Its Too Soon to be That Pragmatic

[Tinoire]

Its Too Soon to be That Pragmatic
by Linda O'Brien

We're not at the point of nominating a Democratic candidate yet. Until that time, we do no one, least of all ourselves, any favors by refusing to say what we feel. If that's "pragmatism," I want none of it. It's what we've received from nearly every member of Congress and nearly all of the media for the past three years. It's part of what got us into this mess.

So I'll say that John Kerry is supported by those who want someone "electable" because of what he didn't do, not because of what he did. He didn't say any unpopular things. The people have decided that form of cowardice is more likely to defeat evil than courage. That's pragmatic, all right.

But it won't be enough after the primaries. And it won't fix what Bush has destroyed. Reversing what Bush has done is going to take much more than just not doing what Bush is doing. Thanks to the Bushites' propaganda, America is becoming something repugnant, a nation of flag-wavers too smug to even mention that our bombs caused the deaths and maimings of thousands of Iraqi civilians. The way Kerry is wrapping himself in past war heroics isn't doing anything to help change that. Or has he even noticed, from the depths of his bipartisanship?

We need to hear a lot of unpopular words in the next four years to begin to reverse what Bush has done. Howard Dean started a wave of powerful reactions by saying a few bold, true and unpopular things. Sorry to mix metaphors, but can that tree continue to grow if it's chopped off at the roots?

The American people are ready now to oust Bush. They got to that point because of three things: the relentless truth-telling of internet writers, the willingness of Howard Dean to speak out when no one else would, and hundreds of thousands of passionate progressives who brought Dean's candidacy to the limelight. We could continue to use the same techniques to go for more than ousting Bush, to go for the deep change we desperately need.

<snip>

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0209-12.htm

[NashVegas]

1. Beautiful

She sums it up, nicely.

[Sam Lowry]

2. She's half right

I agree with her premises about John Kerry's general poopiness. But her suggestions go from the silly and useless (renounce S+B, apologize to Dean) to the unrealistic (stop rolling around in Vietnam vets).

Kerry could just grow a sack. The only hitch is that he's already made his opportunism and crassness clear to anyone who cares to review his record. To go back on this now would be yet another re-invention.

Shitfire. Does anyone remember the last time a Democratic nominee was caught re-inventing himself over and over again?

Is there any hope? Tinoire?

Sam

[Tinoire]

4. I don't know Sam- After Kucinich & maybe Dean, I give up

I have a very, very long memory and the spin of many of the old "war-excusing" people supporting the DLC candidates has totally turned me off. Scott Ritter's bomb-shell earlier today about having sent Kerry documents about Iraq not having WMDs was the final nail in Kerry's coffin for me. Being Liberal domestically is simply not enough anymore.

The more I look at S&B, Rhodes, Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commissions and other such societies, the more disgusted I get because I realize they're all working hand in hand towards the advancement of the same Anglo-Teutonic empire that has brought so much misery on the non-Anglo-Teutonic world. We went and established little puppet regimes & colonies all over the world in just that goal and now we wail and wring our hands as we plunder the rest of the world with the excuse that we must defend ourselves and our allied colonies. The whole thing has gotten very sick and I want no more part of it. We now have the DLC, which was as blood-thirsty as Bush,
presenting itself as a dove of reason and a dove of peace- just like many of its supporters here who I distinctly recall rationalizing the war on the grounds that Saddaam was an evil man, that he was oppressing his people while at the same time, they justified continued immoral sanctions and absolutely vilified the coalitions organizing protests against the war. I am not so sure I want to be in the same party as such New Democrats & sympathizers to Bush's & the DLC's imperial philosophy. There are too many neo-liberals in this party working against almost every progressive ideal I have. <sarcasm> School of the Americas is now a finishing school teaching Human Rights to Officers, Reagan's National Endowment for Democracy is interested in spreading real Democracy in "repressive" countries like Venezuela & Cuba, Brezinski & Soros are Messiahs to the Democratic Party, PNAC is paranoia on the part of Leftists, the OSP was only run out of the Pentagon, "everyone" was mis-led about WMDs </sarcasm> and yada, yada, bull-crap with the lies, the head-burying & the rationalizations. Dominate, steal, kill, kill because we are the uber-menschen and the scoundrels who dare strike back at our crumbling empire must be "apprehended". You tell me, is there any hope?

Our only hopes are Kucinich and to a lesser, but still acceptable, progressive extent, Dean. The DLC & its supporters aren't having them as they tut tut their way & rationalize everything that suits the needs of a dying, parasitical empire that can't prop its currency up by the sweat of its own hard labor.

Kerry isn't going to grow a sack. How could he? He's sold on the advancement of that empire hook and nail. His entire history is one of doling out a few larger domestic crumbs to the people (abortion, a little welfare) in true DLC, empire-expanding style. You tell me, is there any hope? Special interests are taking over this election again- like always and we're all supposed to bury our consciences with cries of "ABB" as we focus on Bush because that way, they calculate, we won't notice that there's a little more to this than just Bush Inc. Well I have noticed. There will be no cries of ABB coming from this mouth.


