Is U.S. being transformed into a radical republic? - Baltimore Sun

[liberal N proud]

By Lawrence Wilkerson
Originally published April 23, 2006
We Americans came not from a revolution but from an evolution.
That is in large part why our so-called revolution produced success while most throughout history did not. We came as much from the Magna Carta as from our own doings, as much from British common law and parliamentary development as from the Declaration of Independence and Continental Congress.

Unlike the true revolution on the other side of the Atlantic that led to Napoleon's dictatorship and strife and conflict all across Europe, our evolution founded the greatest country the world has ever seen. That was true in every element of power and in the uniqueness that makes us great, our constant striving for "a more perfect union" and, as we do so, our open arms for the other peoples of the world "yearning to be free."

As Alexis de Tocqueville once said: "America is great because she is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

In January 2001, with the inauguration of George W. Bush as president, America set on a path to cease being good; America became a revolutionary nation, a radical republic. If our country continues on this path, it will cease to be great - as happened to all great powers before it, without exception.

<snip>
We can halt the precipitate slide in our standing around the world, convince the majority of the Islamic world that we can and must co-exist - and eventually prosper together - and at the same time confront, confound and defeat the small element in Islam's midst that lives to murder innocents, Christian, Jew and Muslim alike.

All we need do, in reality, is return to our roots. Never in our almost 800-year history since the Magna Carta have we been radicals.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.radical23apr23,0,7907127.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

[AX10]

1. The "Roman Republic" to be exact.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Isn't this Colin Powell's second in command who came forward?

I think so. He is succinct and tragically correct. Those who think this administration is merely incompetent, like the mainstream media has come to believe, do not grasp how radical they are, as well (And mendacious. And deadly). Great article.

[seabeyond]

3. couldnt have said it better. kick cause i like

[Double T]

4. Good article. Instead of the current rearrangement of the deck chairs.....

on the Titanic, it would be better to just throw THEM overboard!!

[mrcheerful]

5. Seems some are dooming us to repeat history

remember Rome fell after it became a christen government.

[etherealtruth]

6. K&R

[Supersedeas]

31. here's another K&R

[Dr Ron]

7. American Theocracy

Two Republicans, Wilkerson and Kevin Phillips, are presenting similar warnings about the current Republican leadership. Will more Republicans realize what is happening before it is too late?

[leftchick]

8. When exactly was America "good"?

???

The US of A has done some good things in the course of its history but the Bad, especially the last few years bad, far out weigh any good.

[LiberalPartisan]

13. I'm inclined to agree....n/t

[glitch]

15. At one point we had the hope of getting better. You know, evolution.

And many Americans fought hard for us to be better than we were. Quite a few successes too.
Now it appears we are destined for extinction.

[sarcasmo]

22. The current Theocracy and the rise of the Christian Taliban has

sent us back an easy 100-200 years. Kick and Nom

[Kolesar]

26. For a few years, back in the 1970s

After the Freedom of Information Act and all the environmental laws.

[tomp]

29. excellent question

you have to wonder about de Tocqueville's take on america in light of our native population theft and genocide.

[Daphne08]

9. This is the MOST telling paragraph of the entire piece.

In Eugene Jarecki's documentary Why We Fight, Richard Perle, head theoretician for the neo-Jacobins who masquerade under the title "neoconservatives," claims that America was changed forever by 9/11. He tells us that those attacks are responsible for all this radicalism. The Jacobins were members of a radical political club during the French Revolution that instituted brutal repression in what became known as the "reign of terror." (emphasis mine)

[leftchick]

11. I agree

it explains a lot.

[kineneb]

20. Jacobins

is also a term used by yet another "paleo-conservative" who despises BushCo- Paul Craig Roberts. Interesting how the real "true" conservatives have seen through the BS (granted it has taken them awhile).

[lukery]

23. perle

richard perle is an evil criminal. i love that wilkerson sticks it to him

[wishlist]

10. Astounding coming from ex- Bush Admin official, not from the "loony left"

Many more prominent Repubs need to speak out before the Nov election to start turning around the disastrous course Bush and right wing have set in motion. If more don't speak out like Wilkerson, the Repubs will again manipulate the fears and religiousity of enough voters to keep Bush & Co in power.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Actually, we became a fascist state in December 2000.

[AuntiBush]

32. Right on the Nail, Media_Lies_Daily - Just like this Article

A seriously sad state of affairs JR has us in.

I've met plenty of true old, and new-like Republicans and/or Libertarians and they detest Bush&Co much more then us Democrats.

Fed-up past here, I tell ya. Thank you, Baltimore Sun!

[Robbie Michaels]

14. In My Best California Accent

This is awesome! :kick:

[Sinti]

16. K&R. This is a fantastic article, a lot of truth in it

I fear we will see the day when you won't be able to read such things in the paper, however infrequently, as they will be made illegal.

[RedEarth]

17. Outstanding.........kr

[ninkasi]

18. I wish it were not true

but Lawrence Wilkerson is correct. It breaks my heart to see my country become the biggest bully in the schoolyard. It has not only become a bully, it has become the home of a vicious, ruthless, corrupt group of men and women who would stop at nothing to further their goals. Our lives, the lives of others world wide, mean nothing to them.

They want money and power, and unquestioning obedience, and are knocking down laws and the Constitution to bring this about. The man squatting in the Oval Office may go by the name of president for now, but he will end up being dictator, or emperor unless enough politicians have the courage and backbone to keep America from being destroyed from within.

[WhiteTara]

19. the tides have turned

now we have to hold firm and keep pushing.


IMPEACH BUSH AND SEND THEM ALL TO THE HAGUE!

[file83]

21. Kick for this great op-ed

[Minstrel Boy]

24. "In January 2001....America set on a path to cease being good"

America has been a fiction since the post-war founding of the National Security State. And being good's got nuthin' to do with that.

[JVS]

25. I'd prefer a gnarley republic

[sinkingfeeling]

27. Very good to see in a mainstream paper!

[Wilms]

28. K&R n/t

[rman]

30. Refusing to pay taxes to the British crown was pretty revolutionary;

Boston Tea Party etc.
But ever since, financial and corporate interests have been gaining ground while deceiving us so that most of us didn't notice. America stopped being "good" well before 2001. Iran, Vietnam/Pentagon Papers, Cambodia, Laos, Chile/Allende, Cuba... Bush is the culmination of at least half a century of criminal rule.

[AuntiBush]

33. k/n