2007-05-02 13:14![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline
digitaldisciplineGlenn Greenwald on the basic evil of the administration.
Go. Read.
Money shot:
"The dominant political movement in this country believes in that power [that the Executive is above the law] and has defended and exercised it. Mansfield's beliefs may be twisted and tyrannical and radical and profoundly un-American. But they are also the beliefs that have propelled our government for the last six years.
"But more so, one would hope that no response is really necessary, since most Americans -- outside of the authoritarian cult that has followed George W. Bush as Infallible War Leader -- instinctively understand that America does not recognize such a thing as a political official with the power of "one-man rule" that overrides the rule of law. That we are a nation of laws, not men, is so basic to our political identity that it should need no defense.
"And for those with any lingering doubts about how repugnant Mansfield's vision is to the defining American political principle, I would simply turn the floor over to the great American revolutionary Thomas Paine, writing in Common Sense:
Let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth and placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know [that so far as we approve of monarchy], that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."
Quoted for Motherfucking Truth.
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jaylake asks, "Are you proud of your Republican party now?"
Go. Read.
Money shot:
"The dominant political movement in this country believes in that power [that the Executive is above the law] and has defended and exercised it. Mansfield's beliefs may be twisted and tyrannical and radical and profoundly un-American. But they are also the beliefs that have propelled our government for the last six years.
"But more so, one would hope that no response is really necessary, since most Americans -- outside of the authoritarian cult that has followed George W. Bush as Infallible War Leader -- instinctively understand that America does not recognize such a thing as a political official with the power of "one-man rule" that overrides the rule of law. That we are a nation of laws, not men, is so basic to our political identity that it should need no defense.
"And for those with any lingering doubts about how repugnant Mansfield's vision is to the defining American political principle, I would simply turn the floor over to the great American revolutionary Thomas Paine, writing in Common Sense:
Let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth and placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know [that so far as we approve of monarchy], that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."
Quoted for Motherfucking Truth.
As
jaylake asks, "Are you proud of your Republican party now?"
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(no subject)
I'll go out on a limb here. I'd have phrased it "on the basic evil of Americans".
To wit,
Some Americans actively espouse tyrrany. Evil.
Some Americans don't, but actively support the people that do. Evil.
Some Americans don't, but won't exercise their power to stop it. Evil.
Some Americans don't, but support the people who won't exercise their power. Evil.
Some Americans don't, but won't allow for changes to our electoral system that would prevent these abuses. Evil.
I'll spare us the rest :) I figure by the time I finish listing "some Americans", pages later there would be a relative handful of the pissed-off true-patriot faithful and righteously indignant left over. We have no military advantage. We have no political advantage. We have no economic advantage. And with the obscene majority of Americans fitting into any number of "some American" categories, we have no ideological advantage.
When I see a landslide victory (and I mean 75% or more) hand "leadership" of this country over to someone who sucks less than the current slate of powergrabbers, I might begin to believe Americans as a whole have remembered and accepted the responsibilities of freedom. Till then, and I mean this with all due respect, screw "some Americans". Of course, I would say screw X where X is about 99% of the world's population.
I could try pamphleteering, perhaps, or crying on a street corner, or running for local elected office, or any number of things, but I have about zero confidence that the zombies and ghouls I call "some Americans" would listen. If you don't reinforce whatever they already believe, at *best* they won't hear, at least not until it's too late.
Me. And. Mine. That's what I'm down to.
< / ramble>