerry, who quoted Lincoln so eloquently at the Democratic convention that we should not arrogantly brag—as the Republicans do—that “God is on (their) side” and instead humbly pray every day that “we are on God’s side.” My God made the heavens and the earth, and She put me here to be of service and to protect Her creation. So the moral choice for me is easy: Defend women. Defend children. Defend all peoples on the earth. Defend America. Defend the earth. Defeat Bush.

Thanks, Garrison, for stimulating so much heat and light this weekend. Now it’s time to go register more reawakening Americans, and throw the self-righteous and immoral bastards out. How’s that for a moral imperative? If Bush’s ignorance and arrogance has accomplished a reawakening of our democracy, then “it (truly) is all good.”

Good morning, a quick comment before I head off to work:

Joanne, our conversation here is illustrative for me on how difficult is is for us to dialogue during this time of polorization. We speak past each other, addressing stereotypes. we know so little about each other - our neighbors - that we simply fill in the blanks based on what we see in the media or hear spoken by our mates.

I remember a time when grownups would openly speak about Catholic priests fornicating with nuns and drinking the blood of innocents. During their childhood, these people watched actors dressed in blackface mimick sterotypes of “colored” people. during our own time, many Arab children are taught the Jews are the off-spring of monkeys.

Today, one of the groups stereotyped is “conservative Christian” or “Evangelical Christian or “Fundamentalist Christian”. It’s considered OK in the mass media and in polite conversations to stereotype this group and then to attack the stereotype. As in days before, the conversation usually begins with a disclaimer - I know they are not all like this but (in my youth I remember listening to people say, “I know there are some good niggers, but..."). Today, the “N word” is not used in polite conversation. But words like “Bible thumper” are used without hesitation.

Joanne, let me quickly address your points:

1.  I hardly think I outed myself. I freely mention here as well as on my blog which is available for your consideration: http://bluegoldfish.blogs.com/surface/ my religious presupositions or world-view. I speak as a Reformed Christian (to be more precise, neo-Calvinist, if you care). I am not a fundamentalist. And of course I seek leaders who agree with me. Does anyone not do this? Is there something wrong with this? Nonetheless, I realize - as did our founders - that to make this country work, we must compromise. Every election is such and I am OK with this. As I have said repeatedly in this thread, We need each other and we can learn from each other. The fact that there is such a misunderstanding of where I am coming from abnd what I believe perhaps means that I may not have explained myself adequatel;y last night. Forgive me. It was late and I was also speaking with my daughter as I wrote. 

2.  I am not pretending to give equal credence or respect to the principles embodied in the Torah, Koran, or any other spiritual tradition. As a participant in a Democracy, I do. I fully expect those who draw their moral direction from such testaments - or from their own hearts or reason - for that matter - to do so before they enter the voting booth. That is what Democracy is all about. And as I respect the rights of those different from me, so, too, I expect their respect for my conscience and for my pursuit of happiness. And, apprently, there may be another stereotype operating here, so let me explicitly “acknowledge” (and celebtrate!)that (I am) “a member of a group or church whose interpretation of the Bible is only one of many among practicing Christians.” I do so, clearly.

3. On Head Start “on the Republican hit list and will be gone very soon if
Bush prevails”: Joanne, with all due respect, I believe that I have worked for that organization and also with other related government agencies in similar positions to let you know that Head Start is not on the chopping block. There are those with vested interests - oh I could tell you stories - who are using scare tactics for political (and funding) advantage. Head Start6 may very well be transferred to antoehr department (Education), but it will most certainly not be axed. What may be axed are the cushy careers of some Head Start administrators (I said administrators, not teachers)with fake doctoral degrees, inflated salaries, and a resistence to positive reforms. Joanne, trust me on this, I have years of experience and many examples I could cite.

4. “You can also say goodbye to Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Housing programs, etc.” - simply not true. what evidence do you have?

5.  “churches and community groups are already
collapsing under the burden of providing basic necessities for the homeless
and hungry in our area” - again, simply not true. Those groups and churches are actually thriving. Please cite me three examples if this is such a reality. Cite even one, for that matter. Simply not true. As someone working in this area, I know. Excuse me for sounding so certain, but I am.

6.  “poverty is rampant and visible” - compared to what? To the rich or to the rest of the world? The average poor person in our country lives with television, airc conditioning, a patio and two rooms for each person in the household. This is more than the average *person* (I did not sday “poor person") in PAris, Vienna, in all of Europe.

7. I did not intend to condescend you, and if you intereted anything I said in that light, I apologize. Again, I am writing rushed before I go to sleep or go to work. And I am sure you did not intend to condesced me when you say “I believe this tendency to think in such narrow terms is the sign of an immature mind.” or “May I remind you that you are not God ...”, etc.

8. I am well awayre of and grateful for the government assistannce in my life and in our lives. Again, I am a Republican and not a Libertarian.

9. And I hardly think my point on Children’s Prison or the genocide in Sudan weree silly. I think they are profound and I prefer to look at them head on.

10, Indeed, for a final point, I will llook carefully at the platform, policies andactions of the politicians I support for this election. We must all hold each otehr accountable.

I challenge you and the others reading this comment to do the same.

