I was happy when I opened my browser to cbc.ca and saw that headline.
silvurphlame
Posted on: 11/08/2006 19:09
It's definately a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether this will help stop the war in Iraq any more quickly than was otherwise planned. In any case, it ensures rather more base competence in the future of the conflict.
pog
Posted on: 11/08/2006 21:50
FInally, he's gone! Hurray!!
Birthstone
Posted on: 11/08/2006 23:02
And the Senate falls too - hurray for Democrats - lets see if it can really make a difference!
Also, how on earth can it all really be so close to 50% split every time??
noelpoem
Posted on: 11/13/2006 12:53
Bush should step down too.
klaatu
Posted on: 11/21/2006 13:36
That would leave Cheney in charge. Do we really want that?
graeme
Posted on: 12/12/2006 15:37
I suspect the news of Rumsfeld's departure is not so good as it appears. It was not the American constitution that brought him down. And it wasn't really the opposition Democrats. it was a palace revolt by powerful figures in the Republican part, notable George Bush Sr. and his circle. This was not democracy in action. This was the Rome of the caesars.
The democrats don't really have an alternative policy. They are financed by much the same people as finance the Repurblicans. They respond to much the same forces. That's why Hilary Clinton's foreign policy looks like a photocopy of Bush's.
The US now, with the official blessing of congress and the courts, embraces torture, arrest and indefinite detention (of even American citizens) without charge or legal representation, and unlimited search of private citizens without warrant. All of the above clearly is against the US constitution.
IN forerign affairs, it has declared for itself the right to invade anybody on just about any reason, to hold prisoners of war indefinitely and to torture them. All of this violates the Atlantic Charter that we supposedly fought a war for, and just about every treaty signed since 1945.
The Democrats in no way offer an alternative to this, and the departure of Rumsfeld has changed none of this. At root, a fundamental problem remains. The American constitution has ceased to have any meaning, and American democracy is in a coma with little sign it will come out of it.
graeme
klaatu
Posted on: 12/12/2006 18:06
graeme: "... The American constitution has ceased to have any meaning ..."
graeme, I see that you are a retired history professor. I am a lifelong student of history AND a transplanted American (my profile says "rcovering").
Sad to say, I am afraid you are all too correct in what you say. I love my native land but am heartsick to see what has become of it.
American democracy has always been something of a sham - James Madison, one of the architects of the Constitution, made it quite clear that he was mortally afraid of true democracy - that is, a democracy of the people. The role of government to him was the protection of the rights of the propertied classes against the demands of the masses.
Americans have gone on for over two centuries under the illusion that the people actually had some power - that Lincoln's "government of the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE" was a reality. Bush has blown the covers off of that.
Elections in the US have become a farce. Presidents take office with a vote that amounts to maybe 28-30% of the entire electorate, if that. People are staying away in droves, because many are beginning to realize just how little power they really have, and that the candidates of BOTH parties are bought and paid for by the same business and industrial interests.
Perhaps in a way Bush has been a good thing. His complete lack of subtlety and blatant favoritism to the rich and powerful may bring about a temporary reaction. However, in the long term, I fear that it will just be a blip. The power brokers will continue to manipulate elections and governments, and we will all be the poorer for it.
America once stood for at least an illusion of liberty - that is now gone, and the ugly underside is laid bare.
graeme
Posted on: 12/12/2006 22:08
Damn! Being a retired history professor shows that blatantly, does it? It's like having had smallpox.
It must be very difficult for an American who believed in what the US once stood for - and there are many Americans like you who did believe in that and still do. Certainly, the death of that American dream - if, indeed, it has died - is an enormously sad loss for all of us.
And, yes, I am a retired history professor who left a big city and moved out to rural New Brunswick on the Northumberland shore hard by the Nova Scotia border. And it's quite delightful. You can live a Christian life here in the sense of its commitments to neighbourliness, friendliness, helpfulness and consideration - and it's just accepted as normal.
