my Op Ed piece for the New York Times

[longhouse]

As presidential debates air on television newscasters, pundits, professors, and talk-show hosts regurgitate each other's ideas and the weekly buzzwords. Our once-great nation is tasked again with the chore of electing a new president, the next Commander In Chief.

My friends, we've steadily watched our liberty and power as individuals diminish. The sterling wisdom of this country's founders has become a dusty museum wing which few deign to visit. The current lot of inbred career politicians, the groomed offspring of nepotic privilege, is unfit to secure a valid future for my children.

Governors, senators, and the power-mad wife of a former president plot, pose, and pander; they smile for the camera, criticize the current administration, and rest assured their constituents have forgotten they voted in favor of this present war. They spew generalizations. They talk of change. They neither discuss nor defend their voting records. The sum value of their political careers has mired our nation and now these bloated middle managers proclaim themselves agents of change.

Powers behind the press push the favored few ahead of the field from the start. New voices are stifled [in the most recent GOP debate Ron Paul railed against the war and asked, "How many men are you willing to let die for this?" -and he was cruelly lampooned in the media as a madman].

I know why Socrates drank poison.
I know why Oswald pulled the trigger.

Must we accept there is nothing new under the sun? Must we accede to the powers that be for fear of retribution? You might say, "At least there is no Gestapo, no KGB to come for us in the night." I regret to inform you the Federal Bureau of Investigation can search, seize, and detain without a warrant thanks to the Patriot Act.

This nation's last will and testament will be written on the tattered remains of its constitution.

Today is February 2, Groundhog Day, and I cannot help but feel we're doomed to repeat history's mistakes, to do it all over again. This writer cannot acquiesce.

________________________________________

Will it be printed? I doubt it. They sent me an email saying it was being reviewed, however.

Suffice to say the political process in the states can be a source of great frustration for me.

[cheyenne]

I like it.

[wints]

A solid observation there, and as it is the NYT that content could well be deemed acceptable.

Now, about the Oswald theory Noel...

[longhouse]

Thanks for reading.

My point about Oswald and Socrates is that both men made what are arguably the hardest conscious choices any human ever faces: to take his/her own life -or- to take the life of another.
In both cases it was extreme and bitter dissatisfaction with the system, with the powers that be.

Though I'm always willing to discuss the Kennedy assassination, my point here is that the individual often feels close to powerless in the shadow of government. It elicits strong emotions and intense reactions.

[alanz]

Well, yes, it sure was nice of Lee Harvey Oswald to decide that he got to overrule the process we have for electing our leaders by pulling a trigger and thereby gain back his "power." I'm sure he warmed the hearts of many a powerless person that day. Too bad John Hinckley, Jr wasn't successful, too, eh? Or would that have been a tragedy of historic proportions? Help me out here, I'm not sure where you're going with this.

[wj350]

Yeeeaahhhh....okay.....I might have edited out the Lee Harvey reference if I was sending something to the press....your letter will probably be read, but not by the audience you intended.

Bill

[longhouse]

Alan, I by no means condone murder or the use of a weapon to forward one's politcal views.
It's a drastic statement to say 'I know why Oswald pulled the trigger', but it certainly is not intended to validate his actions.
Oswald is just an example, albeit extreme one (on purpose). Part of my intention is to show the struggle between (often systemically corrupt) government and the individual.

And Bill, I considered omitting the Oswald reference -at first. Ultimately I decided its merit went beyond shock value in the end. Personally I find Socrates a much more tragic figure than Oswald (or Kennedy).

I respectfully apologize to anyone who is offended by the statement. Nothing gets the blood up like discussions of politics, religion, and ..........guitars.

[wj350]

No worries bud, I know what you were trying to get across, I wasn't personally offended--just concerned for you. Often, when organizations or entities receive correspondence with references to assassination, no matter how benign, they end up getting forwarded to the Feds.

Bill