Final note: hae you ever read the letters or diaries of those who lived during the Civil War? They were filled with such misunderstanding, such prejudice, such ignorance. Ironically, today - even with 24/7 cable and Internet, we continue to really know so little about each other.

What can we do to “get back to Lake W.”? I mean, really get back. Something to think about.

I wish you peace and I wish you justice. As one American to antoher, let me wish you a good day. I hope our conversation has diminsihed the anger bwetween us and broken down at least some of the sterotypes that are set up between us.

What an excellent article!  So eloquently stated! Thank you, Mr Keillor!

More war,
less freedom,
less healthcare,
less science,
lower wages,
more isolation,
more secrecy,
and more deception!

Be paytriotic
Vote Republican!

Ah, now I must go out and buy the book. This excerpt is absolutely wonderfully witty and right on the money.

My entire e-list has been sent a copy and I have received some wonderful feedback even from a few the “fence sitters” and Republicans. We need more “opinion pieces” along these lines sent to the local newspapers - albeit, perhaps not as witty. I would request that all those who posted comments do just that. I know I will.

You are a superb thinker and writer. Tune in to Prairie Home Companion as often as possible. Keep up the good work.

Nice.  Doesn’t it say something when G.K. is making points like this.  It’s not exactly his fun-and-friendly norm. He’s pretty mainstream.  A lot of mainstream people are speaking up about politics in ways that is far from normal. 

Some Republicans I know have noticed precisely what you’re saying, G.K., and are voting for Kerry.  Although, most people who identify themselves as Republicans have not noticed the shift and keep voting, no matter what.  Shouldn’t the people shape the Party, rather than the Party shaping the people?  Tail wags the dog, unfortunately.

I made a website to voice my frustrations, and I’m not some crazy liberal.

::Scott
http://www.TheWeeklyBush.com

If Bush would have NOT gone to war with terror, you liberals would be persecuting him for THAT. Have you forgotten that the Democrats were 100% for going to war?  Now you want to blame Bush because it hasn’t been easy?  You know, the media fails to remind us of all of the good things that have come from Operation Iraqi Freedom (e.g. the removal of a ruthless dictator, schools, drinking water, etc. for Iraqi citizens)

Also, it really annoys me how the liberals think that the Republican/Conservative agenda is to “help” the rich and not the poor simply because tax cuts are NOT biased toward the lower or middle class.  You know why the rich get a big tax cut???  THEY PAY MORE TAXES!  Ever tried to start a business?  Do you know how much money you pay in taxes?  Ever mortgaged your house and taken a risk only to see that most of your money goes straight to the govt????  Guess what? The Govt. is not supposed to be a Robin Hood.  Govt’s job is not to guarantee that you have a house, car, etc.  These are all YOUR responsibility to attain.  Read the Bill of Rights--you won’t find these listed among them.  The Republican agenda is a smaller govt.

So, what IS govt’s main job?  To protect us.  God bless George W. Bush for doing just that.

-Drew

You go, Garrison!!!!

I am reminded of Alexander Pope, who said that the duty of a poet was to say “what oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”

Garrison, you’re a poet!

Jane Hawes

Thank you Garrison. I think that fear and anger have causes SO many of us (republicans) to relinquish our logic and sensibility. We look at our president in the same way that we look at the WWF in that we know it’s not real, but we like watching someone bomb brown people on our behalf. If this administration is allowed to continute for another 4 years, I truly fear that our country will be doomed with the world hot on our heels. Oh how we slept through the 2000 election; exhousted after months and months of watching our leaders dragged through ugly scandal. We though that everything was going so well that nothing could ruin it in 4 years....how wrong we were. I’m happy o see that you have the guts to step forward to become food for the right wing pundit grinders like Hannity, and Limbaugh............history will prove you a hero.

“ Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.”

Put THAT on a T-shirt.

As great as this essay is, it’ll never change the minds of the people it talks about.  They’re not about reasoned debate, they’re about winning.  (Note the “we will win anyway” focus of the pro-Bush comments in this thread.) Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, and recent events have showed, they will do absolutely anything to keep it, including gaming the systems that have kept America free and strong for two centuries.

There is absolutely no antidote for this poison except for the broad, decent mainstream folks of America to wake up and vote against extremists.  When the radical right is voted out of office it tends to dry up and blow away almost overnight, because power was its only lure.

This has to happen in Congress as well as the White House.  Don’t just focus on the Presidential race, pay attention to your House and Senate elections as well, they are crucial.

Drew wrote:

“Guess what? The Govt. is not supposed to be a Robin Hood.  Govt’s job is not to guarantee that you have a house, car, etc.  These are all YOUR responsibility to attain.  Read the Bill of Rights--you won’t find these listed among them.  The Republican agenda is a smaller govt.”

Exactly right, Drew, and the 800,000 ADDITIONAL US children living in poverty this year (as compared to last) should have chosen their parents more wisely.  The 1% increase in the child poverty rate (the third increase in a row!!) is proof that GWB’s vision-thing for America is WORKING!  Screw compassion and charity; We’re Republicans!!

Drew also wrote:

“So, what IS govt’s main job?  To protect us.  God bless George W. Bush for doing just that.”

Could I ask a couple of questions on that point?

