"The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind."
It's amazing, sobering, and most certainly impressive to read some of our founding fathers' writings. Among the most important voices, Thomas Paine, seems to me to be one of the most prescient, and his words should be read and reread by anyone who cares about the continued success our The American Experiment.
Madison, Wisconsin's fine progresive daily newspaper, The Capital Times, printed an editorial today that reminds us that in many ways, what we are dealing with is in some ways an old problem made new again.
Relating to the imperial (vice) presidency...
Did Paine not anticipate Cheney when he wrote: "Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions."
And relating to the Cheney war machine...
And did Paine not anticipate Cheney's foreign policies -- and no one should mistake that the neoconservative craziness of this administration is an invention far more of the vice president than of the untraveled and unconcerned occupant of the Oval Office -- when he wrote of monarchical governments: "War is their trade, plunder and revenue their objects. While such governments continue, peace has not the absolute security of a day."
The editorial echoes what has been posted here on DK in the last few days, after the Scooter Commuter made his pronouncement. We can talk. We can post. We can bitch and moan. But that is not enough. We need to act.
Tomorrow, I will begin calling and writing daily to my Congresswoman's office, asking her to join the growing list who support impeachment. They will hear from me every damn day. Before reading the Cap Times' piece today, I was ignorant of the fact that Rep. Tammy Baldwin has not yet joined the impeachment movement.
What about your representative? Find out. Call them. Visit their offices. Don't just sit and bitch. Please do something. As Paine told the first American Congress,
"We have it in our power to begin the world anew."
cross-posted on Kerfuffle