James Higdon: 'Against all enemies, foreign and domestic...'
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=12476&mode=nested&order=0&thold=0<snip>
I tend to think of this incident whenever someone mentions that the United States government should be run like a corporation, and by experienced corporate managers. I know I also thought of it in 2000 when Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris disenfranchised over 90,000 voters in order to steal the election for George W. Bush. While corporatism preaches that the idea is merely pragmatic, history teaches that the notion is encompassed by Benito Mussolini's definition of fascism. In fact, at one point in his political life, Mussolini said that the better name for fascism would be corporatism. It is a prospect completely counter-intuitive to American conservatism, but it is fully supported by American neo-conservatism. America did not defeat fascism in WWII, we merely beat it back - temporarily - and it is now rising again on Main Street, USA.
It is not that I would encourage conservatives to abandon their chosen party, and to become Democrats. I do encourage conservatives to attempt to take their party back. The Republican Party is not the only lost party, it is merely the first to fall. For those traditional Democrats, who wonder why their party has lost the ability to fight, understand that the Democratic Party is within a hare's breath of falling as well. It is not beyond saving, as it seems Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich are attempting to prove, but redemption requires casting off every ounce of apathy. As Burke once said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for some good men to do nothing."
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It is also incumbent that downed soldiers must rise to fight again. And here, if I may, I'd like to direct my comments directly to Al Gore.
The most insidious attack on democracy, in my lifetime, is what occurred in Florida in the year 2000. And yet it is that moment in time that finally turned apathy into action. At a time when America had become bored with American politics, that event ignited a new generation of activists. Such is logical, for it is said that one never appreciates what one has until it is lost. I have never seen a generation of activists more determined to right a wrong, and so unwilling to "get over it." They can only be encouraged if you, Sir, allow them to take that chance. It is only by taking your proper place in the White House that that wrong can truly be rectified.
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When explaining your decision not to run in 2004 you offered that a return to the arena would place an improper focus on what happened in Florida almost three years ago. I respectfully disagree. I cannot think of a more dynamic influence to raise the stakes on what will be the most vital election in this nation's history. There is simply nothing that could possibly influence public interest more. Those who work for your campaign will show more ferocity than you have ever known in your support. I ask that you let us
begin that work.
In 1993 and again in 1997 you gave this oath, "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..." While the oath regards the office, you will bear the title of "Mr. Vice President" until the day you die, until you renounce the title, or until you achieve a higher office. That oath follows you still. Please consider, once again, how best to be true to that oath. Is it as a leader, or as a
private citizen? A new generation of good activists ask that you lead them to do something.