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with the Clintons, and all others, on the strong steps needed to curb global warming. This could be why--if he has firmly decided not to run--that he has not put the final kibosh on all efforts on his behalf. It does the planet good, and our future, to have him in such a powerful position, politically, even if he doesn't intend to use his support to run for president.
I think Gore got mightily stung by that Supreme Court "crowning" of Bush. He fought against it for many months, but he finally had to give it up, likely because the Democratic Party leadership didn't have his back--and maybe that is when he embarked upon this new road. I have a suspicion that what he learned at that time--or began to suspect--was the DNC's and many top Democrats' collusion with the Bushites, which soon began to play out in the "war on terra" (i.e., "war on earth"), the Iraq War, and, in the same month (October 2002), the "Help America Vote for Bush Act" (aka, HAVA): electronic voting with 'trade secret,' proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations.
And it may be the sting of that realization--the utter corruption of his own party--that prompts him to run. We'll see. Or he may have something else in mind: The bigger picture. Not how to make Al Gore president. But how to save the planet--which may or may not need him in that office.
I think many of us feel utterly dismayed at the current political establishment--if not outraged and raving. We long for a leader who will set it all right, fundamentally--for instance, by strong disavowal and condemnation of the Bush Junta shredding of the Constitution, and its many enormous crimes. (Gore has been eloquent on these issues.) And we long for someone who not only understands, and will strongly enforce, the rule of law, and hold himself to the highest standards--and will root out all the lawlessness in our government--but someone with a positive vision as well, such as Gore's confidence in a "green" economy. We long for someone who can corral the great creativity and industriousness of the American people, and who speaks to our highest ideals and accomplishments.
Gore certainly seems to answer this passion for a truly good leader. I feel this "draft Gore" passion in myself, and I try to remain skeptical. (He still hasn't said a word about NAFTA, or about non-transparent vote counting.) I just hope we don't replace the need for each of us to be newly active and committed, as citizens, and to struggle down that long hard road to reform of our government, with too much trust in a "knight on a white horse." We've had too much leader-worship in the past, and not enough citizenship. That's why we're in the mess we're in today. That's how they could fuck us over with "trade secret" vote counting, and we didn't even notice. If we want a democracy, we have to create one. The fascist pigs and oinking colluders in Washington DC are not going to create one for us. They are not going to stop the Iraq War. They are not going to give us back our right to vote. We have to regain our sovereignty as a people, and fight our way back into power over our own government, ourselves. That's what democracy IS.
We've lost 7 years--and, if the truth were known, 20 years--in the effort to save our planet. Clinton wasn't all that much better than Bush on this issue--and his support for "free trade" (global corporate piracy) and his wife's support for the Iraq War have resulted in immensely greater pollution of our oceans and our atmosphere. Gore as President could help mitigate these impacts. But that may not be the only way to mitigate them, and to turn things around.
For models of good citizenship, and for honorable public service, and for heroes, perhaps we should look to ourselves, not to leaders. What can WE do, to make more democracy TODAY? What can WE do, to save the planet TODAY? Not what can Al Gore do, to make these things happen for us TOMORROW.
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