74 Comments so far

1. christie svane March 22nd, 2007 3:55 pm

   I sit with chills running through my arms, and tears welling in my eyes, reading Moyers’ speech. I was just having this conversation with my 13 year old daughter this morning, as she headed off to school, and to the dreaded new tests imposed on our young. “I’m afraid of the history tests, because it’s not like math, where you can apply principles, and reason things out. It’s dates when the Government did things.” “But the real history DOES has principles,” we agreed, “it’s the history of people realizing things are unfair and finding the way to change them. And right now, it’s going to be the history of a whole country figuring out how to get back the power that was stolen from them. How people control their leaders, that’s the real question. ” “You know,” she said, “I think having a PResident is a bad idea. It’s just like a king. He does whatever he wants, even though all the people say they don’t want it, like this war.”

   Thomas Jefferson said the only justification for mandatory public education is to teach children their rights, and how to defend those rights. We need lots and lots of us addressing students of all ages, to let them know their rights, and that we’re sorry we’re handing over the mess the country and the world is in, but maybe, just maybe, their generation can achieve a real democracy. Thank you BIll!

2. Earthian March 22nd, 2007 4:31 pm

   Christine Svane in the comment above writes of “chills running through my arms, and tears welling in my eyes”. Yes. That is the appropriate response of a progressive to the great thinking and speaking of Bill Moyers. He does it in other speeches too. He grasps the sweep of progressive history. The central messages of the great religions. The importance of compassion and anger. And to do what?

   To recognize that “organized people” constitute the only answer to “organized money” to bring about a third American Revolution.

   I only wish that progressive candidates in office and running for office would fully grok Moyers’ thinking–well represented by this speech–and learn his narrative for the changes we may bring about in this nation. True progressives like Dennis Kucinich could learn from they Moyers narrative. (You might send him the link folks.) Molly Ivins, John Nichols and Ralph Nader recommended that Moyers run for president. I wrote him a letter urging him to do so. He wrote a postcard back saying he would not, but would focus on his journalism work. That’s fine. But, if he won’t, then other candidates better get the message. There is an extraordinary, unifying, inspiring narrative here in what Moyers says. It is based on substance not style; knowledge not hype. And progressives need leaders who get this.

3. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 5:08 pm

   okay,

   first - i like bill moyers - its been nice - he writes in pleasing tones and says nice things about people. and i dont like the idea of folks losing their houses.

   but really - it is not ground breaking to say that the rich get richer, or that the silver spoon in one’s mouth holds better fare.

   the america that bill moyers would take us back has not existed - surely there are freedoms here that one will not find in feudal europe, and american style class mobility, such as it was, had a cost that is unmentioned here, namely a complete abandonment of tradition - consider what names were changed to at ellis island.

   and nowhere is the past american tradition more gruesomely exposed than in its relations with then people who were already living here when the first europeans arrived, and of course with the people who were stolen from africa to be worked to death over a period of four hundred years.

   nor is any attention paid to woodrow wilson’s career as a world warrior - and he a quaker!

   the american project cannot be salvageg because, like it or not, it has always been a lie, a fiction, a manipulation to put money, and therefore power, in the hands of an elite. if espousing democratic principles will do that, then the elite have espoused democratic principles - if espousing fascism will fit the bill, then fascism -

   it is very tiring to read these pleas to return to american democracy - and to do so on the backs of those who have been waging real war against exploitation, humiliation, and outright murder, and on a scale so vast as to be incomprehensible - certainly MLK needn’t have waited until TIME magazine said so, to know that there is a law for the powerful that is very different than the law that oppresses the socially weak.

   i believe it was CS Lewis who stated the only weapon against the devil is mockery.

   and one last item - inside the text of this speech mr. moyers refers to “the varieties of religious experience” which is an unattributed use of the title of William James’ rather well known study written a century ago.

4. rtdrury March 22nd, 2007 5:22 pm

   Moyers is the preacher, not the bricklayer. When will the bricklayers start laying the bricks?

