Ignorance is King. Many would not profit from his overthrow for they enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court and under his aegis they defraud and govern for their own benefit and to perpetuate their power. They milk and shear and butcher the flocks that they maintain on bread and circuses, herding and stampeding them at their whim. Communication and education they fear, for the written word and the ability to think are channels by which the subjects may lift themselves into the light of reason, there to see the glaring flaws of the reign and rise up to throw off its yoke. The minions of Ignorance have weapons keen-honed and they use them with skill. They will press battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble and we are left among the ruins. Adapted from the 1959 post-apocalyptic cautionary tale ‘A Canticle for Leibowitz’ by WM Miller Jr .
Cheeney and his ilk are the hard line, unrepentant and irredeemable sociopaths at one narrow end of the bell curve. They're the ones who have to be defeated, isolated and neutralized because to them nothing exists but what they want and I have no doubt they would play the ultimate dog-in-the-manger and take the world with them if they can't have what they want and can manage to do so. I'm a little worried about what he's up to right now, hiding out of public view. You know how when the kids are too quiet you know they're up to something? He's probably not just counting his Haliburton shares about to come out of the blind trust in January.
The sheeple who've been duped and inculcated with the BS that the R's are their friends are the majority of their movement, but sorting out who was bright enough to have understood what they were doing and fully responsible for their actions and the consequences would be a mess. I think we need to either sponser or cooperate with some sort of Nuremburg-type investigation and trial action after the election. We probably don't have the political will to do it ourselves, in-house, maybe turn over Cheeney, GWB, Rummy, Rice, etc to the Hague and let them room next to Karadzic while the wheels grind. It would surely do our national credibility no end of good in the eyes of the world. Truth, Justice and the American Way is corny, but we used to be known for that sort of honesty and unbiased decency, at least intermittently, and it's worth earning that reputaion back again. And I know damned well that in all the hullabaloo that's coming up trying to duct tape the economy back together that too many people will urge taking the spineless, apologist's approach that we've seen so much of the past decade and more: It's over, let bygones be bygones, it's too expensive right now, it doesn't matter that much. BULLSHIT! It DOES matter. In the grownup world, actions have consequences and too damned many laws and standards of decency have been broken. They should not be allowed to have done so with impunity. Accountability and punishment are appropriate, especially for those who knew damned well what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. We should not walk away from this. It's important for our own self image as Americans, it's important as an example and deterrent and it's important for our image and standing in the world. We are supposed to be a country based on the rule of law and we need to stand up and walk the walk instead of spouting this endless lip service with no substance. We need to reclaim the phrase 'Law and Order', because as a concept, it's pretty hard to argue with, and apply it to the white collar governmental corruption and crime with the same energy that it's been applied by the neocons to other forms of crime. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Yeah, idealism's expensive, but so is the lack of it, look where it's gotten us. The people who say that ideals are unrealistic because they're unattainable in an imperfect world don't understand what ideals are for. When mariners sailed by the stars, they didn't expect to dock at Polaris, they used the stars to figure out the difference between where they were and where they wanted to be. They knew the wind and tide would affect them, so they took bearings frequently and made course adjustments. Ideals aren't a destination, a port to make harbor, they're navigation aids to remind and guide us.
Just my rant for the day.
Update: Thanks for the nice words. This was my first diary, so I had to look up tip jars ;-)