Let Us Journey Homeward Again
Rusty
On a fateful August night in 1972, a decorated combat veteran of World War II, just nominated by the Democratic Party for the Presidency, called upon America to reject the lawlessness, deceit, and warmongering of a criminal Republican president: “From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America. From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick; come home, America.”
Thirty-four years ago, George McGovern offered America redemption, but America was not interested in redemption. Redemption is hard work. It requires critical thinking skills, acknowledging mistakes, taking responsibility for those mistakes, and rectifying them. The “patriotism” of Republicans bellowing “Four More Years!” was much more inspiring. So George McGovern, a veteran of 30 bombing missions over Nazi Germany, was mocked and ridiculed as a naïve peacenik, his message of peace and redemption was rejected, and America proudly handed Richard Milhouse Nixon a landslide reelection triumph.
Tragically, this blunder failed to satiate America’s appetite for criminal Republican leaders, for Nixon’s Watergate crimes were quickly forgotten and a bumbling actor with a bad haircut waved the flag a couple times, won two more Republican landslides, sold weapons to the terrorist state of Iran, and grinned his way to national sainthood. His designated heir, George Bush, wallowed in Ronnie’s Iran-Contra crimes, lied his way into the White House, and handed his criminals over to George W. Bush, who has unleashed them once again to pursue their NeoCon madness.
Like George McGovern, courageous Democrats like John Conyers, Russ Feingold, and Ned Lamont are once again offering America redemption. They are asking America to render judgment against another criminal, warmongering Republican president. They are publicly condemning Republican secrecy, deception, militarism, warmongering, racism, lawlessness, and greed. They are imploring America to come home from this wanton journey of degradation we’ve been on for six years. They are asking us to turn away from the cowards and liars and thieves of the Republican Party and journey homeward again, where the light of democracy still shines and the music of freedom can still be heard.
There is much more at stake in 2006 than there was in 1972, but the choice is the same—redemption or shame. From American democracy’s distant shore, voices from our noble past are calling upon us to redeem ourselves. Let us heed their words. Let us heed Thomas Jefferson, who warned that, “The last hope of human liberty in this world rests upon us.” Let us heed Abraham Lincoln, who entrusted us to ensure that, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Let us heed Franklin Roosevelt, who reminds us, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
And let us heed the words of John F. Kennedy most of all: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility, I welcome it.” That enduring responsibility, which JFK welcomed as an honor, not a burden, is our responsibility now. Freedom’s hour of maximum danger is upon us, and we must defend our freedom over the next 72 days, or lose it forever.
Comment # 1 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 08/12/2006 02:54 GMT I want to respond, but for the moment,I am speechless, owing to a sudden convulsion of laughter!
Comment # 2 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 08/12/2006 02:58 GMT Please help me! I cannot control my laughter! And I also cannot control my wish to throw out feces, as suggested by the author!
Comment # 3 ~ Alma ~ 08/12/2006 03:31 GMT I'm just trying to dodge the crap from those poor deranged creatures.
Comment # 4 ~ Rusty ~ 08/12/2006 04:59 GMT Tahoe, this was a TGIF present for you.
Comment # 5 ~ Rusty ~ 08/12/2006 05:01 GMT They fling so much crap, they could have flung some more for you to dodge, long enough for me to sneak a Kos diary past you, Alma. But n-o-o-o-o . . .
Comment # 6 ~ feline ~ 08/12/2006 05:04 GMT We're all gonna need one heckuva shower by November!
Comment # 7 ~ feline ~ 08/12/2006 05:14 GMT We're all gonna need one heckuva shower by November!
Comment # 8 ~ Rusty ~ 08/12/2006 05:37 GMT We can shower ourselves in margaritas on Election Night.
Comment # 9 ~ Rusty ~ 08/14/2006 21:01 GMT And then we can shower ourselves again with margaritas on Election Night.
Comment # 10 ~ Rusty ~ 08/15/2006 05:24 GMT Until then, we have to redouble our efforts to defeat these racist, criminal Republicans. George Felix Allen Jr's racial slurs against a college student in Virginia last weekend are only the latest example of the moral degeneracy of Republican politicians and the ignorant racists who adore them so much.
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