September 13, 2004
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Not a post, just a repost. I don’t agree with everything said, but I do agree with the question:
Published on Friday, September 10, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Got Democracy?
by Steven LaffoleyIt was just a cheeky phrase on a cheap t-shirt. But it asked an honest question. And revealed a stark truth.
I saw the t-shirt on a lazy, summer day, while I walked among small, colourful shops in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Granite State. Live Free or Die. The sleeveless, white t-shirt was pulled tightly over a display dummy in a clothing store window. On it – in bold, black letters – it read, Got Democracy?
I laughed. And I pictured the teenage girl who might innocently wear it. But for some reason, as I continued walking, the phrase kept repeating itself in my mind. And each time it did, the question became more pressing, more serious, more urgent.
Got Democracy?
Like so many others, I’ve spent four years with a queasy feeling in my stomach, asking myself again and again, “Can it get any worse?” And each time I asked, there came the terrible answer. Yes, it could. And it did.
Got Democracy?
Like so many, I shuddered when the United States Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount and selected the president.
Got Democracy?
And like so many, I cringed as that president – with no popular mandate – gutted our environmental laws, gave enormous tax breaks to the wealthy, and ran up enormous debts.
Got Democracy?
And like so many, I wept when the twin towers fell. Then stood stunned when the president took our great national resolve, and all the world’s sympathy, and then lost it going to war against a country that had not attacked America.
Got Democracy?
And like so many – when the lines were drawn and the sides were chosen – I began to fight. And used what writing skill I had to make a difference for 2004.
Got Democracy?
Friends and family disowned me after 9/11 when I wondered in print if conservative politics had hijacked “ground zero” for dark purposes. But I pushed on. Others wrote me angry letters questioning my love for America. But I learned how much I loved the ideal of America when it was taken from me. And I wouldn’t give up.
Got Democracy?
Like so many, I wanted the country back. I wanted sanity back. And so, with discipline rarely shown among progressives, I chose John Kerry as our champion. But then came that T-Shirt. And that question.
Got Democracy?
So finally, I confronted it. What was my democratic choice, really? Bush vs. Kerry?
Sure, George W. Bush is a usurper. An unfeeling ideologue. A
commander-in-chief of chief-executive-officers. A point man for the rich.And yes, John Kerry is an honourable man. A war hero. A true democrat.
But a real choice? Look at the record. Like George W. Bush, John Kerry also represents corporate interests. And right now those interests are invested in a profitable war.
Yes, John Kerry wants to improve the system. To soften its edges, perhaps. But at best – and we must be honest with ourselves – this choice is between Bush and Bush Light.
Too simple? Maybe.
But consider: Ralph Nader is one candidate for president who has a democratic vision for America. An America where citizens come first. Where justice is applied equally to all.
How strange to think that we have moved so far from such an ideal that, now, it almost sounds silly – an America where citizens come first and justice is applied to all?
This election is not about dumping a wrong-minded incumbent. This election is not about avenging the stolen election of 2000 and the horrible sins committed in between. This election – more than any election since the depression – is about the future of American democracy.
As distressing as they are, the war in Iraq, the dismal American economy, and who served how during Vietnam are just side issues – noisy subterfuge. The real choice facing America in November is the choice between corporate interests and public interests. Between the elites and the people.
Got Democracy?
This election is about choice itself. Yes, George W. Bush must go. But we cannot swallow our commitment to true democracy to make this happen. We cannot accept a friendly, sensitive version of Pax Americana to make this happen.
Got Democracy?
The only way to answer yes is to vote for democracy. To choose a democratic republic over a corporate dictatorship.
So: Got Democracy?
We will have to wait and see.
