Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A Lament

When Prof. Rudolph Fehring of the University of Cincinnati confronted an especially stupid bit of classwork by a student, he was wont to grasp his forehead, close his eyes, and lament, ". . .and they shot  men like Lincoln!"

Voters in Ohio have "shot" another man like Lincoln.  A man of principle, and an articulate spokesmen for them; a man willing, as one Ohio paper put it, "to take a political hit" for sticking to those principles; a man who proudly stood for peace in a land dedicated to endless war; a man who understood, pledged himself to, and fought bravely to preserve every jot and tittle of the Bill of Rights; a man who embodied all the change that might have saved this country as a democracy.

Stay around, Dennis Kucinich.  Keep saying the things you've always said so well, the things Americans need to hear even if they don't want to hear them, don't want to heed them, willingly place their collective heads in the guillotin of an authoritarian, bellicose police state.

Keep saying what you said ten years ago last month, Dennis Kucinich.  Keep saying:

I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. With love for our country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. With the understanding that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. With the belief that a free people cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.
With the understanding that there is a deeper truth expressed in the unity of the United States. That implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people. That all people are essentially one. That the world is interconnected not only on the material level of economics, trade, communication, and transportation, but innerconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse and yearning to be and to breathe free.
I offer this prayer for America.
Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why should America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?
How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?
We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with it.
We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.
We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the ability to designate domestic terror groups.
We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records and financial records.
We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for intelligence surveillance.
We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy.
Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common defense" is one of the formational principles of America.
Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September 11. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September 11th. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.
We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.
We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.
We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus.
We did not authorize assassination squads.
We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.
We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.
We did not authorize national identity cards.
We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities.
We did not authorize an eye for an eye.
Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere,anyhow it pleases.
We did not authorize war without end.
We did not authorize a permanent war economy.
Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror.
This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.
Let us pray for our children. Our children deserve a world without end. Not a war without end. Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is not appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of our nation, and not appropriate for the survival of the world.
Let us declare our love for democracy. Let us declare our intent for peace.
Let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society.
Let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war as being inevitable.
Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic.
That is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace envisions. Forty-three members of Congress are now cosponsoring the legislation.
Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an imperative. That is why we must begin by insisting on the commitments of the ABM treaty. That is why we must be steadfast for nonproliferation.
Let us work for a world where America can lead the day in banning weapons of mass destruction not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space itself. That is the vision of HR 3616: A universe free of fear. Where we can look up at God's creation in the stars and imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
Let us pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of September 11th, faded into images of patriotism, spliced into images of military mobilization, jump-cut into images of our secular celebrations of the World Series, New Year's Eve, the Superbowl, the Olympics, the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those images with the work of human relations, reaching out to people, helping our own citizens here at home, lifting the plight of the poor everywhere.
That is the America which has the ability to rally the support of the world.
That is the America which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil, but which is itself at the axis of hope and faith and peace and freedom. America, America. God shed grace on thee. Crown thy good, America.
Not with weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil. Not through breaking international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of a unipolar world. Crown thy good America. America, America. Let us pray for our country. Let us love our country. Let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from the threats within.
Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood. And crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace, to democracy, to economic justice here at home and throughout the world.
Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good America. Crown thy good.

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Dare not to say, America, dare not to even think that he wasn't tall enough to be President.  He is a giant.

13 comments:

  1. Many liberal Democrats would argue with him even mentioning God or prayer.

    Sad fact that the founding fathers who meant for family values to be supported on Christian principles regardless of religious heritage have been trumped in the name of Freedom of Religion!

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    1. a little more about you. your comments are so arresting! pray, tell us more!

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    2. The Pianist is right! While some find Kucinich and Ron Paul as outcasts in their own parties, their ideas of fiscal control and the end to US Imperialism ring true. They for the most part want government out of our lives.