5. Ken Mitchell March 22nd, 2007 5:42 pm

   Woodrow wilson introduced segregation in the White house.

6. imors March 22nd, 2007 5:55 pm

   You can’t lay bricks on top of a crumbling system. It must be torn down first. If the system had been healthy to begin with, we would never have come to where we find ourselves now. I strongly disagree with most American’s premise of what they think America stands for. It never was all it was cracked up to be. It must be made better if it is to rise from the ashes of tyranny. I doubt Americans have the grit for the work that must be done to re-invent America in the image of truth.

   The point is mote anymor. If Global Warming/Climate Change won’t get us, the good guys will.

   G-d save the Queen. Er, I mean: heaven help us.

7. maddk March 22nd, 2007 6:24 pm

   The realist’s have again done us the great service of deconstructing, analyzing, and in the end dismissing and finding offensive the speech of an aging southern liberal. A relic if you would of a bygone age of idealism. If the truth be told we are all finite, disease ridden, and the whole world is going down the crapper! Wow, now I feel like I can face reality with a stiff upper lip and be a realist too.

8. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 6:43 pm

   maddk March 22nd, 2007 6:24 pm

   i think all folks want is something true, not something warm and fuzzy - we have our sweaters for the cold winter nights - in looking at the world we prefer something clear-eyed and something that doesnt feed us shopworn platitudes - you bet its a time for anger - and that anger doesnt stop with the current waste of breath who happens to have stolen the presidency - it also includes the architects of system that allows presidencies period - that erased very fine and functional lives - namely those of native americans, those of west africans, those of immigrant coal miners and so on and so on - so that they could have their well-mannered euro style glamour, north or south. if this is not something that you can accept then any step forward will fail - you cant find your way without first grappliing with where you are - this kind of self-pity will get us precisely where are

   or rather here’s a poem i wrote for me and for my kind

   i can tell you this:

   like so many others i have wanted more than anything to make a real and true picture of our beautiful world
   and for its own sake but not its own sake alone

   i confess right here that ive wanted to correct or possibly infect the mind of whoever crossed paths with my poem
   i mean i look around these days - all days really

   its easy to see the cars on the freeway and the shopping malls spread under the rise of the moon and feel doomed.
   anything else is a sucker punch.

   anything else is a refusal to see, ive said, and more than once, and meant it, and do - even right now - do you see?

   forget the pattern
   a narrow scope from under the sea.
   before the stars i am large but among you i am small
   among you the forests are so many matchsticks
   among you the worst of us always get their way - this is the world that you’ve built with your own hands
   it says so in every breath that we take.
   this is the message of love that i bring.

   frankly this falls into the category of the plain as the nose on your face - and everyone knows it - you can see it in the way
   that everyone drives - like the laws on their tail - ( i commit these crimes myself so dont try to hide)

   you like a little distance between the plate and the foundry and you like a little respect when being addressed in a poem -
   well weve had our poems and poets -

   how many more poems do you think that you get when all that you got are broken and left out in the rain.
   forget the story of jesus and the flood
   and the parting of the sea of blood -
   and forget the four directions
   and the true red road
   and forget about
   the people
   roaming in dreamtime or carefully hollowing a slender white bone.

   think of how many nice little books youve crammed down your throat and shit out at parties as if the words were a joke -
   as if somehow the score was added up from the times
   that you chose to betray.
   as if winning was the act of despising the truth
   and what is the truth? you might say
   - and this is more proof.
   do you wonder about truth when a hawk carves the sky?

   i dare you to think that a hawk is cliche
   i dare you to find no drive in a wave
   i dare you to find no voice in the night
   i dare you to find no thought in the tree

9. iammyself March 22nd, 2007 8:40 pm

   “The simple truth is we cannot build a political society or a nation across the vast divides that mark our country today. We must bridge that divide and make society whole, sharing the fruits of freedom and prosperity with the least among us. I have crossed the continent to tell you the Dream is not done, the work is not over, and your time has come to take it on.”