1) Who was in charge of national security at the time of, arguably, the biggest breach of national security ever?  (Hint:  it was a Republican.)

2) Got Goat?

Thanks GK.  Matt.

After reading all of these responses, I understand now why the Republicans are headed for victory in November. Crackpot conspiracy theories (e.g., 2000 repeat), overwrought feelings (end of our Republic? HA HA HA), and generally emotional psychobabble. The problem is that Democrats think with their hearts rather than their heads. Try using some logic and argument for once. Then maybe a guy like John Kerry can figure out which way he wanted to vote on the war.

Mike Hunt wrote:

“Try using some logic and argument for once.”

I’m all for it, Mike.  Yes, there have been some overheated and over-the-top statements on here, but I figure most GK fans are logical, reasonable people.  So give us one good, logical reason to vote for GWB’s reelection, and I bet a bunch of us jump on board.

Thanks.

Matt Barker.

Thank you Garrison for Nailing it so Eloquently.  Those who can, must speak up Now.  It is too late already for Thousands of mained and murdered Iraqis and Americans.  Our earth is being poisoned with industrial toxins and detonated uranium.  Our Treasured Forrests are being cut.  Who would have dreamed it ?

One thing that has really amused me as one who grew up a Slavic American in the Cold War, is that Bush is so fond of that old KGB Putin! Putin is his SOULMATE! Where the hell is McCarthy when he is needed?
In actual fact Putin is an unreconstructed Soviet who has conned Bush cleverly into sitting on Central Asia for the greater good of Mother Russia. He is a very clever man who has led an all too willing victim down the garden path.
In fact I’ve found the neo-con friendship for other old communist leaders highly amusing, what with them defending Milosevic on the right wing talk shows so often. These people doing the defending never had to wonder if the water they drank had been too close to a mass-grave and ought to be boiled. But what do you expect out of people whose leaders made their money off concentration camps? Who still make their money off Chinese PLA prison camp factories? I’ve had to educate a few of these ‘traler trash’ Republicans that shop at Walmart about the truth of where the cheap goods are made! When they know the truth it really hurts their stomachs.

well now what?!? eloquence will only get us so far. the kerry campaign for some reason does not seem to fully grasp what is at state. A common modern liberal error has been that we are too calibrated in our responses. FOLKS this is not a college debate; this election is for the very soul of our nation--but the kerry folks are still treateing this election cycle as an intellecutal exercise.

the american voter was action, decisiviness, and aleartnss. (pardon the typos) but Kerry has failed on those fronts.

We need him to clearly articulate what is at stake; and then challenge the voters. But no! he has terry mcauliffe and others trying to answer bush via tit for tat.

WAKE THE HELL UP or we will have Bush for the next 4; and then here comes Frist!

Garrison, what a profoundly frustrating capture of GW Bush, the Darth Vader of the United States, killing us abroad literally and figuratively, and at home.  I applaud your brillant assessment.  I was raised in a Republican family of the 50s and unfortunately my siblings are still stuck there.  I’ll vote to change the White House--pray that happens.

Matt Barker wrote:

“ the 800,000 ADDITIONAL US children living in poverty this year (as compared to last) should have chosen their parents more wisely.  The 1% increase in the child poverty rate (the third increase in a row!!) is proof that GWB’s vision-thing for America is WORKING!  Screw compassion and charity; We’re Republicans!!”

There’s so much wrong with this viewpoint, I’m not even sure where to begin.  First of all, let me again repeat what I said earlier:  Even CHILDREN don’t have the RIGHT to shelter, food, clothing, etc.  Therefore, it’s not the job of the govt. to provide these things.  Every child born in America is not entitled to be born into a family that has a home, a car, etc.  If I could guarantee that my child (who will be born in Feb.) will have all of these things when he is born, why should I keep working?  I could just let the govt. provide it, right?  You think THAT’s the solution?  Bush believes in faith-based initiatives to resolve this.  There are plenty out there.  If you really care to fix the problem, you could donate your money to these organizations (for the sake of the argument, I’ll inform you that I do) and not the govt.  Let’s face it, paying higher taxes to the govt. is the LEAST effective way to solve the poverty issue.

Also, let me ask you this: why do you think people live in poverty to begin with?  Is it really because they or their parents never had the opportunity to work hard and get out of poverty?  I’m not even going to go into the magnitude of opportunities that everyone already has here in America.  Different jobs pay different wages because of simple supply and demand.  It’s a lot harder to go become a doctor than it is to sweep floors for instance.  Shouldn’t you get paid more for your efforts?

The liberal viewpoint-->"the govt. will take care of me even if I drop out of school.” Whatever happened to “reaping what you sow?” That’s not cold-hearted.  That’s justice.  It also provides incentive to those that DO work hard to get ahead (without getting taxed out the yin-yang).

You’ve heard the expression: “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” Wonder how all of the wealthy people got rich???  THEY WORKED FOR IT!  Wow...what a concept!  How long has it been since you read the grasshopper and the ant story?

One word Garrison - AMEN!  However it is sad that old Bush does not have enough knowledge of the English language to know what you have written - let alone the smarts to understand your ‘fancy’ words.  This old girl is proud to be a Democrat and not afraid to take a stand.  I am so sick of Bush and ‘Bushisms’.  He is an embarrasment to the USA and what she stands for.

