Louis Brossard Blog

Louis Brossard Blog

A Man of Character

In Viet Nam President Bush finally acknowledged that Iraq is another disaster just like the Viet Nam War. He stated; "We'll succeed unless we quit." Translated into non Orwellian speak that means the Democrats and turn coat Republicans are responsible for the disastrous defeat in Iraq. The fault is not the instigators of the illegal and immoral tragic catastrophe but rather those who chose to reduce the losses.

I see his tacit concession of our defeat of the Iraqi occupation as a typical face saving tactic. He is not able to stand and take the consequences of his ignominious actions and wants someone to come and rescue him as they always have in the past.

Once again one is left with the quandary, does George W. Bush just lack the intellectual capacity to understand what he has done or is he a very clever manipulating liar. It appears to most of the world that he is just an easily lead, shallow egoist following a script supplied by an extreme fringe of America. Carl Rove is even popularly called “Bush’s Brain”. My take is that there is much of the egoist and immature behavior in what George Bush does. But I believe he is fully aware of what he is doing. I think he is really just that contemptuous of the country and its citizens. His world is one of privilege. He has always been pampered and coddled by the establishment to which he was born. Now his true character is emerging. He sees the impending defeat of the United States. He sees that the Bush presidency will be held in even greater contempt than the Republicans held President Carter’s presidency. And like a child he wants to put the blame on someone else.

He is right that the blame should be shared. Certainly the Democrats are very much implicated in the Iraqi War. The American People must also bear this burden. We acquiesced when his election was manipulated. We accepted that our representatives did not represent us. Senator Feinstein is still the darling of most liberals in California even though we opposed the war with a sizable majority. She has paid no price for ignoring the will of her constituents. And while the Republicans have been chastised for their war by loosing both houses of the Congress few Democrats have had to pay a price for their vote to empower the Bush War. Senator Hillary Clinton is still the front runner in her party even while she openly supports Bush’s war. No, sadly we the people must accept the contumely from the rest of the world. It is we who have accepted a president with such a flawed character. By so doing we all must carry that stain on our character as well. I only hope we have learned to act more responsible in the future.

A Very Peculiar Morality

Louis Brossard Blog
A Very Peculiar Morality
11 November 2006

Our country has had a political face lift. We have had a slight change in our political appearance but no real change in our political personality. We retain our fully legal but profoundly corrupt form of government.

This is less of a politician fault than it is of a citizen failure. It is we who have condoned this and continue to support our legal corruption and blatant mendacity. How many good Republicans have abandoned President Bush because he freely admits he told a total lie about the Secretary of Defense’s remaining in office? Yet they were eager to impeach President Clinton for lying about improper sexual activity. Which of these two lies had greater consequence for our nation? What moral justification can there be because one was legal while the other illegal because Clinton was under oath? Should we the people not require that the oath of office be amended to include a legally binding promise, “I will not lie to the American People”? No, in America lying is a totally acceptable behavior. Ask any marketing executive.

In their adamant opposition to stem cell research the fundamentalist religious right claims a profound respect for life. Their assert it is better to destroy a potential life by discarding an embryo than to use that same collection of cells to find a way to save an existing life. Most of this same group accepts killing a human being when found guilty of legally prohibited behavior. Even more egregious is killing innocent human beings in an immoral and illegal war. Why is it morally acceptable to use killing technology to further the political will of a nation? This is killing, that same killing they claim is proscribed in their Ten Commandments. It is legal. It is not moral. The true Axis of Evil is the coalition of the Religious Right and the Politically Greedy.

Not long ago we officially condemned the Soviet Union for having a non-democratic form of government. They had only one political party that ruled the country. It is revealing that the members of our Congress remain in power at a higher rate than the members of the Soviet assembly. One would expect that in a free system there would be a greater replacement rate than in a totalitarian one. The United States has two parties both of which are totally dependent on special interest funding. We all know that the government is bought and paid for by big money. No honest politician can stay in the Congress unless he/she sells his/her vote to pay for his/her campaigning expenses. It just can’t happen. And by so doing he/she becomes dishonest. Is that the fault of the politician or of the governed who permit such corruption? No sophistry can hide the obvious truth; no pious pronouncement can hide the sin. The proceedings of our government are fundamentally corrupt and the people of the United States accept this corruption with alacrity. It is we who are responsible for our government.

I am happy that the Bush Administration has received a sound “thumping”. I hope for some improvement in my government’s behavior. I do not expect much real improvement. All I can expect is that my Democratic party will now receive more money for their votes in Congress. They will tell the people a slightly different group of lies. They needn’t be worried, the people will willing accept the deception. It is our chosen form of government.

We are a country with a free press. It is free by a guarantee in our Constitution. It has remained free of government control in almost all aspects. Government interference is not the problem. All of our major communication media are owned by corporate America. These are the same owners that de facto own our government. While there is freedom from government control it is certainly not free from corporate control. There still remains great freedom on the Internet. But only a few politically interested citizens are involved in governmental discussions and information on the web. Most Americans get their political information from the major corporate news media. We pay for these media with our purchasing dollars. We buy the misinformation that corrupts our government. Many of our citizens proclaim great pride in this system of government. Who then is at fault?

I wish we all would abide by what we teach our children: do not lie; do not kill. I do not believe that makes me a hopelessly naive and misguided citizen. I suggest you ask yourself if you are such a citizen.

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