Got to this site and read why the playwrite David Mamet has decided to announce why his private beliefs are now incomputable with his previous public Liberal political persona. It's very interesting, and I think mirrors a bit of my own political maturation in the last two decades.
Here are a few quotes from the piece, to tease you:
On the system of checks and balances... "The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long."
... And on the hypocrisy of criticizing Bush while lavishing unblinking praise on JFK... "Bush got us into Iraq, JFK into Vietnam. Bush stole the election in Florida; Kennedy stole his in Chicago. Bush outed a CIA agent; Kennedy left hundreds of them to die in the surf at the Bay of Pigs. Bush lied about his military service; Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for a book written by Ted Sorenson. Bush was in bed with the Saudis, Kennedy with the Mafia."
... And on the state of our political discourse, and I think this goes both ways folks: "In short, liberalism has become a state religion (cult) intolerant of other religions which have to be driven out of politics, and those who dissent are heretics whose voices must be stilled or delegitimized."
Go ahead and read it. You'll like what he says. And tell me what you think in the comments.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Found something very interesting on Drudge Wednesday morning.
Posted by FHB at 11:38 AM
8 comments:
I like his capturing, "the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view."
you got my interest, i will check it out.
A thought to ponder in your class, What happened to free speech if you are talking about Obama?
I think maybe he has a point about the way the American government is set up..it is indeed formed to prevent any one part of government from gaining too much power..in the past as any historian knows at times the grab for power by a president was successful..Andrew Jackson for example...and the grab for power by congress has been overly successful at times..the post civil war GOP congress comes to mind. But it is apparent that the framers of the constitution were well aware that absolute power corrupts and designed our government where it is difficult to hold on to power for very long at a time..re: the last congressional elections..
no doubt the dream of both the left and the right wings of politics is to grab the power and hold it long enough to insure they can keep it. In some states they have pretty well done so with gerrymandering..but the public always manage to fuck up their plans because the public moves in and out of the gerrymandered districts and the process has to start all over again..
but in any event politics is about power..and there will always be a struggle for power..the system is designed that way and I for one thank my forefathers for designing it that way.
JFK escalated Vietnam, but Eisenhower was the first to send "advisors", no? Other than that, 100% agreement.
It amazes me how many well-meaning people are looking for both sides of the aisle to work together for (name the cause.) Nope. Gridlock is a good thing. It keeps them from picking our pockets too often.
By the way, I think it's long overdue for me to show you some link love. I'll be adding you to my blogroll later today.
Never was a "liberal", but I was at one time a "moderate", but found out at a young age, being in the middle of the road gets you run over.....so happy to be the Right Wing Nut I am today.
I loved it.
Have always loved Mamet's writing and thought process, and now I respect him as open-minded. Well done on him, and I commend VV for having the cojones to publish that. It's surprising, actually.
Thanks for takin' the time guys. I loved it and wanted to share. Great comments all.
And Sully, back at ya dude.
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