RE: [Marxism] Liberals shifting left

[Jon Flanders <jonflanders@xxxxxxxxx>]

More evidence of a rift in the Democratic Party.

Jon Flanders

This from Gary Hart on Commondreams.org

Published on Saturday, August 20, 2005 by the Huffington Post
Moral Authority
by Gary Hart

  In the late 1980s the most respected leaders in the world -- Nelson
Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa (and earlier Martin Luther King) --
all had one thing in common. They had spent time in jail. More
important, they had spent time in jail for their beliefs, beliefs that
threatened the power structures of their countries. It seems strange
that many Americans idolize protesters in other countries and ridicule
them at home.

Equally strange is the tendency of conservatives to revere the
protesters of early times -- Tom Paine, the Bostonians who painted
themselves like Indians and threw tea in Boston harbor, even the
abolitionist John Brown -- and vilify those who protest today. Someone
once said that conservatives are the worshipers of dead radicals.

Nevertheless, there is a rich history of protest in America, by
laborers, by women, by war opponents, by environmentalists, by African
Americans, and in almost every case the protests changed American ideas
and policies for the better. Protesters make us think, that is those
inclined to think. They stir things up, they rock the boat, they
challenge the status quo and the conventional wisdom. They force us to
look at reality often in painful ways. Protesters sometimes get
themselves thrown in jail.

It is a great wonder that war opponents, including increasing numbers of
Democratic "leaders," are so silent. Some of the most visible simply
believe the invasion of Iraq, which they endorsed, has been mismanaged,
that more troops (not fewer) are needed! Even today, they seem
untroubled by the false statements and manipulated intelligence of the
administration. The most difficult political statement in the English
language is: I made a mistake.

Speaking only for myself, I will find it very difficult to support any
Democratic "leader" who remains silent at this critical moment but who
wants to be president in 2008. There are defining moments in political
careers and in national life where true character is revealed, where
moral authority is achieved, or forfeited. Recall Dante's well-known
warning that a special place is reserved in hell for those who, in times
of moral crisis, preserve their neutrality.

There are those who earn their moral authority the hard way, by going to
jail or, like Cindy Sheehan, by sacrificing a loved one. Such people do
not merely earn an audience with the president.

Such people deserve an accounting.

Since retiring from the United States Senate, Gary Hart has been
extensively involved in international law and business, as a strategic
advisor to major U.S. corporations, and as an author and lecturer.





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