Why Does The GOP Ridicule Modern Protestors But Laud Dead Ones?

[KittyWampus]

Moral Authority by Gary Hart

In the late 1980s the most respected leaders in the world -- Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa (and earlier Martin Luther King) --all had one thing in common. They had spent time in jail. More important, they had spent time in jail for their beliefs, beliefs that threatened the power structures of their countries. It seems strange that many Americans idolize protesters in other countries and ridicule them at home.


Equally strange is the tendency of conservatives to revere the protesters of early times -- Tom Paine, the Bostonians who painted themselves like Indians and threw tea in Boston harbor, even the abolitionist John Brown -- and vilify those who protest today. Someone once said that conservatives are the worshipers of dead radicals.

Nevertheless, there is a rich history of protest in America, by laborers, by women, by war opponents, by environmentalists, by African Americans, and in almost every case the protests changed American ideas and policies for the better. Protesters make us think, that is those inclined to think. They stir things up, they rock the boat, they challenge the status quo and the conventional wisdom. They force us to look at reality often in painful ways. Protesters sometimes get themselves thrown in jail.

It is a great wonder that war opponents, including increasing numbers of Democratic "leaders," are so silent. Some of the most visible simply believe the invasion of Iraq, which they endorsed, has been mismanaged, that more troops (not fewer) are needed! Even today, they seem untroubled by the false statements and manipulated intelligence of the administration. The most difficult political statement in the English language is: I made a mistake.

Speaking only for myself, I will find it very difficult to support any Democratic "leader" who remains silent at this critical moment but who wants to be president in 2008. There are defining moments in political careers and in national life where true character is revealed, where moral authority is achieved, or forfeited. Recall Dante's well-known warning that a special place is reserved in hell for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserve their neutrality.

There are those who earn their moral authority the hard way, by going to jail or, like Cindy Sheehan, by sacrificing a loved one. Such people do not merely earn an audience with the president.

Such people deserve an accounting.

[Mythsaje]

1. Kick

:kick:

Just about anything Gary Hart is saying right now is worth paying attention to.

[KittyWampus]

8. monday kick for Gary Hart, who deserves respect & gratitude

[kilo]

2. Paper thin

One of my friends who has the exact opposite political views I did was telling me about how he wasn't going to support a local politician because that politician's son was arrested for selling drugs.

I asked him if he would support that same politician if he switched to his party. He said "If he was the right man for the job."

What I'm getting at is that we all support protestors who are protesting the things we disagree with, and then say that people shouldn't protest when they disagree with us.

As I told my friend, "Our hypocrisy is paper thin".

[Son of California]

3. beautifully written

very eloquent

[Democrats_win]

4. Defining moment of truth for Conservatives?

They've been "standing tall" while preaching about personal responsibility and making the right choices.

Now that its time to actually do that, they're "cowering small."

They're whining about how hot it is in the kitchen while Cindy demands explanations. They're not taking responsibility and its getting hotter.

Notice the bush twins, nephews and nieces are not volunteering for the military. Neither did * or any other loud-mouth republican. Heck, when they were legally required to report, they were all AWOL.

Coors kids? Scott Coors, a healthy white male, sits in his swimming pool having his picture taken while bombs take the lives of true Americans. Yet the Coors family demands a greater voice in Washington and demands to pay yet fewer taxes.

Looks to me that the Conservative movement has been discredited. Of course we already knew they were all hat and no cattle as Molly Ivins would say.

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

5. Because they've become evil, as near as I can tell.

That's the reason Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have fallen from topeka.

[wli]

6. They prefer to have dissenters dead, of course, ...

... which is why they send out the stormtroopers to kill Democrats.

[candy]

7. Gary Hart? Boy,what a voice from the past.

[mattclearing]

9. Because, "the only good protestor is a dead one." n/t