   Sounds here like Moyers is looking forward, not backward.

   Look, ideals are all we have - perfection is not for this life, but the struggle for it is everything. Even if the founders of this country were the elite (and, they were), that doesn’t mean that the ideal shouldn’t be to form a true democracy. Will it ever happen? Maybe not, but fighting for it is far better than staying in bed because the world isn’t as it should be. The perfect world has never existed, not will it.

   If I take Moyers’ message correctly - it’s time to wake up, get out of bed, and fight the good fight. Oh, and also…ORGANIZE, Progressives!

10. montemerrick March 22nd, 2007 10:12 pm

    bridge that divide and make society whole, sharing the fruits of freedom and prosperity with the least among us.

    this is friendly elitism at its best.

    there are numerous examples in Moyers’speech where he cites how things hava gotten worse - how democracy has gone off track, etc.

    my point is not that we should stay in bed - and i dont think it is very genuine to suggest that any of the posts here suggest that one should give up with out a fight - my point, and i suspect the point of all who have taken someissue with this speech is that we have here a system that is willfully disingenuous, that has as its purpose, not a to be a democratic project that is flawed because all human activity is flawed, but to steal for itself wealth and power - its origin and its operation have only been thus -

    which is not to say that certain key individuals haven’t been eloquent or courageous beyond what most of us can imagine, but that the american project must be disbanded before the people who live on this continent, regardless of their provenance, might be able to build a real and meaningful culture -
    i for one would like to see a real apology and reparations made to all first nations - a real honoring of the various treaties made with first nations and then we might begin to talk about the reparations and amends the american project needs to make to the animals and the rivers and the forests - the stolen labor - all of it -

    the so-called prosperity and freedom that moyers mentions is truly neither - at best its booty, at worst it is the very thing that will lay all to waste.

    do i think this is likely to happen - no i do not. what is likely is what is alreaddy happeninng - people die -oceans rise - species extinguish. civilization, that is, the city-state and its descendants - will collapse for the very sound reason that they cannot stand - if it is a choice between capitalism and polar bears, i choose polar bears, every damn time - and that prosperity id just as soon fluch down the toilet, along with all of the liberal mummbo jummbo (such as B. Clinton’s) that supports it - you cannot own the earth, or the sky - o

11. paschn March 23rd, 2007 7:18 am

    very hard to type with tears in one’s eyes. Sadly though, there are no Jesus’, no Martin Luther King’s, No John Kennedy’s No Theodore Roosevelts…. Just a society that, for the most part, will look at injustice, see their fellows laud and encourage it, then will rally ’round the perpetrators of it because they lack the courage to “buck” the accepted. A nation of sheep, led by a cartel of whores, controlled by Israel / big business. Welcome to the REAL Evil Empire.

12. fpal March 23rd, 2007 8:17 am

    Excellent article.

    Excellent comments.

    “The revolution of the 21st Century”, don’t know what it is, don’t know who will lead it. I do know it’s needed and believe it will happen.

    Moyers should be required reading in all our schools.

13. Nanoo March 23rd, 2007 8:54 am

    Perhaps it’s time we honor the Robin Hoods’, Hugo Chavez comes to my mind. I think Evo Morales is really cool too, I like his native dress and Nature religion.
    So Moyers thinks these women that didn’t want to pay their help social security were not bad people. And why? because they went to church and were active in the community. I guess you really can’t call them good people as they know one of the commandments states to Love your neighbor as yourself. What reason would these well off women have for not wanting to pay? More money for themselves, pure and simple greed. Greed is the Problem. Websters defines greed as: A desire to acquire more than one needs or deserves. Greedy people are bad people Bill Moyers.