Kucinich. Smart, honest, said from the beginning no WMDs.
----
Dean- because he is not S&B, Rhodes, TC, or CFR & would not be putting their interests above ours.
----
Edwards- straddling a fine, fine line but being anti-NAFTA wins him a lot of points. I would have 2 independent mechanics check the car before buying it from Edwards.
=====
Kerry- waaaay under the line after Ritter's bomb-shell about him definitely having known.
_____
Clark- absolutely out of the question- might as well move the Kissinger, Brezinski & the NED to 1600 Penn Ave.


The neo-cons have no intention of leaving the White House. The neo-libs (DLC) are trying to make it comfortable enough from them to leave by promising a candidate who won't make too much noise over what he finds when he gets there. Well hell no- I ain't voting for that. Regime change! Not a cosmetic changing of the old guard!

You tell me... Is there any hope?

"Why should we not form a secret society with but one object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for making the Anglo Saxon race but one Empire? What a dream, but yet it is probable, it is possible." Cecil Rhodes - "Confession of Faith

http://www.pbs.org/empires/victoria/empire/rhodes.html

I contend that we are the finest race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. I contend that every acre added to our territory means the birth of more of the English race who otherwise would not be brought into existence.
Added to this, the absorption of the greater portion of the world under our rule simply means the end of all wars. The objects one should work for are first the furtherance of the British Empire, the bringing of the whole uncivilized world under British rule, the recovery of the United States, the making of the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire. Cecil Rhodes - "Confession of Faith
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Rhodes.html

Is it any wonder that Hitler, funded by S&B money, admired this man? Kind of puts WTO, NAFTA, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Iraq & self-serving colonies under a whole new light.

So Sam, you tell me. Is there any hope? Especially with some Democrats justifying this stuff?

[Vernunft II]

5. I wish I could say something positive

but I feel exactly like you :(

[Tinoire]

8. Welcome to DU Vernunft II

:toast:

Thanks.

We need to start making our voices heard. It's now or never and the DLC knows it as they deliberately try to kill our best chance to get a decent non-empire building progressive into office. They're not about winning- they're about maintaining the status quo. Thanks for your words compadre.

[Vernunft II]

19. Actually I´m not that new here... *g*

I´ve been around for well over a year but lost the password to my previous handle "Vernunft" in a computer upgrade and there was no way to recover it. So I reregistred and upgraded to "Vernunft II", hehehe.

The DLC is part of the Empire so they will fight tooth and nail against anyone who might threaten their share. It´s sad but natural.

[justinpower]

9. Wow

I had no idea who Rhodes was and what a Rhodes Scholar was. That is really disturbing. Thanks for the links.

[Tinoire]

10. Yeah... Rhodes... Rhodesia... Diamonds... Anglo empire

Rhodes left a will that was to create one of the most successful educational endowments of all time; The Rhodes Scholarships. These were open to any of the Teutonic peoples; Britons, Germans and Americans. And had the express purpose of enabling the academic elites of these countries to mingle and understand one another better in an attempt to create an Anglo-Saxon empire across the world. Even in his death, Rhodes' dreams were bigger and more comprehensive than most other peoples'.

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/biography/rhodes.htm

Plenty more here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22cecil+rhodes%22+empire


<snip>

To forward such a scheme what a splendid help a secret society would be a society not openly acknowledged but who would work in secret for such an object.

<snip>

Let us form the same kind of society a Church for the extension of the British Empire. A society which should have members in every part of the British Empire working with one object and one idea we should have its members placed at our universities and our schools and should watch the English youth passing through their hands just one perhaps in every thousand would have the mind and feelings for such an object, he should be tried in every way, he should be tested whether he is endurant, possessed of eloquence, disregardful of the petty details of life, and if found to be such, then elected and bound by oath to serve for the rest of his life in his County. He should then be supported if without means by the Society and sent to that part of the Empire where it was felt he was needed.

<snip>

(In every Colonial legislature the Society should attempt to have its members prepared at all times to vote or speak and advocate the closer union of England and the colonies, to crush all disloyalty and every movement for the severance of our Empire. The Society should inspire and even own portions of the press for the press rules the mind of the people. The Society should always be searching for members who might by their position in the world by their energies or character forward the object but the ballot and test for admittance should be severe)

<snip>

Once make it common and it fails. Take a man of great wealth who is bereft of his children perhaps having his mind soured by some bitter disappointment who shuts himself up separate from his neighbours and makes up his mind to a miserable existence. To such men as these the society should go gradually disclose the greatness of their scheme and entreat him to throw in his life and property with them for this object. I think that there are thousands now existing who would eagerly grasp at the opportunity. Such are the heads of my scheme.

For fear that death might cut me off before the time for attempting its development I leave all my worldly goods in trust to S. G. Shippard and the Secretary for the Colonies at the time of my death to try to form such a Society with such an object.

