Bush, Iran, and the Totalitarian Fiction

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday December 06, 2007 · 7:45 AM PST

2007/12/06 · 07:45

Tuesday, in his thundering criticism of Bush on Iran and the NIE, Joe Biden raised the enduring question of Bush’s presidency. "If that’s true," Biden said speaking of his claim to have not seen the NIE draft until a few days ago, "then he is the most incompetent president in modern American history." And if not, by implication, the president is lying.

This enduring puzzlement is reflected throughout the political commentary community. Is he corrupt and evil? Or is he merely a bumbling, incompetent fool? Although the latter answer has been harder to sustain as his presidency has dragged on, the conclusion of corruption or evil is not satisfactory either. Maybe it is not about the individual, for if it were, things might have been expected to change more directly after Rumsfeld and Gonzalez and others were replaced. That such changes are not forthcoming indicates something deeper worth thinking about.

At the time of yesterday’s charade of a press conference, I was reading Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism. Arendt illustrates how the totalitarian ruler becomes intransigently dedicated to the fiction he creates, for to do otherwise leads us to ruin of the organizational apparatus which supports his power and leadership position.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 04, 2007 · 11:10 AM PST

2007/12/04 · 11:10

President Hillary Clinton. Sound good? Alarm bells going off? Enormous sense of relief? Either way, a Hillary Clinton presidency would pose serious structural issues to the American body politic. Let me explain.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 29, 2007 · 3:26 PM PST

2007/11/29 · 15:26

The Free and Fair Elections Amendment is currently worded as shown below. What does it mean? And why is it worded that way? This piece focuses on the first phrase.

Transparent and well-regulated elections, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to anonymous voter-marked ballots, visual observation of the vote count, public inspection of registration records, legal US Citizenship of all voters, and an audited, certifiable electoral process, shall not be infringed.

The primary task of the Free and Fair Elections Amendment is to create a standard in which the people can put their confidence regarding our elections. The opening phrase of the amendment sets the tone for just what we are attempting to accomplish: transparent and well-regulated elections.

Poll

8 votes Show Results

Would you support the Free and Fair Elections Amendment?

8 votes Vote Now!

Would you support the Free and Fair Elections Amendment?

Yes

6 votes

2 votes

Liberal Consciousness

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 10, 2007 · 6:33 AM PDT

2007/09/10 · 06:33

Americans most commonly think of liberalism in a political context, but liberal principles have a much larger and wider application. Liberal principles reflect a worldview that emanates from the very roots of modern consciousness, and affect our basic assumptions about religion and economics, as well as politics. The liberal worldview springs from a primal source in the human longing for freedom and dignity. The depth and scope of its effect means that liberal principles cannot permanently be suppressed. They reflect a deeply human yearning.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 04, 2006 · 10:28 AM PST

2006/12/04 · 10:28

I often write about the erosion of liberal principles in the American political system. Equally, the liberal foundations of our economic system are washing away under the ongoing mantras of free trade and globalization. Most recently, it can be seen in a front page article of the Investor’s Business Daily (IBD). IBD is oriented around investing, investor information, and working the stock market to the benefit of the small investor. I’ve actually found it to be a useful tool. But editorially, the paper is an apologist for the Bush administration economic policies which, we are soon to discover, are disastrous and catastrophic, and profoundly contrary to the free enterprise principles that made America a great economic power.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 30, 2006 · 7:19 AM PST

2006/11/30 · 07:19

Although hundreds of problems with election machines have been documented (see here) Sarasota County, Florida saw the worst and most obvious problems in the country last election day. Votes were undercounted by 18,000 votes, suggesting that either the ballots were bad or the machines lost the votes somehow.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 28, 2006 · 8:49 AM PST

2006/11/28 · 08:49

The recent election signaled the rooting of a stale, stagnant ideology from its place of power in the Congress, yielding a widespread sense of relief in the electorate. Even many traditional Republicans seemed relieved. Their faces were less stressed, and their day-to-day language with others became less combative. Across the country, people felt that we might be able to actually deal with our problems and challenges.

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 21, 2006 · 8:12 AM PST

2006/11/21 · 08:12

The invasion of Iraq is supposedly about terrorism. But how about these numbers?

Total Iraqi dead: 100,000-600,000
Total American injured: 20,000
Total American dead: 2,800
Total foreign fighter dead: 799

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 13, 2006 · 8:11 AM PST

2006/11/13 · 08:11

Bipartisanship and Principles

While the water of words continues flowing between the riverbanks of partisan politics and leaders keep sending shouts of "bipartisanship" across that river, hoping for more than an echo in response, the most serious changes in our democratic republic since FDR are being ignored. The Bush administration of the last six years has taken policy positions with which some vigorously disagree and others enthusiastically support, but the real threat lies in the structural changes to our democracy: increasing executive power and executive discretionary authority, legalizing torture, removal of habeas corpus as a basic right of the people, and the pending legalization of warrantless wiretapping. These are the issues where we ought to find bipartisan support against the President's positions, yet they are the very issues where bipartisanship appears least likely. Read More

What Happens When Fascism Fails?

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 10, 2006 · 7:39 AM PST

2006/11/10 · 07:39

Friedrich A. Hayek, author of The Road to Serfdom (1944), delineated the conditions that become evident in a nation transitioning toward fascism. Those conditions have been extant and strengthening in America over the past decade. Unfortunately, Hayek does not delineate the conditions to be observed when fascism fails--the disintegration of the nation, the inward turning on one another, and the blaming and hiding and massive popular denial of participation. It is possible that the current disintegration of the Republican Party is evidence and confirmation of just how close to fascism America had come. Read More

Electoral Mistakes Suggest We Need Paper

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 08, 2006 · 8:35 AM PST

2006/11/08 · 08:35

All the stories have not yet been told about this election, but some stories are indicating the absolute need for paper ballots. I'd like to collect the stories where this is necessary. Please post here.

One is the guy in Montana who accidentally pushed a wrong button and lost the precint's vote count. They had to recount the paper ballots.

Another is in the area of Sarasota, Florida where 20% of the ballots did not have one of the candidate's names printed on them. How would one prove this if they were not paper but only on the touchscreens of electronic voting machines?

Please add your stories here.

Election Controversy will Display the Spiritual Strength of Democracy

calltoliberty

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 06, 2006 · 7:18 AM PST

2006/11/06 · 07:18

On Tuesday November 7, we will collectively test the spiritual strength of our democratic republic. We will test the strength of the true American dream against forces antithetical to it--forces favoring theocracy, authoritarianism, and economic devastation, which we have come to identify as right wing. More than at any time since at least McCarthy, and perhaps going back as far as the Civil War, we are now facing the temptations that confront any liberal democracy from time to time. When we are prepared to allow efficiency and security to rise as greater concerns than the rights, duties, and privileges of freedom--including patience with its necessary workings--the greatest dangers to our democracy appear evident. Read More

Newer
Older

RSS

Bush, Iran, and the Totalitarian Fiction

Hillary’s Problem with History

“Transparent and Well-regulated Elections”: Part 1

Liberal Consciousness

America Economy Eroding

Sarasota and Voter Civil Rights

The Abdicated Presidency

Iraq, the Numbers, and the Neoconservative Dream

Bipartisanship and the Principle of Liberty

What Happens When Fascism Fails?

Electoral Mistakes Suggest We Need Paper

Election Controversy will Display the Spiritual Strength of Democracy