Keillor should know dull. Have you ever tried to make it through one of his radio shows or read any of his books. By the way, the Heinz family wouldn’t have partaken in any of the corporate greed aforementioned, would they?

Drew wrote:

“Even CHILDREN don’t have the RIGHT to shelter, food, clothing, etc.”

I guess that points up a fundamental difference in our values.  I’m not willing to entrust the nation’s children to the whims of the free enterprise system and the “go f*** yourself” greedheads running the government.

I too give a considerable amount of money to private charities, both faith-based and secular.  But the Census Bureau’s new child poverty statistics don’t give me much comfort that non-governmental solutions are sufficient.  The problem has become steadily worse during the President’s term, not better.  How long do we have to wait until we see some results?

So we can say “let them starve if the private sector doesn’t step up” or we can say “our children are at least as worthy of government subsidies as is big oil.”

You decide.  M.

I disagree with Drew. I believe that Children DO have a right to food shelter and healthcare. Drew, it’s people like you that scare me most in America. Honestly opinioned people who don’t feel connected to the suffering of anyone other than them and their own. Do you honeslty think that everyone who is rich got that way by hard work?? Do you think that George bush WORKED hard to be in a position of priviledge that allowed him to fail UPWARD for decades on his fathers name and connections? Nevertheless, part of what’s WRONG with the american consciousness. When jobs and opportunity are low.....we do our best to hoard and cordon ourselves off from everyone else. Bill Clintons economic legacy was to show that when the least of us feels safe and supported by society, we ALL flourish.
Sadly, it’s your mentality that will ultimately lead to the downfall of our country if it takes hold. It is the type of divisive “me vs. them” outlook that every other nation in the world looks at when they reject America. When a child born in the inner city has funding for headstart. This is a child PROVEN to have a lesser likelyhood of becoming a victim of the streets and ultimately less likely to become a criminal who preys on everyone else (you and me)!
George Bush believes, as did Reagan, that if we can get the rich to flourish to some imaginary critical mass, the breadcrumbs from their table alone will “Trackle down” to benefit the rest of the working class. Newsflash: it didn’t work!

Clinton believed that if we empowered the working and middle class by increased spending on education, healthcare, and community uplift by increasing taxes on the top 10% of Americans (none of which you or I know), we all would rise as a country. News flash: it worked!!

Now we’re back to making the rich richer and the poor poorer as sound economic policy and a part of compassionate conservatism. I don’t care what your take on any specific policy may be, but if you back up a few paces and SQUINT, you’ll see how simple things can be. Nothing has improved since George Bush took office. Name ONE thing that is better in your life now, than before 2000, then name all of the many things that have gone DOWN since 2000 and the answer is simple. This country (regardless of your personal politics) have gone BAD since George Bush took office. To despute that basic fact would fly in the face of all logic. Period.

Wow!  Thank you for writing this.  Those of us in Republican strongholds like mine love hearing that there are more of us out there who understand the dangerousness of what is happening and I am hoping to convince more of my neighbors of the same.
Becky

Naturally, this discussion has degenerated into name-calling and references to sexual proclivities, as these things always do. Few have responded to the Yankee-hater. His comments chilled my blood, but as least he offered a rationale for supporting W that I can understand--revenge.
Fellow patriots, try to stay strong and don’t give into the fear and rage we all feel but must resist. We may not win, but we can go down fighting, knowing we did what we could.
Mr. former liberal, I don’t know what happened to you, but you are right about the grief. We will be in deep mourning for the country we grew up believing in, that our loved ones fought and died for, ultimately, perhaps, in vain. I am braced for despair, though I haven’t given up hope yet. Kerry may not be our savior, but his election would at least be a sign that We the People denounce the actions (and the inactions) of the despot(s) now in charge, and it will prove that democracy still lives. If we fail, the pain will be hard to bear. Maybe we can keep fighting, maybe we’ll fight harder, maybe there will be a revolution, or another civil war, or maybe, yes, the end of the world. Maybe business can continue as usual for years to come. Who can predict? I have a feeling our American landscape could take on a new and shocking appearance, charred and broken. We shall see. All I plan to do is take it as it comes, fight it as comes, as best I can. My head may end up in the sand with everyone else’s, if I can no longer bear to look. I’m no hero. Our best hope is to bond together, stand together, and if we do that I promise I will stand with you. May God help us all.

The problem with what Gwen McKenna wants is that it dovetails exactly with what Karl Rove wants.  The hardball operatives of the neocon junta are perfectly happy to see liberalism go down in a magnificent display of honorable virtue - as long as it goes down.

For the nouveau Right it’s like what Vince Lombardi said: winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.  Of course they brush serious debate aside in favor of name-calling and dirty tricks, because *that’s what works*.  If it stopped working they’d stop doing it in a heartbeat.

The way to make it stop working is to make moderate intelligence politics the “new hotness.” A lot of money goes to the far right because people are convinced they’re going to win anyway and they want to support the winning side.  Puncture the illusion of invincibility and the money will evaporate.

