|
I suppose this is a thread for leftist DUers; others would just tell me to wait until November and everything will improve. I may only be 21, but my outrage, my horror, and my fear can not be dispelled by that rhetoric.
This new week is hitting me hard.
I couldn't bring myself to celebrate this holiday, nor could I marvel at the new memorial in Washington. True, I admire the men who fought and died in their efforts to destroy the Third Reich. But I take little consolation in our victory in WWII: not only did it end in an ignominuous act of mass-murder (Hiroshima/Nagasaki), but it also signaled America's emergence as Empire. It's as if our government absorbed the barbarity of Hitler and Tojo's, and wasted no time in forging the destructive Cold War.
Worse still, a week from now--June 6--will mark the anniversary of Robert Kennedy's murder. He is a hero of mine. Somehow, in the span of several years, RFK evolved from a calculating Cold Warrior into one of our most tortured humanists. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, he warned us of the dangers of materialism, economic inequality, and wanton violence. His connection to the Kennedy fortune and reputation--accentuated by his conviction and gentility--provided us with the means to save the soul of this country. But he was taken from us.
This week reminds me how powerful and omnipresent the oft-mentioned military-industrial complex is (somehow, I think Eisenhower's farewell address was but a fleeting moment of conscience, based on his administration's abominable foreign policy). I have read some of the works of Chomsky, Vidal, Zinn (my favorite), Parenti, Blum, and McGowan. Like others at the DU, I know about our campaigns of violence in several dozen countries in the past 55 years. I know about the legions of crimes perpetrated by the CIA (PAPER-CLIP, MK-ULTRA, PHOENIX to name but a few). The very mention of FEMA or COINTELPRO sends chills up my spine.
And although I will be voting for Kerry, I do so only because I fear the dispensationalist theology of that faux Christian, George W. Bush. But I have little faith that Kerry will change things. I wanted Dennis Kucinich, but I lament the possibility that if he stood a chance of being nominated, he would have been railroaded by the media and DLC, or possibly murdered by other forces.
I'm frustrated. Despite the pleasure I take from the Books of Exodus, Amos, Micah and the New Testament, despite the inspiration I draw from the populist works of Dickens and Steinbeck, I don't know how our country can escape the fascist institutions that holds it hostage. I believe in democracy and the goodness of people, but the opposition is too overwhelming, far too monstrous.
I would appreciate any advice or thoughtful words you guys might have.
|