THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
This is my id on a politicized steroid induced purge-a-thon.
This is anger.
This is frustration.
This is committment to something larger.
This is an unwillingness to be reasonable.
Healthcare, education, popular votes, super-delegates, 50 State Strategies, civil liberties, illegal wiretapping, government sanctioned torture are important. Without hesitation they are important issues and cannot be avoided as we think about how we will plot this nation's future. But let us not forget first principles nor overlook the issue that looms over our national landscapes like an albatross leeching us of our national will. The chaos that snuggles into our breasts. This thing that slouches toward us.
It's about the war. No, correction. It's about the goddamned war. It's about the infernal, illegal, immoral, irrational, ill conceived, hubristic, soul destroying, economy wrecking, child killing, mind numbingly brutal abortion of a decision.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
Let's not forget that. Let's not get lost in 7 million dollars raised in a day or Texas and Ohio delegates. Let's not be distracted by the Big Dog. Let's not get lost in politricks, race baiting left hooks or horse races. Let's remember what has brought us, no driven us to this moment in history, with blood on our hands.
But let's be honest we existentially, nationally are responsible for it. Those of us that did not hit the streets, those of us that did not read the small print, those of us that did not throw the bums out, when we had the chance.
Let's take a second to think about them, "da bums." The bums that got us into this. The Bush administration did not do this alone. In this we have to spread the blame. We have to take time to understand that the nation was betrayed by every single member of Congrees that voted for the AUMF against Iraq.
I am tired of the excuses. "We were fooled." "The President lied to us." "The intelligence seemed solid." "Saddam Hussein was a megalomaniac." Bullshit. I call bullshit. It was calculation. It was opportunism. It was cowardice and ambition. It was covering asses and riding the wave of a popular president. It was the with out a doubt, no hesitation, unconditionally, the worst fucking foreign policy decision in the history of this nation. And like Don Vito Corleone, "I will not forgive."
I can not, I refuse to believe that the intel that former RI senator Lincoln Chaffee says was unconvincing to the CIA analysts as they presented it to him was able to overwhelm the Democratic leadership. I think what overwhelmed the Democratic leadership was the fear of what Republicans would say or the fear of not being returned to the priviliege and power of Congress.
And these are credible concerns unless they are balanced on the backs of almost 4000 American dead, 30000 injured and, literally, an unknowable number of dead Iraqis. What is it that the members of the Progressive Caucus and the Black Caucus knew that all others did not. Why didn't anyone listen to the aging but steady Robert Byrd? Because of moral cowardice and craven ambition, sons, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters of American families will never return home. For many that will return home their lives and the lives of their loved ones will never be the same again. And there are dead Iraqis whose bodies will never be found and their loved ones will never know the resolution of burial and mourning. There are people responsible for that. I don't think I can forgive them.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
I find it hard to believe that democratic leadership would trust the man that (and let's be honest about this) we knew stole an election through his operatives. That man you trust on questions of war and peace? If you earnestly trusted him, than you are undeserving of your position. If you knew he and his minions were lying, and you still supported his ambitions, then you are undeserving of your position.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
I cannot forgive.
I cannot forgive the arrogance that will not admit the failure of that decision. The arrogance that will not admit the foolishness and tragedy of that decision. The god's honest truth is that every official that voted to authorize this war, and once again let's be honest, if you give the authorization to go to war you have to know that you are going to war, should crawl on their knees from house to house of the families that lost loved ones in this shit and beg their forgiveness. I cannot forgive or trust them again.
How can I when the nation and the world teeter on a razor's edge. Do not be fooled, this war is the issue that drives all others. It pervades our social, economic, political reality. The deficit explosion is driven by over 300 million dollars a day spent in Iraq. How many veterans won't get the care they deserve? How many cities won't recover from natural disasters? How many schools won't be repaired? How many bridgs will fall? How many rights will be abrogated? How many lives will be sacrificed? How much distrust has been sown? The future of our country is draining into the gutters of Iraq.
I will not forgive them. And I don't think you should either.