There is much to be happy about this morning. It looks and feels like a new dawn.
Certainly America has made an important cut with our historically racist past. Race is still, and will always be as long as people see ourselves as groups of individuals, a factor in life. Obama's election didn't change that. It simply proved that we are capable of seeing our society as more that just that.
We have repudiated the past 8 years and everything associated with it. Everything. I will not bother to repeat the many offenses against humanity and, specifically, the American people. I'll just point out one thing. We are Americans and we don't deny fellow human beings basic legal recourse and, especially, we don't TORTURE people. Not even people who may be terrorists. Not even people who definitely are terrorists.
I know most people were voting pocketbook issues. The economy was clearly the decisive factor for Obama. I had as much right as anyone for this to be the most important issue for me. It was not. What is my lowered standard of living compared to a man "living" in a darkened cell, without contact with the world, being tortured - in my name? That is not a world that is worth having an otherwise comfortable life in. That's worth fighting a new revolution over. Fortunately, we were able (this time) to do our revolution in the local voting precincts.
Just remember, we now know with full evidence, that we aren't so special. We are as capable as any other group of apes to being brutally cruel to others. We have changed our behavior, but we have to make sure it doesn't happen again. That is our task.
"Won't Get Fooled Again" - again...
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Meet the new boss...
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4 comments:
Jeez, Evo, and here I was just kicking back with a little xanax and vermouth, looking forward to a root canal next week, just getting comfortable with my decrepitude, and you come along and take all the fun out of it.
Okay. You've issued a warning that can probably never be repeated often enough. Now, take a moment to enjoy the day. Smell some flowers. Savor a glass of wine. Enjoy some home-baked bread. Then you can go about dragging the rest of us back into reality.
There is a problem with touting rationalism. And you are both hitting on it. We can't really be rational if we are picking and choosing when. Meanwhile, I've been savoring the moment while keeping reality in mind. And while I know that down the road I'll have some serious issues with Obama, I am nonetheless very confident that he will do the right thing on major issues like torture and habeas corpus.
We can't really be rational if we are picking and choosing when.
I disagree with this. Life is not all about thinking. Sometimes it's good just to feel. And sometimes passion and thought go together nicely.
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