Great article, Mr. K.
As I walked in New York City yesterday with the other 250,000+ Americans who oppose the neoconderthal’s who run this country (run it into the ground, actually), I met not a few of the delegates to their stageshow cum convention. Absolutely clueless without an exception. One woman, literally with a tear in her eye, actually stopped me and asked, “Why are you doing this? Are you trying to destroy our country? I really don’t understand what you are protesting against!” When I pointed out to her the newest numbers on those living in poverty, those without healthcare, the underfunding of education, etc. not to mention the illegal war W has gotten us into, her eyes glazed over and all she could say was, “But we have to be safe. George Bush will make us safe.” It was then I realized that these folk may truly lack critical reasoning abilities.
Sad, how sad.
Paul

I fear that Amerika has fallen into the darkest of times.  Personal freedom and liberty is rapidly dissapearing, if not gone.

I find that many of my friends, aquaintances and client are afraid to state/post their feelings and beliefs via eMail, on-line forums or even using cell phones.  Well, this American has not!

Homeland Security - HA!  Republican Security, possibly.  I, for one, may not fly any more.  Not because I am concerned over [my] safety, but because I refuse to play their cattle car games.

Why are we in Afganistan/Iraq?  I have one rule - Follow the money - who stands to profit?  This question may be extended to the World Trade Center bombings as well…

Samuel

This is a courageous piece by a man who has a great deal to lose by speaking out in these troubled times. A large percentage of his audience and fan base is in the so-called red states. Bravo.

I grew up in the 50s. This used to be a great country full of hope, ideas, and pretty decent folks (along with some real wack jobs). The worst thing we had was Charlie Starweather.
What happened?
I have a grandchild coming.
And it makes me sad.
Nice piece of writing Garrison.

<<(along with some real wack jobs)>>

Somehow you have let the “Whack-Jobs” take over the asylum.  The world is petrified of what is happening to your country.  PLEASE get it together before it’s too late.

Brilliantly written piece.  Thank you.

Vote!

Mr. Keillor certainly does have a way with words. One point he makes at the end, though, undermines a lot of what he said before. “This is a great country, and it wasn’t made so by angry people. We have a sacred duty to bequeath it to our grandchildren in better shape than however we found it. We have a long way to go and we’re not getting any younger.” To me he seems much angrier than the people he’s criticizing. Furthermore, the people he’s complaining about are a big part of the heart and soul of the country. They are not mean-spirited or cold-hearted. They are church-going ordinary people who are trying in their own ways to cope with the deterioration in values that they see around them – values that, by the way, are corroded by more than Enrons and Halliburtons. Sunshine liberals in Hollywood and cynical intellectuals do their share of damage.  What is needed is another great leader like Lincoln or Roosevelt who can reconnect the better instincts of these people with a political agenda that offers something more than unimaginative reruns of the liberal and conservative programs of the last 50 years. I think that’s why neither political party can command a significant majority. It’s as David Brooks described in the NY Time this Sunday. “It has become like World War I. Each party is down in its trench, lobbing the same old arguments, relying on the same old coalitions. Neither party is able to gain a lasting advantage. Neither party is able to accomplish much that it is proud of. Trench warfare finally ended because somebody invented the tank.

It is time for one party or another to invent the tank, some new governing philosophy that will broaden its coalition and transform the partisan divide. For Republicans, the progressive conservative governing philosophy is the tank. It is the approach to politics best suited to the emerging suburban civilization, best suited to life during a war on Islamic extremism. It is the way Republicans can build a governing majority and leave a positive mark on the nation and its destiny.”

It could just as well be the Democrats who invent the tank. Maybe it will be an entirely new coalition of interests from both parties. I don’t care who does it as long as it gets done.

As a fellow Minnesotan and longtime fan of GK, I’m glad to see him move from his ironic and (only mildly) amusing profession after the 2000 election debacle that “we’re all Republicans now,” and finally put both light and heat where it belongs.

For us liberals, I might offer some small ray of hope that Rove Juggernaut, Inc. may not be the precision manufacturer of hype and slime they’re reputed to be: I received a mailing last week that I was chosen to complete a survey as “the best person to represent Edina (my hometown) as a Republican Voter in Minnesota.” Ironically, I also received a survey from the ACLU and an invitation to join. Guess which survey I’ll be filling out and enclosing a check to?

It’s not often I get a peek at the opposition party’s correspondence to “the faithful.” I was struck by two things:

1. Any contribution to “Bush-Cheney ‘04, Inc.  during the general election report period may be re-designated to the Bush-Cheney ‘04 General Election Legal and Compliance Fund to be used only for legal and accounting expenses during the general election.”

Does that mean they’re already passing the hat to contest what may be a perilously close election?

2. “What can you do right now to help the President? Watch your mailbox. Look for your absentee ballot request. Sign and return it. Make sure your vote counts. Then come help the President by volunteering to get your neighbors to the polls on Election Day.”

On the face of it, this seems to be a contradictory message—send your ballot in (so it will be assured of being counted) and then bust your butt to haul other Republicans to the polls, even though the electronic voting machines may not be working (or haven’t yet been rigged).

In any event, it would seem prudent for as many Democrats and sympathetic Republicans as possible to cast their votes for Kerry via absentee ballot, just to be on the safe side. There must be a reason that the Bushies are being encouraged to do so.