14. Michael Boyter March 23rd, 2007 9:36 am

    Bill Moyers is one of the last great journalists, fighting for Freedom of the Press, We must get the organization money out of politics, there is no other answer to save democracy and America. The corrupt bastard slimeballs like Bush Cheney should never be allowed to inflict damage to our country again, IMPEACE NOW! IMMEDIATELY

15. fpal March 23rd, 2007 10:55 am

    Michael Boyter,

    It’s not “organization money” in politics that is the problem, it’s the American political system. Some facts:

    - the American political system is the oldest form of government on the planet.

    - no other countries have duplicated the U.S. form of government.(All existing democracies are parliamentary systems.)

    - the 2 party system, electoral college, 2 senators per state, are all quaint remnants of a bygone era.

    Major reform is needed. For democracy to survive, the U.S. must evolve.

16. Earthian March 23rd, 2007 11:15 am

    To fpal:

    You say “it’s the American political system” that needs “major reform.”

    Indeed.

    To see how other nations govern themselves:

    http://www.idea.int
    http://www.idea.int/elections/upload/Electoral.low.pdf

    Some initiatives:

    http://www.foavc.org
    http://www.fairvote.org

    Books:

    Sanford Levinson’s: Our Undemocratic Constitution
    Steven Hill’s: 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy
    Dan Lazare’s: Frozen Republic

    If you haven’t seen these, take a look folks. There are options open for those who want to become informed.

17. montemerrick March 23rd, 2007 11:48 am

    Good suggestions

    read and lonaed out Lazare’s Frozen Republic a decade ago

    the only problem with re-doing the old constitution - what really frightens me - is thinking about the quality of mind that would get the job - Nancy Pelosi isnt good enough for the task - not that she isnt smart enough but she has demonstrated her willingness to sleep with the king.

    i doubt this constitution could rewritten,or a wholly new one adopted without what must needs be a revolution, and its doubtful that such a revolution would look like anything bill moyers desires.

    sorry to say

18. John Freeman March 23rd, 2007 12:08 pm

    I think Bill Moyer is a National Treasure. As I also do the unusually articulate folks posting to this editorial. So, preaching to this particular choir is easy excercise, we’re mostly on the same page. For me, the question is how to influence the majority of Americans who have difficulty rubbing two thoughts together and coming up with a third one. Critical thinking is a learned skill, empathy seems to be something that can be learned as well. (The person who wrote Amazing Grace, for example) What can those of us who have those two skills do besides model them. (perhaps that is the BEST thing we can do, so far I have found no manner of speaking that has opened a closed mind)

    Anyhow, enjoy your day. I found the poem above worth reading….scroll up and give it a go!

    John Freeman

19. Rebel Farmer March 23rd, 2007 1:04 pm

    Earthian is on the right track!

    The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are worth fighting for. Our system of government is a good one. The problem is that it has been subverted. The only way we can get back on the right track is to have election reform so that every vote counts and our elected representatives actually represent the people of America. Not special interests. Not the rich. Not the corporations. Not any religion or system of beliefs. Not the political parties of any stripe. Our system is one that was designed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people. Currently, that’s not how it works.

    There is a huge amount of progress for election reform happening at the State level. Fourty seven States have introduced legislation to enact the Interstate Compact for Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote. It has already been passed in the legislatures of at least 6 States to date. If you want to support action in your State, a good site to get you started is commoncause.org. Moveon.org also hase campaigns going that are supporting State actions.

    You have to start somewhere to fix our broken system. Make every vote count! Get moving! DO IT NOW!

    Raise the volumn…Raise hell…And take time to laugh every day!

20. Earthian March 23rd, 2007 1:14 pm

    Montemerrick, the lack of faith in Americans to chart their own constitutional and electoral future you voice is shared by many. But it is entirely misplaced when it comes to constitutional issues.

    No nation has our experience in writing constitutions. The evidence is for all to see. Look only at the states. We have had exactly 114 state constitutional conventions. No state constitution has failed their citizens. And many are easily amended.

