democracy & peace: September 2004 Archives

Well, I was worried in the beginning but I think Kerry did well, overall. Will it backfire on Bush, him repeating "wrong war, wrong time, wrong place" so often? (I'd love to see a clip of him saying that statement over and over again! How many times?)

The difference certainly (!) seems stark. A vote for Bush is for hegemonic go-it-alone, American supremacy. Period. I liked Kerry's insistence on alliances, and the notion of a global test. And that he articulated several ways the world is more dangerous now than it was before.

Who else is gonna chime in? Is my preference clouding my judgment?

The Iconoclast of Crawford, TX, editorializes: Kerry Will Restore American Dignity. They tally some of Bush's "accomplishments" that they describe as a "hidden agenda":

"Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
ï Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veteransí benefits and military pay.
ï Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
ï Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
ï Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
ï Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
ï Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay."

~ from Sheri Schmidt on the social justice listserv.

After seeing Bush Family Fortunes (which details how the Florida vote was compromised..."bought for 4 million dollars"), it's especially discouraging to read in the NYTimes today that electronic voting will go national this year despite numerous already identified problems and weaknesses.

Can you hear my sigh?

Stephen just posted for the DRP class (Democracy, Rhetoric & Performance) that one must "fight propaganda with propaganda" and yet questions whether this attitude in and of itself contributes to the difficulty of reaching genuine democratic decision-making. (We're still debating what might qualify as "genuine.")

This brings up something Kennaria and I have discussed on a few occassions - whether human nature is inherently incapable of rising to (or being taught, as the deliberative democrats advocate, and social constructionism would seem to support) this level of....integrity? It definitely has something to do with a balancing of regard for oneself AND others, whomever those "others" might be.

Bryan shares this link to a site that updates the electoral vote daily as determined by polling. It's rather depressing right now, but this should serve to galvanize us, not instigate despair.

David shares this important info:

Dear EarthAction Partners & Friends,

The outcome of the US election this November 2 will have a tremendous impact
on the future of the whole world.

With this in mind, EarthAction has launched a new global campaign called
"Earth to America". We are collaborating with 4 other organizations through
a new Internet Gateway, "The World Speaks", to bring written and video
messages from individuals and organizations worldwide to American voters
before November.

Earth to America's goal is for Americans to hear directly from people around
the world about how the outcome of the 2004 US election -- and the policies
that will follow -- will directly affect their lives.

This documentary film by journalist Greg Palast provides a sobering complement to Moore's F 9-11. Palast covers much of the same territory but in a non-sensationalized format (although he does include a few slo-mo's of GW struggling for something to say).

Hey hey, what do young (as in college-aged) folk have to say about who the next President should be? Wouldn't it be grand if they really do turn out to vote, as the registration numbers indicate they might? ,a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/politics/campaign/15youth.html?th">Vote Drives Gain Avid Attention of Youth in '04.

(First time I've looked at the NYTimes since classes began last week!)

Two excellent questions to the presidential candidates from Critt, about measuring success in coalition-building, and specifically, in regards to military endeavors.

Bush by numbers: Four years of double standards

These are creepy - they show how if you simply SAY things, repeatedly, and the media disseminates what you say, "reality" follows. :-(

Here's a few, click through to read them all:

1 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security issued between 20 January 2001 and 10 September 2001 that mentioned al-Qa'ida.

104 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein.

101 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned missile defence.

65 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned weapons of mass destruction.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden in his three State of the Union addresses.

73 Number of times that Bush mentioned terrorism or terrorists in his three State of the Union addresses.

83 Number of times Bush mentioned Saddam, Iraq, or regime (as in change) in his three State of the Union addresses.

This is an edited extract from "What We've Lost", by Graydon Carter, published by Little Brown on 9 September. ~ sent to me via email from Becky Townsend

Acording to this opinion piece, "claims that evangelicals have hijacked the nation's politics are greatly exaggerated. In fact, polling data show that President Bush's political base is not religious but economic, the group he jokingly referred to as 'the haves and the have mores.'

"The General Social Survey found that 20 percent of American voters have family incomes of more than $75,000 a year, while twice that many earn $30,000 or less. The high-income group (about the same size as the evangelicals) votes Republican by an 18-point margin, while the low-income group favors Democrats by 24 percentage points. If the Republicans were to lose their 18-point advantage among the affluent, it would cost them about four percentage points nationwide in the election, more than twice the cost if they were to lose their edge among evangelicals."

From the Kerry campaign:

"Excerpts of John Kerry's Upcoming Remarks

The election comes down to this. If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush. But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. John and I offer a better plan that will make us stronger at home and more respected in the world. And we need your help to do that.

For three days in New York, instead of talking about jobs and the economy, we heard anger and insults from the Republicans. And I'll tell you why. It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure.

We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief. Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.

The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

And we have a specific plan to do just that. So tomorrow morning, John and Elizabeth and Teresa and I are hitting the road across America's heartland. From here, we'll go out and talk with Americans in towns across Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And because a stronger America begins at home, we'll talk about our plan to create jobs, cut taxes for the middle class, lower health care costs, and make America safer and more secure."

Institutional coordination attempts to thwart free speech. That's my take on this story in the NY Times Tactics by Police Mute the Protesters, and Their Messages.