Letters to the Editor
Dawggone
Published Letters: 451 Editor's Choice: 69
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As long as we're in young soldier's heads
[Read the article: And in other news, up is now down]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm thinking of a young soldier,
with a pregnant wife and worried parents wondering why he is in a foreign country,
And when he could come home.
And how long he could stay.
I'm thinking of what that soldier would think with politicians arguing he has to stay in harms way because that is what he wants, not them,
And it would be a shame that he could not die to make right all those young soldiers who died before him.
I'm thinking of a soldier who joined the military because he loved this country so much he would lay down his life to protect it and how he is now being used to justify a war that had nothing to do with security and nobody knows why he is there.
I'm thinking of a soldier, hoping against hope that those who sent him into harms way actually know what they are doing and are really trying to bring him home.
I'm thinking of a President who couldn't care less what happens to this soldier.
He will not attend their funeral.
He will briefly shake his widow's hand and mutter empty words about what a great patriot he once was.
I'm thinking of a Commander in Chief who does not know, nor ever will, when or why he should bring that young soldier home in anything other than a box.
I'm thinking of a nation that has lost its mind and its memory of the horrors of war and bow down before a man who promises a war with glory but without knowing a young soldier,
Or his widowed wife and fatherless children.
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Oh good God
[Read the article: The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Back in 1982 while in law school, I had the pleasure of being both a student and mentee of two great law professors who truly understoond and appreciated the value of the "rule of law" and it's power, if respected by the people to ensure we are free of tryants. It was the rule of law that protected us from Nixon, from McCarthy and from Alexander Haig. One of those professors was Robin Wright who wrote for the Harvard Law Journal and attack on Richard Posner's simplistic idea that all legal disputes could be reduced to economic satisfaction. He wrote "Economic Analysis of the Law" which assumed all people and governments act only on maximization of wealth and if there is any dispute no matter it can be solved with money. Robin Wright wrote a scathing critique which attempted to apply "Economic Analysis of the Law" to Kafka's "The Trial." It was the best rip on someone since Voltaire responded to Rousseau's "it will all work out for the best when we think good thoughts" with "Candide."
Now we have what may well be the world's living proof that a mind is a terribly thing to waste, sitting in a position of power and basically making an argument that he and us should subsume ourself not only to a supreme leader, a fuhrer, a tsar, but a leader with the incompetence of George Bush.
It is one thing for some whacko to think that Teddy Roosevelt or Franklin or George Washington or Abraham Lincoln should be given the title "Il Duce", it is guite another to bestow it on one of the most incompetent and stupidest presidents ever to soil the office of President.
Which makes you wonder. Why is a hired lackey of a media organ of the rich and powerful bleating for all power to such a moron? Is he really arguing that by giving Bush dictatorial powers he's really arguing for giving his corporate benefactors dictatorial powers? Is this really a political coup attempt or a oligapolitical coup. Is the military and industrial complex, and the "energy" interests finally seeking control over this country. It's not like hubris would not dictate such idealistic ridiculousness. It led us into Iraq. Why not lead us into the destruction of the US. It's not like people like me or Robin Wright ever have a voice in the country anymore.