    Take Montana. Petitions totalling 10 percent of the voting population including 10 percent from half the counties can call a convention or propose amendments for a statewide vote. If what you say is true, the 15 state constitutional conventions held during the last half century would have resulted in constitutional chaos in those states. Not so. Rather, the state constitutions are easier to amend and flexible. Montana’s must be put up for a vote (as a proposed convention) every 20 years as Jefferson advocated if the citizens or the legislature fails to do so.

    To learn more about the American tradition of dealing effectively with constitutional conventions and amendments see John Dinan’s book: The American State Constitutional Tradition.

    Yes, progressives need action to make change. But we also must know history. We must know theories of change. We must know why no other nation has adopted a constitution like ours. We must fix the system itself. The three branches function with overlapping powers. But the trunk of the tree upon which those branches rests and to whom they serve–the people–must fix the entire tree of government.

    Two-thirds of the states can call for a national constitutional convention. Indeed, over time, they already have.

    It is time to fix the system.

    One place to do this:

    http://www.foavc.org

    Or join Sanford Levinson’s call for a constitutional convention. See his book Our Undemocratic Constitution.

21. montemerrick March 23rd, 2007 1:30 pm

    well dont get me wrong - i’m not suggesting that we do nothing, because of fear - i’m voicing my fear that the last fifty years of coca-cola and television have done nothing to make us better at this sort of thing than we once were - not that americans (if such a category truly exists) have ever been anything but distrustful of intellectuals - but when i consider the alarming hatred expressed toward latino immigrants - and the eagle sharpening his talons imagery that flew around the internet five years ago - and the super-sized fries (and Freedom fries) - but truthfully it is not the avergae american i fear the most - mostly i fear those who at this moment hold to some shred of power - what exactly are they willing to do to advance the cause of democracy - other than install it in otherwise sovereign nations with bombs and wholsale slaughter - i feel more inclined to a full decentralization - i feel inclined toward something more secessionist than anything else - answering lincoln here - i am weary of my constitutional right to amend and more than inclined to exercise my revolutionary right - i read article V and ask this - if the law hasnt complelled the congress to fulfill its mandate - than what will?

22. Whale Child March 23rd, 2007 1:35 pm

    This time is foretold of in all cultures and religions. In terms of the American Plains original peoples this is the time of the coming together of the broken hoops, which will close to form the great hoop. The time of the tribes, nation-states, countries, and races is passing away and all of the tribes will take their place in the great tribe. Commonly called the new World Order or in more ancient terms, All the Children of God, ie, The Great Spirit. The spiritual order is changeless;but, the time of a new social order is upon us all over the planet. Many of the changes are very difficult, as more treaties are broken it will not stop the Great Hoop from forming. This is the beginning of a united world and we are feeling our growing pains. Do what you can to assure that you help make the world a better place.

23. pjkobulnicky March 23rd, 2007 2:55 pm

    A major societal change will require a major crisis to kick it off. The problem is that the crisis required to get us to finally face the challenges we have and the challenges ahead of us will be so significant that there is no guarantee that it will end up being positive and progressive. I try to look at the future positively: I try to see how we can organize to deal with the looming crises and I cannot see any likelihood of positive outcomes. In terms that are analogous to physical systems, the destructive vibrations shaking our our social systems are increasing in both frequency and amplitude and there are no forces to dampen them. We are on the road to becoming one giant Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The irony in this is that the same powerful people who are driving the instability will similarly be destroyed by it. C.K. Prahalad, one of the Harvard Business Review’s most cited authors, once told me that if you want sustainability you focus on the meeting the needs of the poorest. By doing the opposite, we ensure instability.

    Today, the only think that can give people a positive view of the future is faith because rationality and analysis give a completely different outcome. Jeeze … not a good spot for a rational analyst like me.

24. Edward Alten March 23rd, 2007 3:38 pm

    After reading Bill’s talk I hope other readers having similar values as discussed in the talk can make a hugh difference in our country by getting and keeping informed. After doing that they need to act together or as individuals to make their voice heard. (and strength through organization can not be over emphasized)

    We all know that special interests, especially those that control the power and money, will make their voices heard. Some of these will be good (i.e. Bill Gates Foundation) and some will be bad (i.e.Business leaders who see only profits as important to our way of life).

