Do You Remember? October 31, 1992
Do you remember the hope of a "kinder, gentler America" ? I must admit I didn't put a lot of faith in those words as promised by Mr. Bush in the midst of the "Willie Horton campaign", but I tried, I certainly tried to see such an improvement thru the land after the previous two terms of heartless self-centeredness made such an appeal neccessary. I tried, and thought I saw it when Mr. Gorbachev's reforms of the original soviet system inspired the Chinese Patriots of humane society to attempts at evolving the sino-system towards greater individual liberties. He visited Peking bringing the international press spotlight with him which protected the students, workers, & other citizens who congregated at Tianamen Square from immediate harm. However, on his leaving, that protection disappeared. Within days the Peng Deng "dung" gang moved in most brutally and slaughtered who knows how many non-violent martyrs to Freedom (ironicly burning their bodies at the "Heroes Monument", to destroy evidence). This was bush's first real test of foreign policy acumen (and level of adherence to the principles on which this nation was founded - sworn to by oath), which he failed, utterly. The Silence from the oval office was deafening, this was the perfect opportunity to make use of the "bully pulpit" for it's highest moral purpose, but, WHERE WAS GEORGE? An immediate, public castigation from Washington in concert with European, Japanese, third world and even Russian allies would certainly have given the regime pause and might well have moderated the subsequent crack-down which has been ruthless and continuous even to the present day. A clear avowal of any military response could have been coupled with the credible threat (& subsequent use, if neccessary) of harsh economic & diplomatic sanctions.
Any "leader" of the free world should have been expected to do no less, any signatory to the Human Rights accords spelled out in the United Nations Charter should have met the challenge with relish. But in the shameful tradition of Republican bombast before ultimate betrayal, demonstrated in Hungary in the 50's and portending the same pattern followed for the uprising of the Shia's in southern Iraq along with the Kurds in the north (till the other allies "shamed" him into action), g. bush was no-where to be found at the critical moment. Within days, in fact, Mr. Scowcroft was dispatched to reassure the Peking facists that no harm was done to relations, evidenced even now by the administrations strenuous efforts to prevent the duty-minded <Democratic> Congress from placing ANY restrictions on the current "most-favored-nation" status! Perhaps they don't play poker at Yale like we found time for at Mr. Jefferson's University, but any competent analyst should realize that there's more than ONE CARD to be played when encouraging communist regimes to evolve! But that supposes the dealer is at least as concerned with FREEDOM as he is with lucrative markets, perhaps thus is not so!!!
Do you remember?
Indeed, precisely because "we" did not "play the Russian card" it seems, Mr. Gorbachev had to draw back from the true reformers such as Boris Yeltsin and lean to the old guard, ultimately bringing on the attempted coup (and almost losing the ground gained since brain-damaged Brezhnev's death). How much suffering , how many lost lives have and will accrue to the lost opportunities of the late eighties after Gorby's offers of serious arms reductions were rebuffed by the administration which so politicized "Intelligence" that it was only fed it's own pre-conceived notions, Goodness only knows.(And how many high tech/nuclear weapons are being sold "to the highest bidder" because these weapons now lie in more irresponsible & impoverished hands?) But for someone who even served at the head of intelligence for a season not to see the danger in ideologically skewed analysis brings serious questions of competence to bear. One also wonders how much influence the TRIPLE PROFIT MARGIN of the armaments "special interest" may have played in the refusal to see a gift horse when paraded in front of the current crowd (just as Eisenhower warned U.S. in his government employee's FREE SPEECH, that is, his last) leading to our NOT gear-ing over from "guns" to "butter" thus allowing the Germans & Japanese to capture so much of the non-defence market share world-wide. This single industry economic "vision" and the reductions in all other research & development has led to much of our economic weakness today (& tomorrow). Yes, I TRIED to believe, until the truth was squared at Tiannamin.
Do you remember?
