None Dare Call It Stolen
29 July 2005, mid-afternoon
A forum was held to discuss the voting ‘irregularities’ in Ohio during the last election. This months Harper’s has a great article on the subject written by Mark Crispin Miller. A summary and discussion of the article is taking place at Democratic Underground. It’s almost embarrassing how corrupt the Republican party is.
update: The article is online now: None Dare Call it Stolen.
Speaking of corrupt…have you heard of the best seller 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America ?
I don’t think too many Republicans made the list. However, Senator Ted Kennedy is number 3. Being a foreigner I won’t claim to understand the subtleties of American politics, but I had the impression that he was a well-respected Senator. (Indeed, Wiki says “He is one of the most recognizable and influential members of the [Democratic Party]”).
Perhaps, I’m judging a book by it’s cover, but my intuition tells me that he made the list precisely because he is a prominent liberal. America is a run by a two-party system. For a democracy to function you need dissent and the free exchange of information, knowledge, and ideas.
I think it’s an intellectual duty for a person who lives in a free society to read material not only with which you agree but with which you disagree. Because every so often somebody you think was wrong will turn out to be right.—Tom Clancy
Hence, it is people like Senator Kennedy who are the only preventing the US from being into one-party system (like so many dictatorships and Communist regimes that that are so widely criticized). If Senator Kennedy is, therefore, a source of Democracy can we then conclude this book believes Democracy is screwing America?! (Reductio ad absurdum).
by Ryan on July 30 2005, 4:19 am #