Tim

Dear Anser,
You make a good point. When I read about reformed liberals embracing Bush because of his “moral clarity,” I feel overwhelmed that the world has gone mad and we can only cling to the shreds of our beliefs before they burn up and we plunge into the abyss. If we can get savvy we may have hope. The problem is, liberals have become either no-compromise-both-sides-are-corrupt Naderites, or get-out-the-vote-and-hope-for-the-best-but-god-help-us-all-if-it-doesn’t-w work borderline defeatists (like me), who have no idea what happens next even if we do win. Or, in extreme cases, defectors who (I guess) just couldn’t take it anymore. How can you get idealists and bitter former idealists on board with your plan? More to the point, I guess, is how do you generate the illusion that everybody’s on board? If Kerry could convince people that he & his peeps know what they’re doing, just give them the reins and everything will be under control, it would work. Certainly he could say this more convincingly than W can, yet no one seems to be convinced yet. It is already “hot” to hate Bush, but we need more.

Mr. Keillor makes his point well, as always.  He also touches upon a few things that I have been ruminating over for several days now.

I live in a “red” state (hint: same one GW claims to as his homestate - only, I was actually born here).  It follows that I number quite a few Republicans among my friends.  Most of them are actually good, honest, compassionate people.  Like me, most of them seem to care about the future of our nation and the good of our people.  Our disagreements - and we do disagree quite vigorously sometimes - are over how to approach these things.  These are good people and (as best I can tell, being no expert) good Republicans.

Having said that, I cannot understand how these good, honest, compassionate Republicans I know could possibly support this administration.  Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft - not to mention their allies in Congress like DeLay - are not good Republicans.  They’re not good citizens.  Hell, they’re not even good human beings.  One wants to scream at the good Republicans, “Is this REALLY the best your party can do???”

I think Keillor is on to something here.  The GOP is not the party of Lincoln anymore.  It is no longer the party of Teddy Roosevelt, or of Eisenhower, maybe not even the party of Reagan (no matter how much I disagreed with Reagan’s policies, I always believed, at least, that he was an honorable and decent man).  Bob Dole has retired from public life, and John McCain is not getting any younger either, and there are no younger moderates stepping up to fill their shoes.  Maybe it is because there are none left.

It saddens me, as a Democrat, to see what the Republican Party has become.  When one party sinks so low, might the other not be far behind?  And then, what happens to our country?

Brilliantly written. There is alot of brilliant writing around at the moment, describing eloquently the terrible state of the USA.

BUT

And thats a big but.

One of you has to step up to the plate and write something that approaches a solution to your problems. You can wax lyrical till the end of time about how america has gone to hell, and nothing will change. That is the crucial difference between you and your colleagues and the Republican/Corporate/Neocon/Pigopolist axis. They TAKE ACTION to make their nighmare come true, you sit and write. They will always win unless you change your tactics.

I will help you. Now.

If you think that voting will change anything, you are sadly mistaken. John Kerry’s platform is absolutely dreadful and business as usual. You can vote untill the cows come home or the fat lady sings, and nothing in your country will change.

You need to fatally and permanently cripple your government so that it can never threaten you or anyone outside the USA again. If you are not willing to do that, to defang that terrible monster that you feed every april, then do not bother to write these beautiful screeds, because they are impotent infant pacifiers that keep the problem unsolved.

The next thing you write must be The New American Manifesto, where the people take back control of the destiny of that land and its position in the world. If you are not able to do this, or if you for any reason are unwilling to do this, then you must return to your normal life and cease all complaining, because you are a failure, and a part of the problem.

Dante’s words on neutrality are fitting. In your case, and in the case of all the eloquent writers, today in the 21st century, neutrality equates exactly with eloquence. You are neutral if you do not offer a plan. You are a part of the problem if you do not have uppermost in your agenda, the need to permanently solve the problem of who runs your country.

There are no two ways about this. America will cease to exist if you do not take action. If you rely on Democracy to bring the fix to your door you are delusional. Democracy is for the hellbound, the Swiss, The Norwegians and the other civilized countries. It is for places that are orderly quiet and stable. America doesnt have time for democracy - it cannot fix your problems. American democracy is a thumb in the mouth of a retarded child, it is political vallium. If you swallow it, if you suck your thumb like a retard, you will be destroyed, and no one in the world wants to see that happen.

The world needs america to right itself. The world needs to see that great country return to the days of Eisenhower (without the ignorance and discrimination obviously). If you can do this, and I can think of no other country where such a turnaround can happen, then you will be leading by example, the world will follow willingly, and we will all reap the benefits.

Should you fail....

News item: On the new World War II Washington DC Memorial there will be a gold star for every 100 American soldiers killed.

We Got Gold Stars
We got gold stars
For spelling bees
We got gold stars
For Japanese
And German kids
We killed before
They killed us first
We killed them more
We got gold stars
For what we did
A gold star
For each one hundred kids

We got gold stars
On winding shrouds
We got gold stars
Our folks were proud
We got gold stars
In Jr. High
And then we all
Were asked to die
We got gold stars
And we got killed
We got gold stars
The generals thrilled
To let us make the sacrifice
We got gold stars
And that was nice
We got gold stars
We were all brave
We got gold stars
On every grave
We got gold stars
For what we did
A gold star
For each one hundred kids

We got gold stars
For dropping bombs
A folded flag
Went to our moms
We got gold stars
Because we died
We got gold stars
For suicide
We got gold stars
Because we served
We got gold stars
What we deserved
We got gold stars
For what we did
A gold star
For each one hundred kids.

