Freedom of Speech

I’m not a Republican or a Democrat.
Far as I can tell each is worse than the other and any distinctions you want to make between these cozy bed-fellows would have to raise hair-splitting to the level of a martial art worthy of its own film genre.
To me, the whole two-party thing is like a little game of 3-card Monty.
Strictly for suckers.

I’m not for the Democrats.
And I’m not for the Republicans.
I’m for America.
Not the America of history.
The America of The Dream.
It’s a dream only to be found in the rantings of irascibly uncompromising old patriots and in the diaries of young, dead poets.
And, of course, in the lies of politicians.

“Liberty and Justice for All.”
That’s the Dream.
Got a nice ring to it.
Thing is, you can’t get to either one of those things without going right through the middle of downtown Truth.

I want to know the truth.
Whatever it is.
However good or bad or embarrassing or distasteful or unthinkable it might be.
And I want to tell the truth.
However good or bad or embarrassing or distasteful or unthinkable it might be.
Because "the truth will set you free" --- and ONLY the truth will set you free.
But first, chances are it will make you mad.

There’s a saying, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Two films I watch every now and again, just to remind myself of that: Triumph of the Will, and Night and Fog.
If you haven’t seen them, I recommend a viewing.

Hitler and the Nazis (no, that’s not another new opera-metal fusion band) are an important lesson for us. Adolf’s Germany is a perfect example of what can happen when people get swept up in emotion and fail to exercise a little critical thinking.

That brings me to President Obama.
As I've said before, if President Obama does good, I'll be happy as a clam to say so. But he doesn't get a free pass from me just because he's NOT George Bush, or because he's half-black, or because millions of starry-eyed sycophants apparently prefer “believing” to thinking.
I find some of his ideas as frightening and as dangerous as anything the recently-departed, would-be King George spat up.

But Obama's ideas don't scare me as much as the millions of otherwise well-meaning folks who demand unquestioning belief in their new saviour. When I recently I expressed some of my reservations about the new President and cited some easily verifiable facts from Obama's own campaign website and from the congressional record, I was immediately set upon by Obamaniacs who either don't bother to check the facts, or don't even CARE what the facts are.

That’s mob mentality.
The goose-step mentality.
It terrifies me.
Whether at a lynching, or a soccer game or a rock concert or an inauguration, it terrifies me.

And the knee-jerk intolerance of the neo-cons has now apparently been transferred to the Obamaniacs right along with the mantle of office. Judging from the personal attacks they leveled at me, they seem perfectly ready to burn me at the stake or commit me to an institution for daring even to raise a question – demonstrating the very intolerance that they so recently condemned the Bushvolk for displaying.


Cautious optimism MIGHT be in order, pending Mr. Obama’s actual performance, but some folks are dancing in the street like Jesus has just landed on the White House lawn and put up a "mission accomplished" sign.
A little pre-mature, I’d say. I think celebration of such mindless emotional fervor is dangerous, and rubs right up against stupid.

It might be good to reflect that Hitler, as far as we know, never personally murdered ANYone. It was all done by "loyal" followers who decided to go with "hope" and "faith" instead of critical reasoning.

My research and experience teach me this:
Be careful what you believe in.
And WHO you believe in.
And WHY.

Me, I'll never be a "good German."
Wouldn't bend over and play that part for Dubya and I'm not going to do it for Obama, either.
As long as I have a brain, the gentleman is going to have to EARN my respect like anybody else.
Maybe he will.
Hell, I HOPE he will.

But if he does, it will be with actions, not just words.


sj




(art by Norman Rockwell)