Cheney’s recent speech reminded me of a famous one by Barry Goldwater – “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Americans rejected it soundly then and my hope is that they will reject it again. If we give up the principles that have defined us as a society based on the rule of law and justice for all, then we are little better than the terrorists who would attack us. If we accept Nixon’s formulation that “if the president does it it is not against the law” we will have abandoned the rule of law for that of expediency and will quickly become subjects of the government. The government of, by and for the people will indeed perish from the earth. If we live in fear of fear itself we will become easy prey for the despots who chafe under that rule of law and resort to fear mongering. The blood of patriots was not shed so that future generations could give away the essence of the Republic in exchange for a handful of hollow words about keeping us safe. We owe it to them to live up to the principles that they fought to protect.
— Chief
|
By Dr. Earl R. Smith II For a person who had come of age during the sixties, these are frightening times indeed. I came of age during the period between the Viet Nam War and Watergate. My first awareness of censorship came on February 10, 1960 when Jack Parr’s Tonight Show was abruptly cut off the air because of a reference he made to the ‘water closet’. The resulting uproar started a great debate that highlighted freedom of speech and artistic freedom from censorship. Read the rest of this entry » By Dr. Earl R. Smith II
There are Republicans and Democrats who will tolerate and even pass on lies – no matter how egregious, obviously false and slanderous – so long as they are targeted against the other side. There are those on both sides who consider it not only their privilege but obligation to create and promulgate distortions against the ‘opposing candidate’. In the bad old days of Watergate, the activities of the ‘plumbers’ scarred the reputations of good men and women for political gain. But their ability to magnify the effects of their lies and distortions was limited by the technology of their time and a significantly less co-opted media. This brave new world of the internet, blogging domesticated media has made such a-moral undertakings much more effective – and incredibly more insidious. Read the rest of this entry » By Dr. Earl R. Smith II
All governments are inherently un-democratic. It may take a while for the truth of that simple statement to sink in. Perhaps I can help a bit. Governments exist as entities within a societal context. As such they develop their own agenda and definition of success. The founders understood this – none more than Benjamin Franklin when he wrote: Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. By Dr. Earl R. Smith II
As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it’s a good idea to look back to the early days of the country – those days between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 – and realize just how revolutionary a vision of citizenship the founding fathers embraced. Theirs was a vision which they hoped would completely reverse the traditional relationship between government and the governed. In fact, their vision made it unwieldy to refer to the parties in that way. In America, it was the government which was to be governed by the citizenry. By Dr. Earl R. Smith II
There would seem little point to inquire whether god should guide the governance of church matters and, although recent history has provided many examples of ‘un-god-like’ behaviors among the clergy, I am willing to accept the proposition that the ideal at the core of any theology should inform the governance of those earthly institutions which serve it. Those who claim to speak for any particular deity should be held to the dictums attributed to that deity and the flock which ascribes to the theology should be prepared to be subject to it as well. It seems also plain that, in the United States, secular government should have no say in such matters. The constitution provides such a protection and specifically proscribes government from interfering of promoting one religion over any of the others. By Dr. Earl R. Smith II I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address By Dr. Earl R. Smith II I am appalled at the sorry state of the media these days. It is not just that the ‘media stars’ are no longer reporters – or journalists of any kind, for that matter. They are mostly ‘talk-show-host’ parading as journalists. It isn’t even that the media seems to have abandoned its traditional role – to inform – and has, in its place, decided that its role is to convince. No, it’s how wrong and/or irrelevant the media tends to be these days on may important issues – how many times they seem to be out of step with the American people – how much air time is spent, during these turbulent times, on issues and people that just don’t matter – how focused they are on minutiae and how often they just plain miss the meaning. Let me give you three examples of what I mean: Read the rest of this entry » By Dr. Earl R. Smith II
When it comes to war – as the saying goes – ‘amateurs talk strategy while the professionals talk logistics’. That saying seems to apply as well to the current political debate – and clearly most of the participants are amateurs. The other day I heard one of these ‘game show hosts parading as journalists’ refer to the ‘failed presidency of George W. Bush’. I had to laugh out loud. It was funny at first – then I listened to a few more of these amateurs and realized that their misunderstanding may, in fact, be calculated – and one of the fundamental reasons why the presidency of George W. Bush has been the most successful ever. Read the rest of this entry » By Dr. Earl R. Smith II These days it seems that the federal government is primarily in the business of distributing the taxpayers’ credit to the supporter of the political party in power. With the redistribution of wealth – always upwards, of course – as their principal objective, members of the administration systematically loot the federal treasury. Their friends do very well and the taxpayers are left with the bill. Their political adversaries dream of the days when they are in control and can do the same for their friends. This has been the case for a long time. What is new is the incredible passivity of the citizenry in the face of this ‘looting. In fact, they don’t really seem to mind it at all – probably because they realize that their future was mortgaged long ago – along with their children’s. Now the politicians are working their way through the future of their grandchildren. And grandchildren are such a long way into the future. |
|
Entries (RSS)