Not one gold star
For every child
Not one star each
That would have piled
Those stars like corpses
On those walls
A thousand miles
To hold them all.
A thousand miles
Of lifeless suns
Of endless dead
From endless guns
A thousand miles
Of children’s names
An endless silent shriek of shame.
We got gold stars
Our parents grieved
We got gold stars
Like autumn leaves
We got gold stars
We died like men
We’re sending children
Off again
We’re sending children
Off again
We got gold stars
For what we did
A gold star
For each one hundred kids

- Richard Marcus

Thank you Garrison Keillor!  Your words were well appreciated, and I hope that your words are heard by all.

Great article, but I don’t buy the goodness of Eisenhower...don’t forget he has blood on his hands in the Congo...same as our country does in Guatemala, W. Timor and Chile...Chile and Guatemala 2 democratically elected governments.  We had the potential to be a great country...still do...but methinks that has probably passed us by...as Shakespeare taught us in MacBeth...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ... unfortunately, I feel we’ve gone down that road that bent in the undergrowth...and we probably will regret it.  We already do.

Think about it, the number of people killed or missing in Guatemala alone, 200,000, that doesn’t include the number of people tortured, the number of children left orphans, the number of villages wiped out.  How many twin towers can be divided into 200,000?  and for some 40 years? We have much blood on our hands.

In the spirit of Dante, I have spoken my piece.

Bush by the numbers:
Nearly 1,000 Americans dead in Iraq, along with about 15,000 Iraqi civilians, despite the fact Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11.
Zero weapons of mass destruction.
At least 1.2 million fewer jobs.
At least 8.2 million jobs short of the president’s own modest goal of adding 7 million jobs (more than 22 million jobs were created during Clinton’s eight years).
About 5 million more Americans under the poverty line.
More than $1 trillion added to the national debt.
Thousands of Americans and good folks from scores of other nations dead in New York after the worst lapse in domestic security in U.S. history, after eight months of the president dismissing all things Clinton, including focusing on terrorism, and a record-setting pace for presidential vacation time.
Zero meetings with anti-terror chief Richard A. Clarke, a lifelong Republican.
Zero Predator spy-drone flights over Afghanistan.
So ...
Why is the party of Honest Abe Lincoln and trust buster Teddy Roosevelt handing its nomination back to a lazy, cowardly liar who built a war on a foundation of falsehood and is bankrupting the nation to shovel tax cuts to the greedy?
Republicans, please put patriotism ahead of your partisanship.

A light, sweet, cheerful, happy, kind, loving, tolerant, uplifting, inspiring, attractive, positive and supremely optimistic assesment of current affairs! Thank you for the ultimate example of “the way to be”.

Bravo GC, well done! Encore! Ritalin!

Dear Mr. Keillor,

I grew up listening to your voice in the badlands of North Dakota on my grandparent’s horse ranch.  Cowboy poetry, crickets, and meadow larks (and words/songs from Prairie Home Companion) were the “music” I imprinted on.  Being a child of the 80’s, though, I couldn’t help being seduced by hip hop, too.  I just wrote a song which I’d love for you and your readers to hear BEFORE the election.  It’s called “Suspicious” and the link is this:  http://www.popghetto.com/home.html

This is not a promotional pitch. It’s a gift from one “North Country” boy to another (in trade for your brilliant, down-to-earth essay.) Thank you.

when you have absolutely nothing to offer, you launch a hate filled attack like this one - what a shame that so many have praised it - read it again and ask yourself if the direct comparisons of Republicans to Nazis and other despicables of the past is really what you want to be saying and supporting - if it is, this country is in a good deal more trouble than Keillor suggests and you Dems and your attitudes are far more a part of the problem than you are a part of the solution -

Bravo, Garrison Keillor.  Perhaps in more ascerbic rhetoric than I’d have employed, this is what’s been on my mind—a life-long, fifth generation Republican who cast his first vote for Eisenhower in 1956.  What is occurring to the Grand Old Party with which I grew up is acutely troubling.  My great-great grandfather, and great-grandfather, who helped found the Republican Party in 1856 when it stood for “Free Soil, Free Men and Fremont” must be spinning in their respective graves.  Even my father (by anyone’s definition, a “black Republican,” as that term was used in those days), who was a candidate for State Assembly in California in 1938, insisted we listen to FDR’s “fireside chats,” especially during WW II.  And, both FDR and Eleanor Roosevel were despised in some quarters in those days; the mind-set is infinitely worse today.  Where are we going with this “bitter-end” politics that Keillor describes?  It ought to be disturbing to all Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Sadly, we have a President who believes that Democracy is anything his Vice President, Attorney General or Secretary of Defense tell him it is; he is the most incurious, anti-intellectual President since Warren Harding.  What a tragedy for this nation, and for the world.

