The
More Things Change
The More They Stay The Same
By David Truskoff
06 September,
2008
Countercurrents.org
There is still a debate about who was the first to coin that often quoted phrase, but it certainly fits the political insanity of present day American politics.
The dates all run together for me now, but I can remember sitting
on the sidewalk in front of the White House waiting for the hard hats
to drag us away. It was during one of the many anti-war demonstrations
of the Sixties. A short distance away in a police designated area,
the Women's Strike For Peace group was marching in a circle. They
were well dressed and it was obvious that they did not spend the night
in jail. Media folks rushed over to interview them. We certainly welcomed
the Women but we knew what the journalists were going to write.
"While the unwashed, those who never had a job, the Communists and wild eyed radicals, were being dragged off to jail, the women carried on a peaceful demonstration which is their right as Americans."
I have been thinking about those days a lot lately. When I saw the films of Amy Goodman, a respected renowned journalist and host of "Democracy Now" radio program being manhandled and arrested, I had colorful flashbacks.
Police detained hundreds of demonstrators on the final night of the Republican National Convention. Almost eight hundred demonstrators were arrested during the entire proceeding.
Embarrassed by the fact that close to eight hundred people had been arrested protesting the Republican mantra, the trained monkey chatter of the Sixties began immediately. Right wing bloggers wrote such dumb drivel as "They are the anarchists who will destroy our way of life". "They (the protesters) never bathe" " Amy Goodman is not just a journalist she is the biggest influence of the militant wing of the Communist party." It echoed the stupid uttering of the right wingers in the Sixties. Back then, Presidents Johnson and Nixon and FBI Director Hoover promoted the same kind of fear. As Hoover observed in a 1966 PTA Magazine article, the United States was confronted with "a new style in conspiracy--conspiracy that is extremely subtle and devious and hence difficult to understand...a conspiracy reflected by questionable moods and attitudes, by unrestrained individualism, by nonconformist in dress and speech, even by obscene language, rather than by formal membership in specific organizations."
ABC News' Jennifer Duck and Lindsey Ellerson reported, during the RNC 2008 convention, "At least some of the protesters were part of the Anti-War Committee, who organized an afternoon rally on the capitol, followed by a march to the Xcel Energy Center, where the RNC is being held. At 5pm central, the protesters' permit expired, but demonstrators refused to leave. The crowd of nearly 700 stood at a standstill with the police as they tried to march from the capitol to the Xcel Center without success. The protesters, chanting, "Let us march!" and "No blood for oil, U.S. off Iraqi soil!" were non-violent in their actions. At one point, approximately 100 people sat down in the middle of the street, in front of more than two-dozen officers on horses, making the peace sign with their hands and singing the Star Spangled Banner."
The cause of the frustration is the same as it was in the sixties. No one is listening. There is no other choice to make, but to carry the anger into the streets.
I have written negative statements about Obama and I stand by them. When he says inflammatory things such as "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," or when he called Iran a "major threat" and included military force as an option to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, he inflames the very area he claims he will bring peace to. He also said, "It is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon; it would be a game changer." "It's sufficient to say I would not take military action off the table and that I will never hesitate to use our military force in order to protect the homeland and the United States' interests."
Sen Biden has a devious plan for Iraq. He says, "The idea, as in Bosnia, is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group -- Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab -- room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests...."
All we have to do is make sure the central Government is under our command. It did not work and is not working in Bosnia and will only prolong the bloodshed in Iraq. Iraq needs a Tito. One of their own kind to unify them apart from USA domination. Then who will get the oil?
It is a waste of time to list the many lies and off the wall uttering of McCain and his gun-toting sidekick. He will say anything for votes and thinks he can get away with it. It is part of his spoiled brat character. Just one of his many lies really rankles me. He said, "I have supported hundreds of pieces of legislation, which would help Americans obtain an equal opportunity in America. I am proud of that record, from fighting for the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday in my state to sponsoring specific legislation that would prevent discrimination in any shape or form in America today."
The truth
is that the record shows McCain voted against 1983 legislation establishing
the third Monday in January as the federal holiday marking King's
birthday.
Well, I am too old to hit the streets again and there are many Americans
like me who now find themselves between the devil and the deep blue
sea. We have no chance with the devil to avoid the street violence,
war and bloodshed. So I have decided to dive into the sea and try
staying afloat perhaps long enough for a real leader to emerge and
save the soul of America. I will need someone to help me while I hold
my nose and vote because my entire being will be in rebellion, but
I have decided to vote for Obama. The devil may well destroy the planet.
