The world needs America to be America.

[fooj]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/505

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Brent Budowsky

Democracy can die a slow death from a thousand cuts, inflicted by a few small men, wielding deadly little knives, drawing blood one drop at a time, on a slumbering people, who take their freedom for granted, and let it slip slowly away.

Even today, after 2000, after 2002, after 2004, there are stories in the news about abuses against the right to vote, committed by the same people, for the same reason, done the same ways, and yet the people who should care, don't, and the people who should be fighting against this, aren't.

In my day when the Battle of Britain was raging, when bombs were bursting above our heads, when all of Europe had fallen and the imperial army had stormed across the Pacific, we knew what you forget, that freedom is precious, that freedom is hard, that freedom comes at a high price, that not one inch of freedom must ever be lost, because once we surrender one inch, we risk it all.

In my day had a foreign power invaded America and installed a proconsul, who ruled that your Bill of Rights and National Laws were no longer in effect, unless he permitted it, a righteous people would have rallied in the streets with a thundering voice calling out: never, never, never.

The world needs America. The world needs America to be America. The world needs America to be the light and the flame and the torch. Yet today because you have lost sight about what America means at home, you have inflicted great harm and shed great blood on yourselves, and the world.

I do not need to make dire predictions about the future, the ugly truth is told by the shame of the present.
<snip>



This is one hell of an editorial. Pass it on to everyone you know.

The TIME is NOW.

[Daphne08]

1. I've read this, and it's powerful! n/t

[Uncle Joe]

2. This is an outstanding column!

We must recapture our higher self as a nation and quit being ruled by fear and take our government back from the fascists!

Kicked and recommended



:kick:

[fooj]

3. Yes. It brought me to tears.

[mom cat]

6. That even stirred my cynical soul. Good find and thanks for posting!

:kick: and reccommended!

[troubleinwinter]

4. Must Read! Thanks for this, fooj. And a recommend!

[Land Shark]

5. Thanks for the article fooj

Glad you're not fighting fellow election reform advocates any more on details, whether or not they are right, or wrong, we need not say or decide. We agree on this article, however, and that's ultimately the most important thing.

[troubleinwinter]

8. If a fellow election reform advocate

is wrong on something, why should we not say so?

[fooj]

7. Kennedy and Kerry just gave a million to Dem candidates!

Right on! That's the way to go, Dems!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2905417

[glitch]

9. You ain't kidding. Excellent writer. Thanks for posting. K & R nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. To be honest, I don't entirely agree.

Speaking as a non-American, I don't regard the words "American" and "Good" as synonymous, or even especially closely linked.

What the world needs is not for "America to be America", but for America to be *good*. The tendency of Americans to use "American" and "UnAmerican" not merely to imply, but as synonyms for, "good" and "bad", is one that I find worrying (incidentally, it's one of many parallels between America now and Britain a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago, where the expression "just not British" was common tender).

Your history includes a great deal to be ashamed of, as well of course as much to be proud of. I see no reason to characterise the former as any less "America" than the latter. The Republicans are arguably as representative of "America" as the Democrats are.

[Karenina]

11. The world needs America

to look at herself in the mirror and see the LIES.

Amis identify as "the GOOD." It is not so. Nor has it ever been. The TRUTH must be confronted.

The denial is so thick and deep, the systems so entrenched, that Mother Earth will have to deal with it on HER timetable

[bleever]

12. Reading that was a valuable exercise.

snipping the end:

In a few short days, when the people vote, there will be a cannon of democracy that will be heard around the world. This will either be the finest hour or the darkest day. This is not the moment to be giddy or gleeful for an election that could well be lost. It is not the moment for paranoia or fear about an election that could still be stolen or given away through malfeasance or mistake, in a handful of precincts, that determine a small number of races, that will decide control of the Congress.

This is a time for organization, battle, focus, commitment, energy and mission, and it is a time to fight them on the beaches, on the land, in the sky, on the seas and everywhere.

The stakes are high.

The mission is clear.

The cause is just.

The battle is now.

It is up to you.

Brent Budowsky

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management. He can be reached at [email protected].

[wiggs]

13. Good line. Hope it makes its way into campaigns. nt