On September 19, 1877, Rhodes drafted his first will; at that time, he had an estate of only about £10,000. ((This was written before he went off and appropriated Africa's wealth)) (Although he changed his will quite a number of times in years following, the objective remained the same. After his death, the directors of the Rhodes Trust set up the Rhodes Scholarships as the best way to achieve his objectives.) The first clause of the 1877 will bequeathed his wealth as follows:

To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible and promote the best interests of humanity.


http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~wmills/rhodes_confession.html

[redqueen]

11. Tinoire I really do wish you would post more

Really I do.

Brava, chica, brava.

[Tinoire]

13. Aw shucks... Thanks . That means a lot from you. n/t

[The Magistrate]

3. It Is Never Too Soon To Be Pragmatic, Ma'am

But it can be too late....

[Tinoire]

7. All this pragmatism is getting people killed

I won't have any more part in it. You would think we were Nazis. 1 uber-Menschen life is worth how many lesser lives? 10? 100? 1000?

1 unter-Menschen life is worth how much oil? How many diamonds? How many acres?

I have no more tolerance for all this empire-building on the backs of the American people and of the Second & Third World.


The DLC is asking people to choose between a bullet to the temple and lethal injection while denying us the antidote that's within arm's reach. Pragmatism is asking me to accept that the lethal injection might be less painful. I am intelligent enough to know that that's not necessarily so and that both choices lead to the same outcome.

I am going for the antidote because there is a different choice.

[The Magistrate]

17. Hyperbole Is A Useful Rhetorical Tool, My Friend

But in using it, one must never lose awareness the tool is an exaggeration to the point of caricature, and come to mistake it for an accurate rendition of the subject of your pen.

None of the leading Democratic Party candidates represents, by compare to the criminals of the '00 Coup, anything like a real choice between a bullet to the brain and lethal injection. All of them represent a marked improvement over the current criminal crew, in every way. That it might not be quite so marked an improvement as you would like to see is no reason to attempt to obscure the real degree of improvement, and does not quite seem a sound ground, in my view, from which to attempt to convince people they would be no improvement.

Certainly if you wish to evict the criminals of the '00 Coup from office, which is doubtless a desire we share, it is no way to proceed. The enemy wins elections by portraying the differences between the Parties and their candidates in maximalist style, to the point that the voters who come to lend them mass support see these differences as nothing less than the difference between pure good and absolute evil. This is how the game is played, and it would be as foolish to attempt to play it otherwise as it would be to eschew attacking an open flank in battle in favor of a headlong frontal rush against the center of his line. Elections are exercises in group identification, and there are few more powerful tools to that end than the cry the other is the devil, and the angels are all grouped around your standard.

Nor, unfortunately, is there any "antidote that's within arm's reach" to this condition. As much as one might desire it to be otherwise, the candidates who have some chance of victory in a general election nationwide are Gen. Clark, Sen. Kerry, and Sen. Edwards. What Gov. Dean or Rep. Kucinich might pick up on the left will be far outweighed by what will be lost in the center. This does not mean they should not receive your support in the primary campaign, but it does mean they are not figures who can really bring about any actual improvement over the current situation, because they will lose in the general election for certain, and so leave the criminals of the '00 Coup in office, to continue the havoc they are wreaking on the people and our country and the world.

When the general election comes, we must all stand behind the candidate with a chance of victory, for no progress whatever can be made while the very worst elements of reaction continue in office. In the campaign, all differences, even trivial ones, must be maximized in the finest hyperbolic style, to gather the greatest possible number of votes behind that candidate. The enemy, remember, will be doing the same, and whoever the nominee of the Democratic Party is, he will be painted to the country by the foe as the very epitome of left radicalism, humorous as that might seem to you and many others. Many persons who decide to vote for him will be saying to themselves, in large part, "Hell, I can vote for a lefty!" as they cast their ballots. It is things like this that can make a real contribution to breaking the drift of the country to the right in its political discourse, and shifting it towards a leftward course. That is essential if any real progress is to be made towards the many goals we both share, Ma'am.

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disasterous and the unpalatable."

"An election differs from a civil war only as the bloodless surrender of a force outnumbered in the field differs from Waterloo."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. correction: Kerry didn't say stupid things

unlike some others.

[revcarol]

12. Too soon to jump on the bandwagon, I agree.

Would rather have a wagon that has wheels and can go someplace against the corporatocracy.

[Kanary]

16. Ah, revcarol, you want wheels??

Aw, shucks, wheels... well, now.... that costs extra. :)

Thanks for the chuckle... much needed....

Kanary, who also has eyed a steering wheel.......

[Kanary]

14. How many valuable ideas lost

in a pragmatic?

Thanks for the article, Tinoire!

Kanary

Kucinich 2004!

[Kanary]

15. How many people sacrificed

in a pragmatic?

Kanary

Kucinich 2004!

[The Magistrate]

18. Generally, Ma'am

Fewer than are immolated to ideals....

"Saints should be judged guilty till proved innocent."