April 4, 2004 – From Los Angeles to Little Rock

Starting this week, I am beginning what I hope to be a challenging but rewarding project at work that involves going back and forth between my home in Los Angeles, California and Little Rock, Arkansas.  I have a feeling that there may be a few differences between the culture I am used to and the culture I may need to acclimate to.   Beyond making it even more difficult for me to find the time to rant, also makes me ask whether the cultural biases and preconceptions I have about a town like Little Rock only demonstrate the point that so many in the far right claim is true:  we are elitist here on the East and West Coasts, and we wouldn’t know a hard working, blue collar honest, God fearing person if one ran us over on the way to see the Passion of the Christ.  Is all that Los Angeles, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Portland, Miami, Chicago (a de facto Coast city in my book) and the rest of the soulless, commercialized, nameplate conscious, consumption-driven Meccas of the me-too mentality coastal communities have to offer the rest of the world is nice weather, theme parks, and a plethora of plastic surgeons?  In a word: No.  You know what, all of these pasty privileged men hiding behind the façade of God, patriotism and country, while then condemn me and my deviant tolerance while they pursue their own personal gain, profits and agendas can kiss my grits.   

Hmm, I sound a little pissed off right now – well, I am.  Why?   Well, it’s not because I will be going back and forth between Little Rock, Arkansas and Los Angeles, though I really wish there was a direct flight between the two cities.  No, increasingly I am worried that the American public may be duped into re-electing the robber-barons currently running our government.  We may be just lazy enough to reward their policies of misrepresentations, fear, hate mongering, distortion and distraction with re-election.  Can you imagine the carnage the Bush Administration will inflict on not only the US, but the rest of the world if it is free to do what it wants without the threat of having to run for re-election?    I know that some people are literally gleeful and the prospect of an unrestrained Bush Administration, but to me, the thought is nothing less than frightful.

Every time I think about four more years of the neo-cons spinning our foreign policy into a cycle of permanent terrorism I am reminded that these men with the psychotic fixation on Iraq, are, to a great extent, the same men who found a way to avoid active duty in Vietnam.  They now wrap themselves in the flag and dare question the patriotism of those who did serve in the war – Max Cleeland – who lost three limbs, and John Kerry – who saved the lives of those who he served with.  This is the same administration that has prevented the media from photographing the bodies of the dead returning from Iraq, after telling the terrorist to “bring it on.”  This is the President that lands on an Air Force Carrier in full custom of the fighter pilot he never was, and who has not attended the funeral of a single soldier dying for his war in Iraq.

This is an Administration that is made up of smoke and mirrors:  anyone that asks “where’s the beef” is attacked, marginalized, politically destroyed, and demonized.  Dissent, which is supposed to be a core component of our democracy, has become equated with treason and disloyalty.  The latest and most glaring example of this tactic is Richard Clarke, the former Bush, Clinton, Clinton and Bush employee who testified before the 9/11 commission and whose testimony was very damaging to the  Bush Administration’s contention regarding what it knew before 9/11, and how it responded to the attacks.  In short, Clarke says that not only did the Bush Administration fail to listen to his warnings, but that after 9/11; all they cared about was Iraq.  What is the Bush Administration so afraid of?  And why does anything approaching criticism result in a full frontal assault?  Here is a link to the misstatements and spin put out by the Administration in an attempt to discredit Clark. Richard Clark Rebuttal.  One must wonder why the truth that seems so painful for the Bush Administration to set free.  All I can say is that Roy Cohn would be proud. 

Indeed, in an attempt at revisionist history, the Bush Administration is now trying to hide the fact that the day before 9/11, terrorism was not on its top of its radar – rather more unfinished business from Poppy Bush’s administration was the focus of its National Security plans: that good old defense system called “Star Wars.”  The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Condoleezza Rice was set to give a major national security speech on September 11, 2001 that focused not on terrorism but on the proposed Star Wars missile defense system.  While the White House has confirmed the existence of the speech, it refused to release the full text, arguing that since it was not actually given, it is not part of the public record.   Well, with all due respect, if you are so intent on trashing the reputation of Richard Clark, then perhaps your “draft” which demonstrated how you failed to listen to Mr. Clark should be shared with the rest of the class.  Apparently, the address mentions terrorism, but only to buttress up the need for the Star Wars system.   Ironically, the Rice speech apparently argued for the need to confront "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday", and criticized the Clinton administration's preoccupation with terrorist groups at the expense of building defenses against ballistic missiles.  Hmmm – I guess that has no bearing on the current discussion.  Because after all, the whole 9/11 thing was Clinton’s fault . . . After all, isn’t everything wrong with this country either Bill or Hillary’s fault?

Don’t get me wrong, many in the Democratic Party are no better.   I listened to the Democratic talk station a bit, “Air America” and took issue with some of the things said by its hosts.  But, the stink of hypocrisy emanating from the Democrats seems almost pleasant by comparison to the Republicans, kind of like the aroma of a hard workout rather than that of a reeking rotting corpse that comes off the Bush Administration.  What is even funnier, the Republican National Committee with its hundred of million of dollars of corporate donations, has filed suit against MoveOn.org because of alleged coordination between itself and the Kerry campaign.  Perhaps the Republican Party should police its own, specifically Tom Delay, the House Majority Leader, before they go charging off against groups like MoveOn.org.  Just to refresh, there is an ongoing investigation about whether the Texas Association of Business and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority illegally used corporate funds to influence the outcome of 2002 state House races.  

Up is down, red is black, and I am getting more and more nauseous by the second.  I know there are some very fine, decent folks in the Republican Party – some of them happen to be friends of mine.  But, for the life of me, I cannot bring myself to believe that anyone in the Bush Administration that has the power to make any major decision gives a rat’s ass about anyone other then him or herself and his or her personal agenda.  Which leads me back to where I started, Little Rock, Arkansas.

I have friends who believe that the folks on the coasts and those in Middle-America and the South can never reconcile, that we are basically a country made up of three distinct nations – the South, the Mid-West and the Coasts.  According to these friends, there is no way that these diverse demographic locations can find common ground.  Well, call me a Pollyanna, but I am hoping against hope that they can be proven wrong.  Because, as I have said before, I believe much of our strength as a nation comes from our diversity.   And, though we are all different, many of us, regardless of where we are raised, have some very common chords and traits.  No matter where you are raised, every town has a fool, and a felon, a sage and a sinner, and every town has its own flavor and its own character.  At some point, regardless of where you live, you cannot look at what is going on in this country and not see it for what it is: a bunch of pasty, privileged, pricks running the country, using the flag, God and 9/11 as an excuse for their own excesses, personal agendas and abuses. The job lost is not just mine, but it is also yours; the medical costs increasing affect everyone; the children in poverty are not just in my town, but also in yours; the school system suffering is not just mine it is yours; the national debt exploding does not just belong to me, but it also belongs to you and your children; the men and women dying in Iraq are all draped in one flag.  No one is well served by this government.  Even the town fool, no matter where he resides, be it Los Angeles or Little Rock, cannot miss this basic truth.