    We are blessed with founding fathers who had strong ethical values based on a spiritual faith and who found a way to keep their values alive through creating a democratic government that can change with the times. They indeed used it to make changes.

    Little voices having that same spiritual faith, by banding together and taking responsibility for the Common Good can also make a loud and powerful voice to really make a change in that democracy also.

    For my part I will add my voice to my sphere of influence when ever the opportunity presents itself and I hope and pray others will too.

    We owe it to our founding fathers and to our children and grandchildren to do so.

25. Carlos Dews March 23rd, 2007 8:27 pm

    Bill, man you had me until you started in with the religious crap. But why not just say, “Let’s have a genuine democratic socialist revolution!” I am proud of you for at least mentioning capitalism; there are some who never say the word, like it were too sacred to mention. I wonder why.
    Solo la revolucion socialista es cambio,
    Carlos
    Mexico

26. CRNA26 March 23rd, 2007 8:58 pm

    Greed can be individually based as well as corporately based. I heard a report on National Public Radio recently about the major east coast nexting grounds for the Bald eagle being owned by a private land owner who wishes to sell the land to developers so he can make his 2 million dollars off of it. With the Bald eagle about to be taken off of the endangered species list, this vital nesting ground would have less chance of surviving than it does now. The experts in the story said the eagle population would reverse it’s gains. My query is, what makes this one person’s 2 million dollar sell off of his land even remotely ok for anyone but him and the local developers and the lucky few with of view of the bay? Why would this person sell the future of our national symbol for 2 million dollars? Where is his perspective? Metaphorically this is what is happening to erode the common good not that we americans ever had a firm grip on that anyway. It seems like manifest destiny is still the moral of our country. Where are the churches? I have a hard time finding a church in my area that is not exptremely anti- wildlife conservation and pro Republican. Suburban wealthy churches seem in some cases to enjoy personal power and the white male status quo. They profess to worship God through Jesus then fail to be humble and repent their sheltered and errant world view for success. Churches can resemble a country club all too often. Sometimes I think the old ones will have to pass away before any new thought is allowed to emerge.

    This is where we as progressives can try to save our county from collapse of society. Start to tell the truth about the direction our country is proceding to the next generation.

    We need to dump the “no child left behind ” act and teach critical thinking skills, and group problem solving in schools. We must read the papers and be informed about our children’s future and shape it as best we can with progressive thought voiced as loud as the right wing nut thinktanks. Remember that the Lord is present where two or more are gathered. Do so prgressives! Set small goals. Be patient and persistent. Try to remember that there is a very thin line between the haves and the have not’s. It can be crossed when you least expect it. So do what is good for the betterment of the many, some of whom are different from us but who we could easily become due to fate.

27. lawlessone March 23rd, 2007 8:59 pm

    Class warfare was re-initiated back in the eighties. Although undeclared, it is clear anyone making less than $100,000 a year is losing.

    It is war about numbers. The ultra rich have the dollars on their side and the numbers are big. They have been using it to attack the only number everyone else has on their side - number of people. It is a superior number if they vote.

    Unfortunately, thanks to the multi-leveled economic attacks (lobbying/bribery, control of media, spin, anti-union laws, job outsourcing, attention redirection, name calling, vote fraud, theft, thuggery, etc.) against those who work for a living, the uberrich have been quite successful.

    The poor have been marginalized, exhausted, made ill or killed off. The middle class have been unwittingly distracted, deceived, out maneuvered, or out shouted. Even the mildly well off have been under attack without realizing it. They were bought off with the illusion that they could ever be allowed to join the already unconsionably rich. It is the “American Dream,” but it is as much a dream as the lower classes’ dream of winning the lottery and about as mathematically likely.

