Planning a Kitchen Renovation While the House Burns Down: An Exchange with a Reader
by
Andrew Bard Schmookler | Jan 4 2007
When my piece, "Our Next President Needs to Be Well-Seasoned" ran this week on opednews, one of the comments it elicited declared:
Quote:
The Common Enemy is Not the Republicans.
It is neoliberalism, of which Gore is a proponent and Kucinich a collaborator.
The only person fit to lead this country that I know of is Ralph Nader, who has been fighting for people and against corporations all his life. He is a proponent of peace and would not support war. He is an advocate for workers' rights and would not promote or collaborate with globalization. There is nobody in power within our corrupt two-party system at the present time who is fit to lead, as they have all been complicit and compromised by having worked within a system of corporate dominance
.
This is what I wrote in response:
Planning a Kitchen Renovation While the House Burns Down
A family has a house, and the house has problems. The plumbing is getting old, sometimes the electricity shorts out. The kitchen doesn't meet the family's needs. Some people in the family think it's time for some major renovations. Then a fire breaks out, threatening to consume the entire structure. Some members of the family scramble to put out the fire, but one of the sons says, "Forget about the fire. Let's get to work on that kitchen renovation." Would you think that son's counsel wise?
With their assault on the Constitution, and on other fundamental aspects of our democratic social and political structures, these Bushites have set the American house on fire. With their contempt for the rule of law, with their idea of the "unitary president" with its unchecked powers, this outfit has embarked upon a concerted effort to turn this nation into a fascist state. Despite the set-back they have suffered in the recent elections, the forces behind this effort are far from vanquished.
LINK
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website, None So Blind, is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as [i]The Parable of the Tribes:
The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and
Debating the Good Society:
A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states. Schmookler can be reached at
andythebard@comcast.net
