once upon a time november 11th was called "armistice day." it was a holiday to celebrate the end of world war I. "the war to end all wars." why was it the war to end all wars? because it was so long & deadly, such a folly in conception & so incompetent in execution that for years hundreds of thousands lost their lives for nothing more than a few feet of territory. trench warfare, barbed wire & machine guns & clouds of mustard gas. surely a race gifted with intelligence would never again venture into that.
human beings just aren't that smart. our technologies zoom. our weapons are more lethal, but our instincts remain venal. we are nationalistic & xenophobic. it takes very little to send us into bloodlust & crusades of vengeance.
so here's my heretic's toast on this day of flags & military boosterism, here's to dennis kucinich's idea of a department of peace.
dennis kucinich. also known here at dkos as; that jerk, dipshit, freaking stupid hippie & fucking joke. the dept. of peace, also known here as; lame assed moonbeam pie in the sky bullshit & fucking joke. ridiculous concept really, is't it? a government bureau that would actually exist to promote the idea of nations not going to war. in a country where we spend more on armaments than anything else. in a country that outspends the rest of the planet on the military. certainly a chuckleheaded idea.
this is not a diary promoting congressman kucinich. it is a toast to those who "...dream things that never were & say why not." the man who said those words would have been 80 in a week if he had lived. he was killed a couple of days before i graduated from high school. a man who seemed to understand the difference between privilege & entitlement. his brother edward m. kennedy's
eulogy sums it up nicely for those of you too young to have known him.
here's to the dreamers. we need more of you.