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01/19/2006 Archived Entry: "Al Gore is right, for once."

I DON’T LIKE AL GORE.
I refuse to associate with anyone who uses fraud, theft, and violence to achieve their goals.

But even a liar and a thief can sometimes speak the truth. Al Gore gave a speech on Monday, one that the estimable Paul Craig Roberts describes as “the most important political speech in my lifetime.”

You won’t find Gore’s speech in the New York Times. The War Street Journal likewise refused to cover it, although they did print an attack of the speech (on page 14) a few days later. Truthout.org has the full text of Gore’s speech.

Gore presents a compelling argument that the US Constitution, and our liberties, are in grave danger. He should know, he has spent a lifetime pursuing that goal. It’s easy to be cynical and read Gore’s challenge of Bush’s blatantly illegal acts as little more than sour grapes.

But Gore is right. What Bush and his handlers are doing is nothing less than erecting an emperor, one man who makes all laws but is bound by no law. He has openly defied the law as written by Congress, admitted his crimes, vowed to continue, and is seeking to punish those who sounded the alarm. Congress is supine, whether from their characteristic ignorance and cowardice or because most members secretly lust after precisely the kind of unlimited power Bush is claiming for himself.

All this as been tried before, again and again and again. It has invariably led to indescribable evil and suffering. But if there is one lesson of history, it is that we will not learn from it.

Bush lacks the military genius and charisma of his many predecessors. He brings only boundless ambition, a conscience untroubled by mass murder of innocent people, and the backing of an elite whose extreme corruption is possible only in the end stages of great monetary follies.

Gore calls upon the American people, whose tacit consent enables Bush’s outrages, to put a stop to the madness. I like to hope, but I doubt that will happen. If history is any guide, things will get much worse before they get any better. Eventually someone with powerful weapons and the willingness to use them will depose the tyrant. But America as we like to think of it will be long gone, most likely never to return.

Silver

Posted by Silver @ 02:52 PM CST
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