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Go, John, go!
Sep. 3rd, 2004 11:25 amI'm thrilled to see that the Post gave Kerry's speech last night some coverage, though it would be nice if it hadn't been buried on page A26 and inaccessible from the front page of their website.
I hope this marks a revitalized Kerry campaign, something like the turning point in my favourite (liberal fantasy) movie, The American President, where President Shephard finally decides to fight back agaisnt the smear tactics of the Bob-Dole-like Senator Bob Rumson. I love that speech, and I tear up every time I read it or hear it, but one passage has been especially on my mind as I've heard speaker and attendees rail against the protestors in New York (and, by the way, I think that both the peacefulness and restraint of the protests and the preremptory mass arrests and illegal holding of protestors after judges have ordered their release has been remakably little commented upon inthe press.)
Senator Miller seems to feel it necessary to point out that soldiers have given us the right to freeddom, but he seems to have forgotten, as one commentator I heard last night observe, that our rights and freedoms have been just as equally won by protestors, by civil disobedience, by ordinary Americans standing up and speaking their mind. Working men and women won and sustained our rights during the labor struggles of the last two centuries; reporters sustained our rights during decades that politicians and corrupt law enforcement and intelligence officers wanted to conceal the truth about fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, about FBI surveillance of citizens for their political action, of the Nixon administration's crimes, of the Reagan administration's crimes and, yes, even of President Clinton's misbehavior. Countless Americans of all walks of life sustained and extended our freedoms when they marched and protested and boycotted to ensure that "civil rights" were not something restricted to straight white men but belonged to all Amwricans, no matter what their race or sex, or sexuality.
But the Republicans give the impression of wanting to forget that. They seem to feel that freedoms are best kept, like a good cigar, a bottle of port, or a vintage stamp: secured and protected, but unused,s tored carefully away where they can age without being exercised or enjoyed. But free speech is not a limited commodity or an exhaustable good. It doesn't diminish with use. The contempt of the Republican speakers and convention goers and their fellow-travelling Senator Miller remind me of the fictional Bob Rumson, who screams in rage at the idea of Americans using their right to free speech, instead of just being grateful for it and shutting up. Which gives his opponent the opportunity to make this simple point:
I hope this marks a revitalized Kerry campaign, something like the turning point in my favourite (liberal fantasy) movie, The American President, where President Shephard finally decides to fight back agaisnt the smear tactics of the Bob-Dole-like Senator Bob Rumson. I love that speech, and I tear up every time I read it or hear it, but one passage has been especially on my mind as I've heard speaker and attendees rail against the protestors in New York (and, by the way, I think that both the peacefulness and restraint of the protests and the preremptory mass arrests and illegal holding of protestors after judges have ordered their release has been remakably little commented upon inthe press.)
Senator Miller seems to feel it necessary to point out that soldiers have given us the right to freeddom, but he seems to have forgotten, as one commentator I heard last night observe, that our rights and freedoms have been just as equally won by protestors, by civil disobedience, by ordinary Americans standing up and speaking their mind. Working men and women won and sustained our rights during the labor struggles of the last two centuries; reporters sustained our rights during decades that politicians and corrupt law enforcement and intelligence officers wanted to conceal the truth about fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, about FBI surveillance of citizens for their political action, of the Nixon administration's crimes, of the Reagan administration's crimes and, yes, even of President Clinton's misbehavior. Countless Americans of all walks of life sustained and extended our freedoms when they marched and protested and boycotted to ensure that "civil rights" were not something restricted to straight white men but belonged to all Amwricans, no matter what their race or sex, or sexuality.
But the Republicans give the impression of wanting to forget that. They seem to feel that freedoms are best kept, like a good cigar, a bottle of port, or a vintage stamp: secured and protected, but unused,s tored carefully away where they can age without being exercised or enjoyed. But free speech is not a limited commodity or an exhaustable good. It doesn't diminish with use. The contempt of the Republican speakers and convention goers and their fellow-travelling Senator Miller remind me of the fictional Bob Rumson, who screams in rage at the idea of Americans using their right to free speech, instead of just being grateful for it and shutting up. Which gives his opponent the opportunity to make this simple point:
For the record, yes, I am a card carrying member of the ACLU, but the more important question is "Why aren't you, Bob?" Now this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question, why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the constitution? Now if you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter that I am, because I didn't understand it until a few hours ago.
America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of it's citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
