The Center Cannot Hold

(4:15PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Some think the US government should avoid violating international laws, the Geneva Convention, our own Code of Military Conduct and jus cogens by not torturing.

Others think some torture of certain people is okay.

The Center:  Allow torture of certain people under limited circumstances.

Some think the constitution is “sacred obligatory on all citizens,” the foundation of our nation, the bulwark of our very liberty, a document which unites all Americans around principles of self-governance, and whose defense is the basis of all oaths of office and the essence of patriotism.

Others think it is “just a piece of paper” to be violated at whim.

The Center:  Follow the constitution some of the time and subvert it at other times.

Some think all government officials, private citizens, and corporations are obligated to follow the law of the land or pay the penalty.

Others think violations of the law should be ignored if high officials say it is okay.

The Center:  Require obedience to the law in most circumstances but sometimes allow lawlessness.

Some say human-caused global warming is the most serious threat to the future of humanity and could well lead to our extermination unless drastic action is immediately undertaken.

Others say global warming is the biggest hoax ever visited on the American people.

The Center:  Everybody recycle and try to turn off unneeded lights.

Some think the US should only go to war on the basis of reliable intelligence which reveals a plausible threat to our national security.

Others think its okay to go to war on the basis of trumped up intelligence in order to further the financial and power interests of an elite minority.

The Center:  Try to go to war only when intelligence proves it’s necessary, but continue to prosecute wars started under other circumstances.

Some say most television news is propaganda promoting the interests of the few corporations who control most media in this country.

Others say the news is fair and balanced.

The Center:  Periodically invite fringe progressive elements on news programs in order to prove them wrong.

Some say the US military has been stretched to its limits by an illegal war, ineptly prosecuted, with little regard for the welfare of the soldiers.

Others say everyone should just shut up and support the troops.

The Center:  Continue to run the military ragged but provide more GI Bill and better treatment of PTSD, head injuries, and other necessary costs of war.

Some say no-bid contracts and lack of oversight have wasted millions and millions of tax dollars, endangered our troops, and subverted our foreign policy while enriching a few war profiteers.

Others say shut up and support the troops.

The Center:  Investigate and prosecute selected war profiteers without taking down the whole system.

Some say the Department of Justice has been turned into a political arm of the GOP, prosecuting Democrats for political purposes while turning a blind eye to Republican felonies.

Others say politics should not be criminalized.

The Center:  Elect a Democrat and pretend that none of this ever happened.

And so it goes.

37 comments

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    • geomoo on July 5, 2008 at 21:49
      Author

    We all know it. We’re all watching the ship go down.  Here it is in yet another format.

    Sigh.

  1. The feeling you’ve heard this bull before.

    But seriously.. if we quit now those bastards will win.  Don’t

    know about you, but I just can’t allow that to happen.

  2. Reading your entry it seemed like you were making a case for “moving to the center” and avoiding the extremes.

    But then I read the tags and re-read the title.

    Not really. This was obviously a good bit of snark from the git-go. Nice work gm.

    (In the second to last item, you might want to change “millions” to “billions.”)

  3. if you change even one mind you start a chain reaction that you can never predict.  I like to ask questions that get people thinking.  My favorite experience is when someone comes back to me days later and tells me they’ve been thinking about what we were talking about and they have more questions.  There’s just no telling where it’s going to go from there, but the status quo has been questioned and it’s being left behind.  

    • RUKind on July 6, 2008 at 00:36

    I’m getting burned out. I was OK with Obama until the FIA crumble. Now I realize he’s gone over to the dark side, too. It’s like living through a real-life version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. One day they’re one of us; next day, we tap them on the shoulder ’cause they still look the same, but they’re not. They’ve been converted over-night.

    Who is left to trust? GOS has moles as far as I can tell. On the Front Page, even! And rabid sheep, too. At least with Hillary we had an upfront DLC-er. There was never any pretense to be otherwise. That’s what passes as refreshing honesty these days.

    Makes me wonder if Edwards would have been able to hold his personal center all the way to 1600. I guess we’ll never know.

  4. “The Center”, well naturally I think which Center,  The Bilderburg Group, the Trilateral Commission, The Center for Satanic Memes in Public Policy and Law,  God, be specific as to which center you are talking about.

  5. … reminded me of an old Jewish story that with a little adaptation could possibly apply.

    The Constitution ought to be our center, I think we’re all agreed on that here at DD.  It sets forth ideals that conceivably could include the whole world if we were only civilized enough to work towards those ideals.

    The Parable of the Wise Fishes was adapted from the Parables of the Preacher of Dubno and the part of it I think is applicable is this:

    A fox one day was walking along the shore of a lake.  He noticed that the little fish were scurrying to and fro in the water.  As he looked at them he had a great desire to eat them.

    “Foolish little fish–why do you scurry about like that?” he asked them.

    “We are fleeing from the nets of the fishermen,” the fish replied.

    “In that case,” cried the sly fox, “why don’t you come ashore and we will live like brothers just as your parents lived with mine.”

    The little fish laughed and replied, “O you foxy one! You talk like a fool even though many think you’re clever.  What silly advice are you giving us anyway?  If we are in constant fear of our lives in the place where we live, how do you suppose it will be on dry land where we cannot live?  Surely, death awaits us there!”

    Yes, it’s a dangerous world and we are all afraid, so much is changing and so many are suffering right now, and we see hard times ahead.

    But for us to allow men to tell us we should trust them personally with our safety instead of addhering to our Constitution, our laws that apply to all of us, would be as foolish as fish thinking they are safer on dry land than in the water which gives them life.

  6. Way, wayyyy to many average Americans say, “I don’t like it, but whatcha gonna do?”

    They object a wee bit, keep their heads down and let the politicians/korporations bulldoze us with only a murmur of complaint.

    The center blows, and it blows as far right as the Overton Window has moved it… way right.

    This was a priceless comparison.

    • Valtin on July 7, 2008 at 08:12

    the dice are loaded. Everybody knows the good guys lost.”

    — L. Cohen

    Good essay, geomoo!

  7. of the economy.

    Which is why it never relates in any way to we-the-people.

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