      Ones you should fear are those like our President that preach from the bully pulpit and do something else. Bush's $9 trillion debt yet Obama claims no responsibility for his $6 trillion in 3 years. Obama has always hereby a fan of single payer health care...Mass. has the highest costs in the country! Our A.G. will not accept responsibility for Fast & Furious and Obama will not fire him! Geitner can not manage his own bank account and has been MIA for the last few months and should have been fired! Obama made promises to the latino people yet threw them under the bus and now wants to push the DREAM act for benefits legal children do not get! Solendra and GM is taxpayer money thrown away to satisfy eco geeks and unions.

      The only arresting we should see is this incompetant administration. The prayer should be to provide someone else a chance and we may come up w/ a Reagan or Clinton instead of a NIxon/Carter! Maybe Kucinich being out of congress will allow him the flexibility to serve in the next administration. Hopefully no more Kidglove!

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    3. "Reagan = Clinton." "Nixon = Carter." Wasteful squandering of "taxpayer money" = support for "eco geeks" and "unions." Thank you! Chances of your being a priority pick for the next Kucinich staff = slam dunk.

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    4. In an abridged version of the above. Kidglove is the best the Democrats have to offer us?

      Maybe people should stop degrading the Republican & Green Party candidates. Find your own conscience and your own contraception!

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  2. . . .the things Americans need to hear even if they don't want to hear them . . .

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  3. wow. muchissimas gracias. one day you WILL have a lock of his hair.

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  4. I agree with one of the anonymi above: tell us more!

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  5. "find your own conscience and your own contraception." What means that?

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    1. First of all, Sammie I fed into the CHANGE rhetoric in 2008 and my conscience does not allow me to forgive myself for the momentary act of stupidity for voting for Obama.

      Secondly, Progressives such as Kucinich and Paul feel much like our forefathers that the Federal Government is purely for the support of state's rights and the protection of the United States in general. The unwritten Obama Doctrine is simple.....NO AMERICAN CAN EXIST WITHOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Contraception is just another example of the FED getting involved in our lives.

      This is yet another off-shoot of the HealthCare Reform Act where the end run goal is a single payer system.....THE GOVERNMENT. Massachusetts has the highest healthcare costs in the country and has trended toward that terrible term known as rationing. Do you know of anything that our federal government does cost effectively? I ASK YOU....DO YOU WANT OBAMA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN YOUR BEDROOM?

      Having sex or making love is a personal choice between 2 people. With the unplanned for Green Agenda (as seen in pushing for Solendra, GM Volt -no recharge grid, etc.) I would not be surprised for the Obama Administration to realize condoms are petroleum based as are the packages they come in. With his obvious hatred for petroleum and no viable alternative at this time, that the Federal Government would request RECYCLED (reusable) CONDOMS.

      So SAMMIE my request of you and all involved in this election season is not to feed into anyone's concept of CHANGE. Much like the Pianist has stated, Obama has sold us all out to the tune of $6 trillion dollars and accepts no responsibility. Debt and Economy are always due to outside factors according to his mindless legion of followers with no conscience of their own.

      Santorum won Iowa by a scant total of votes only to prove every vote counts. If you are a mindless zombie like I was in 2008, and can not vote for the Republican candidate then I simply ask that you vote for the Green Party or someone else than Obama much like the Pianist has stated prior. This regime has been compared to Socialism, yet appears that the prototype was Communism..... A strong central government that governs everything the public does and syphons the money from them for its own good including for Condoms.

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    2. Do we talk about same regime sir? Obama is so far to the right of cewnter he can't even see Eisenhower's arse far far left of him.

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    3. If Saul Alinsky is considered mainstream moderate then Kidglove might be to the right of him.

      Otherwise....we can agree to disagree.

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    4. to paraphrase the old irish joke, contention is NOT better than loneliness. and whilst the very excited, anonymous bloviator in the commentary flow, above, feels so drawn to free associate here without burden of knowledge base -- ironic, given that this blog was created by one of the most informed souls any of us will ever know, it will be a pleasure to attend simply to the pianist and forgo the ex post fabulism. more 'grave' on the keyboards, and less "pizzicato."

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