R.I.P. Tom Hayden. ¡Presente!
John Nichols at The Nation writes— Tom Hayden Taught Us How to Get Beyond Trump and Trumpism:
Hayden’s lifetime was devoted to challenging the dogmas of the right, and the false populism of conservative politicians who would exploit global uncertainty for domestic gain. As the primary author of the Port Huron Statement, Hayden reflected on how “discontented, super-patriotic groups would emerge through political channels and explain their ultra-conservatism as the best means of Victory over Communism.” And he explained how this politics “becomes an umbrella by which to protest liberalism, internationalism, welfarism, the active civil rights and labor movements.”
Tom Hayden never lost faith. He believed to the end in great awakenings
Hayden was offended not just by the rhetoric of right-wing politicians and parties but by the political exploitation of human beings he believed to be “infinitely precious and possessed of unfulfilled capacities for reason, freedom, and love.”
“We oppose the depersonalization that reduces human beings to the status of things—if anything, the brutalities of the twentieth century teach that means and ends are intimately related, that vague appeals to ‘posterity’ cannot justify the mutilations of the present,” Hayden and his comrades declared in 1962. “We oppose, too, the doctrine of human incompetence because it rests essentially on the modern fact that men have been ‘competently’ manipulated into incompetence—we see little reason why men cannot meet with increasing skill the complexities and responsibilities of their situation, if society is organized not for minority, but for majority, participation in decision-making.”
What I loved most about Tom Hayden, and I loved a lot about him, was his faith that the politics of division could be overcome, that coalitions could be bigger and bolder, more inclusive and more powerful.
The Nation editors also publish Though an irreplaceable voice for peace has been silenced, his vision will live on from some of Hayden’s articles in the publication over the years.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2002—Politicizing intelligence gathering:
So you're a Bush Administration official looking for a reason -- any reason -- to invade Iraq (say, Donald Rumsfeld). You ask your intelligence agencies (CIA, DIA, NSA, etc.) for confirmation that Iraq has ties to Al Qaeda. The agencies mine their assets, review their data, train satellites and listening devices and whatever other exotic technologies they may have on the Iraqis and scattered Al Qaeda members.
And after analyzing everything, they conclude there are no ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
This is a setback. You can't give the real reasons for an Iraq invasion—oil, political gain, and revenge for daddy's assassination attempt. You just HAVE TO HAVE evidence linking OBL to SH.
So what do you do?
Well, given that this admininstration is the most intensely political in the history of our fair nation, you simply follow from the Rove game plan -- you create a new "intelligence agency" and fill it with political appointees who will confirm whatever lies the administration spews. […]
So to clarify, the CIA (and other intelligence agencies) gather the information. They then interpret it. But if the administration doesn't like that interpretation (e.g. Hussein and OBL hate each other and would never work together), the new agency can take a look at the info and arrive at a more "acceptable" conclusion (or in Rumsfeld's words, "assist policymakers in assessing the intelligence they receive").
The gods save us from this cabal.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin rounds up polling, and crowns a new King of Crazy. Trump, it’s said, cheats at golf. And I mean, WOW! But we found one time he couldn’t cheat. At golf, anyway. Armando ponders whether alternative voting systems alone can produce real change.
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