Way back when bush was battling reagan in the primary of 1980, he WARNED us that the economic policies being presented were VOODOO Economics, that cutting taxes while doubling the Defence budget would lead inevitably to vastly greater DEBT! But then he lost out to the "cue-card" IMAGE of a leader and turned his back on truthful dialogue. The one desire of "well-born" privilage not easily purchased is POWER, the rich man's lust,George seems to have SOLD-OUT his principles for (such). Whatever his own opinions may be, they seem to be totally subjected to his ambition, and this seems tied to the far-right wing idealogues who have set up the hoops he jumps thru ever so obediently; just as his predecessor read or memorized whatever lines were fed to him ( "leadership" of the eighties). The complete surrender is exemplified in the neglect of the moribund economy over the past year. Over this period (and more) as the Congress was calling for some positive action to invigorate economic activity, prime minister" Say NO NO" (dictatorship thru VETO, sununu) and george were sure that the "invisible hand" of the market was the only captain our ship needed and that strong recovery was "just around the corner". As time has proven this presumption wrong one also has to wonder, again about just WHO does this administration really work for? The results of their policies don't precisely indicate it's the average American citizen. In line with the bogus claims of "Trickle Down" (or is it UPON?) economics one may generously presume that the G.(greed) O.(oiled) P.(party) 's kowtow to MULTI-NATIONal Corporate interest has a basis in helping all the people, however; the true responsibility of Government is to keep the LONG-RUN perspective in mind ( given the quarterly return imperative of business), so as to insure that what makes a quick "killing" in the short-run won't bankrupt U.S. in the long! (but,that's right, bush "isn't into the vision thing"). Too much regulation and influence can be a drag on economic progress, but just "getting out of the way" to the extent allowed by the republican senate ('81-'86) in collusion with the bonzo-bush league's lack of oversight can lead to the S & L disaster, the monopolization of the airlines and an industrial policy run from the pentagon, producing boondoggle <B-2> bombers (@ a mere $2 BILLION a piece) and other items without a mission (hardly the sort of thing we want to sell all around the world!) The real question is whether bush & co. see americans as just another batch of Economic Production Units (in the Economic parlance) to be squeezed for all the output @ minimum pay possible, like any other world commodity (owing allegiance to the Multi-National Corporate STATE?), or if like Bill Clinton, he really gives a fig for the middle class American???
Do You Remember?
Do you remember that our symbolic American Eagle has, of course TWO talons. In one he holds the arrows, symbolizing the strength our nation must maintain, however he holds in the other an olive branch symbolizing the peaceful relations we have usually tried to maintain. It seems to me that the economic interest and cold-war mentality has left the Republicans only knowing one of these.
Bill Clinton I submit has the intelligence, maturity and wise judgement to recall the balance between these two (Teddy Roosevelt's carrot & stick) and as well has the economic experience of dealing with a (relatively ) impoverished treasury and doing very well by it (especially given the reduced Block Grants Revenue sharing gutted over the last decade). His integrity, I believe is quite well up to the task, expecially compared to the current occupants' problems without even mentioning such possible Treasons as the well known Iran/Contra/Iraq scandals (and COVER-UPS).
I might mention as well that even though Mr. Perot has revived the fiscal responsibility concerns that Walter Mondale warned us of, I, being a native from "inside the beltway" have seen the difficulty of starting administrations even with the competent experience of a six-term Governor like Mr. Clinton (who unlike nixon/reagan/bush will not REFUSE to learn) and am CERTAIN that the Presidency is NOT an "on -the-job-TRAINEE" position! (One can ORDER the military, or a militarily-run corporation like his around, but the 2.5 Million civil service federal government can perhaps best be LED by someone with at least some government experience,which the billionaire boss lacks).
Every Perot supporter must ultimately consider, now that it's obvious he cannot win the election, whether they wish to throw their vote into allowing the current regime to run our future further into the ditch of debt? Or if they can make the leap of faith to support the Re-invigorated New Democratic Party which has a fair chance of taking the first steps toward Mr. Perot's Fiscal Responsibility (because, though the republicans TALK about it , their ACTIONS lie far away!
A concern for many Sci-tech types like myself also has to include the level of competence in high level decisions bearing on the direction and use of the products of modern development. Personally I would never feel responsible in turning over research in such areas as cutting-edge armaments ( in a Nuclear Age) or neuro-transmitter mapping to simpletons like r. reagan or j.d. quail !, Also, given their right-wing tendencies one worries about their excessive classification (secrecy) when we're just around the corner from the dangerous potentials of "hard-wired" mind-control!!! Mr. Clinton's choice of Senator Al Gore is impressive both for the forward-looking expertise this high-tech fluent gentleman brings as his first appointment and contrasts the bush-league's counterpart who seems to have been picked for the same reason as Spiro Agnew, Impeachment Insurance.........
One final thought, the HYPOCRISY in the current campaign brought by the likes of those who allowed the commerce department to override Defence during Saddam's buildup AFTER the Halabdja gas massacre, and after he killed thirty-seven sailors on the STARK naval ship (for which he never really apologized); combined with the bush/clair George/Dewey Clairidge/ John Hull Cocaine for contra gun connections* hidden in the half of Oliver North's notebooks he was allowed to self-censor ( in order to DECEIVE the american people into thinking that the Nicaraguans wanted to fund their own DEATH SQUADS), gives pause to any sane patriot or believer in JUST JUSTICE! Amen? Amen!
Do you remember?
When you could BELIEVE the President?
When you could have respect for the President?
Lets not have to remember.........
Let's elect someone who deserves to be there again!
Bill Clinton.
Sic Semper Tyrannus..........At the Polls
IMP( memories of constitutional democracy)
Steven Dwight Ferber
<2012 North Illinois Street
Arlington, Virginia 22205>
<The Old Home Place>
*See Senator John Kerry's Foreign Relations subcommittee report for documentation. Especially the appendix marked "Narcotics and the North Notebooks"