Whenever I think of all the damage done to our nation and its standing in the world by the occupiers of our government, I just want to cry.

Ah, yes, the party of emotion. It can be such fun when laughs are all that are at stake.

If you’re alive to laugh, and the Mullahs allow it.

Well said Mr. K
Might I add this of my own?

Here we go again!
Well here we go, kids, it’s that time again! It’s time to play “Lets Bullshit the Electorate” the family fun game that can be played by young and old alike. Brought to you this year by the folks at Enron, Halliburton, Brown and Root and the good folks at Raytheon where “We help you blow up things, all right!”
And Hey!! Lets not forget the guys that made the last four years possible, the good folks of the G.O.P. Lets give ‘em all a big hand!! And speaking of big hands, where would we be today without the big hand the Supreme Court and Florida’s own Governor Jeb Bush gave our winner in 2000’s contest. Come on, let’s give ‘em a big round of applause!!
As you know this is a special game that only gets played every four years. It’s the game where corporate America and the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue try their best to pull the wool over the eyes of the voting public in an attempt to retain control of the much coveted “Reins of Power” for another four years.
The winner of the contest is awarded an all expense paid, all you can eat seat at the public trough for his family and closest friends generously provided by …. (Drum roll please) that’s right - you, the American taxpayer! That’s four years complete with luxury accommodations in four star suites around the world and free unlimited executive air transportation to destinations of his choosing.
Sound too good to be true? Well that’s not all, nothing’s too good for our commander and thief so how about the ability to double his own well deserved salary and as an added bonus he will receive the powers of “executive privilege” to help him through those delicate times when full disclosure and transparency might be inconvenient all that coupled with immunity from prosecution from a long list of crimes should make that four years a time to remember.
And for the year 2004 George Bush and his carefully chosen team of movers and shakers and image makers are hard at work chasing photo ops and sound bites designed specifically to sway your vote. All that combined with spun facts, half truths, out right lies and the biggest war chest of any incumbent President in history, should provide us with the most entertaining election day ever!! Will it be a “Slam Dunk”? Or will it be close down to the wire ? That’s up to you and me folks, when the time comes take the time to take your turn and vote.
Keith Hupp
Chugiak
Ak.

Ack.  I’m gonna be sick.  Imagine a world w/ Al Gore at the helm on 9/11.  We’d still be debating economic sanctions on the Taliban.
Thank God for George Bush.

Ah yes I am soooo afraid Dan S. I’m sorry but I lost my fear the first time I was shot at in real combat. Ever since then it just really makes me angry. If you wish to be scared go ahead it is your right but don’t bother me with your closet fears. I am too busy living my life. That’s what the rest of you should be doing also. Your chanes are better to be drafted and die in combat that to ever have a terrorist do you any bodily harm.

I traveled to Hong Kong on the first day of this illegal and immoral war and then on to the Philippines and returned 10 days later. My only fear was that the boders of the US would be closed to foreign travel. It was also during the SARS epidemic. Guess what?? Didn’t die from that either. Maybe I just trust to much in GOD to be scared. Oh wait, doesn’t Bush have a person pipeline to HIM?

Don’t understand why so many scared republicans on this thread. Isn’t there a venue closer to your political bent than this? Shouldn’t you all be watching your Nero on TV?

As always, Garrison Keillor (immensely enjoyed your appearance at the Kerry rally in Tacoma, WA, on Saturday, August 28th, by the way - beautiful harmonizing on your part as you led the crowd in singing ALL the verses of “America the Beautiful” - which should be our official national anthem, if you ask me...) AHEM!  As I was saying, Garrison Keillor is right on target from start to finish.  No big surprise there.

But I tell you this.  As surely as the sun will come up the day after November 2, 2004, if George W. Bush wins this presidential election, this country (and indeed the entire world) is absolutely, inevitably bound for Revolution - and not merely late ‘60s/early ‘70s social revolution, but real, 1789 French Revolution, 1776 American Revolution, real 1917 Russian Revolution.  A government such as that which we are experiencing now, and such as that which Garrison so frighteningly foresees here, cannot, will not stand.  There will be blood in the streets as we take our country back; if not, prepare yourselves for the Second Coming - of Germany in the 1930s.  If ever there were a time to study Western Hemisphere History over the past 250 years, this is it.  Odd, isn’t it?  In our situation in 2004 America, those who do *not* ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

And believe me - I am no Marxist, foaming-at-the mouth-leftist radical.  I am a classic liberal Democrat.  If Bush & Co. win in November, I will be girding my loins and preparing for the struggle and, yes, the bloodshed that will surely be to come.  This savage and dangerous attempt at world dominance and tyranny can not stand - no more now than it did when the Roman Empire fell; no more now than it did in early 19th-century Europe during the scourge of the Napoleonic wars; no more now than it did during the wild rampage of the German-Italian-Japanese Axis of World War II.

Yet, this can all be avoided.  Let us all hope, with all our hearts and all our minds and all our faith and all our strength, that what I have predicted above does not come to pass.  It is actually quite simple:  either John Kerry (or, for that matter, you, me, my dog, ANYone but “Dubya"), is elected in November 2004, or chaos, bedlam, yes, perhaps even armageddon, will, as sure as the sun rises,