Comments
MadMonk
Posted on: 11/08/2006 17:16
Agreed :-)
I was happy when I opened my browser to cbc.ca and saw that headline.
silvurphlame
Posted on: 11/08/2006 19:09
It's definately a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether this will help stop the war in Iraq any more quickly than was otherwise planned. In any case, it ensures rather more base competence in the future of the conflict.
pog
Posted on: 11/08/2006 21:50
FInally, he's gone! Hurray!!
Birthstone
Posted on: 11/08/2006 23:02
And the Senate falls too - hurray for Democrats - lets see if it can really make a difference!
Also, how on earth can it all really be so close to 50% split every time??
noelpoem
Posted on: 11/13/2006 12:53
Bush should step down too.
klaatu
Posted on: 11/21/2006 13:36
That would leave Cheney in charge. Do we really want that?
graeme
Posted on: 12/12/2006 15:37
I suspect the news of Rumsfeld's departure is not so good as it appears. It was not the American constitution that brought him down. And it wasn't really the opposition Democrats. it was a palace revolt by powerful figures in the Republican part, notable George Bush Sr. and his circle. This was not democracy in action. This was the Rome of the caesars.
The democrats don't really have an alternative policy. They are financed by much the same people as finance the Repurblicans. They respond to much the same forces. That's why Hilary Clinton's foreign policy looks like a photocopy of Bush's.
The US now, with the official blessing of congress and the courts, embraces torture, arrest and indefinite detention (of even American citizens) without charge or legal representation, and unlimited search of private citizens without warrant. All of the above clearly is against the US constitution.
IN forerign affairs, it has declared for itself the right to invade anybody on just about any reason, to hold prisoners of war indefinitely and to torture them. All of this violates the Atlantic Charter that we supposedly fought a war for, and just about every treaty signed since 1945.
The Democrats in no way offer an alternative to this, and the departure of Rumsfeld has changed none of this. At root, a fundamental problem remains. The American constitution has ceased to have any meaning, and American democracy is in a coma with little sign it will come out of it.
graeme
klaatu
Posted on: 12/12/2006 18:06
graeme: "... The American constitution has ceased to have any meaning ..."
graeme, I see that you are a retired history professor. I am a lifelong student of history AND a transplanted American (my profile says "rcovering").
Sad to say, I am afraid you are all too correct in what you say. I love my native land but am heartsick to see what has become of it.
American democracy has always been something of a sham - James Madison, one of the architects of the Constitution, made it quite clear that he was mortally afraid of true democracy - that is, a democracy of the people. The role of government to him was the protection of the rights of the propertied classes against the demands of the masses.
Americans have gone on for over two centuries under the illusion that the people actually had some power - that Lincoln's "government of the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE" was a reality. Bush has blown the covers off of that.
Elections in the US have become a farce. Presidents take office with a vote that amounts to maybe 28-30% of the entire electorate, if that. People are staying away in droves, because many are beginning to realize just how little power they really have, and that the candidates of BOTH parties are bought and paid for by the same business and industrial interests.
Perhaps in a way Bush has been a good thing. His complete lack of subtlety and blatant favoritism to the rich and powerful may bring about a temporary reaction. However, in the long term, I fear that it will just be a blip. The power brokers will continue to manipulate elections and governments, and we will all be the poorer for it.
America once stood for at least an illusion of liberty - that is now gone, and the ugly underside is laid bare.
graeme
Posted on: 12/12/2006 22:08
Damn! Being a retired history professor shows that blatantly, does it? It's like having had smallpox.
It must be very difficult for an American who believed in what the US once stood for - and there are many Americans like you who did believe in that and still do. Certainly, the death of that American dream - if, indeed, it has died - is an enormously sad loss for all of us.
And, yes, I am a retired history professor who left a big city and moved out to rural New Brunswick on the Northumberland shore hard by the Nova Scotia border. And it's quite delightful. You can live a Christian life here in the sense of its commitments to neighbourliness, friendliness, helpfulness and consideration - and it's just accepted as normal.
graeme