    Hopefully, the instinct for self preservation might kick in one of these days as the 99% look at the 1%’s lifestyle and ask why the 99% should pay for it. Hopefully, the concepts taught by Jesus which have been hijacked by the greedy rich in this struggle will be rediscovered and taken back. Hopefully, some of those who are the paid lackeys of the richest of the rich will find their conscience and re-read the principles for which this country once stood.

    We have a national poet laureate. Perhaps we should have a national conscience laureate. I would nominate Bill Moyers for that. Better yet, let’s draft him for President in ‘08.

28. Populist Pete March 24th, 2007 7:59 am

    To CRNA26 I recall the words of Ansel
    Adams after meeting with the Reagan people, “They know the price of everything and the value of nothing”.
    While many religions espouse tolerance and other nice platitudes very few actually practice it. I see the same greed in the churches as in business and government. The quest for more power and money and increasingly the re-emergence of patriarchal power and dominance. Rather than a vehicle for good, religion has usually been the opposite.

29. Vigdor March 24th, 2007 10:21 am

    Bill Moyers is certainly one of the most inspiring of contemporary journalists, bringing a rich historucal context and solid commitment through his thought and actions to the purposes of democracy. He has not, however, yet discovered the way out of the “crowd politics” trap that has precluded the genuine realization of the ancient promises of democracy. Rather than democratic deliberations designed to harness the power and wisdom of the people we eternally await a sufficient popular desperation and murderous outrage against current political leaders to motivate popular organization and correct the terrible course of human developments. This is appalling politics with devastating consequences that now bring the Biosphere of the Planet Earth to the very edge of despair and extinction. We have the means to do better than this.

    Discover your true soul and also your treasure in the New Agora of Philanthropolis.

    Vigdor Schreibman
    GOOGLE: LOVERS OF DEMOCRACY

30. lucelec March 24th, 2007 10:59 am

    ORGANISED PEOPLE!!! I cannot help thinking of the organised, pulsating homegrown response to the Vietnam war and the tepid response to the Iraq adventure by the STUDENTS and Under 45s of America. Is this because there is no draft and it does not immediately effect them? Let the poor blacks and the poor browns and the poor yellows and the poor whites and the near scum from the prisons fight the good fight so they do not have to get in harm’s way. They are amongst the least outspoken group in the country. I wonder how this would have played out in any European country? So, if one cannot have a groundswell of support for ending this war from the students , and the under 45s, how on earth can one expect to change the status quo for such a passionless concept as voting? I believe, regrettably, that we must undergo a a massive metamorphis to effect that change where the results will be felt by all and sundry , except the top 15% by definition, and then the realisation will hit home of the true meaning and value of Democracy and its obligations on everyone.

31. RogerARTcom March 24th, 2007 11:35 am

    It’s Time 2 Join Hands as Earth Citizens & Change OUR Earth,

    U Know…

    4 OUR Children All Over OUR Planet…

    2 Ways at…

    http://www.EarthBall.org

    http://www.OneGlobalCommunity.com

    Send your ? - ideas 2, Staff@EarthBall.org

    Later, Roger Drowne EC
    .

32. Bean March 24th, 2007 2:45 pm

    What is amazing is the strength of intellect and moral courage Moyers shows. He not only meets head-on the issues of class that are so often swept away in the rhetoric of yuppie. He also pays attention to a spirituality that goes beyond the happiness hip that so betrays us and our country by the thoughtless (but well-dollared) gurus of Feel Good that we have let rule ourselves and our country.

    Love, mercy, kindness, as Jesus would have it, yes. But then, things are not always good, just and true. The Prince of Peace rightly becomes “the disturber of peace” in Moyers’ reading, as his Jesus grows “threatening,” challenging the Jerusalem elite, and throwing them out of the temple.

    “No cheek turned there,” says Moyer. “No second mile traveled. On the contrary Jesus grows angry. He passes judgment. His message becomes more threatening. And he takes action.”

    Christianity is no religion of mine, but Moyers’ is remarkable in his ability to see through to the anger and action we need to fight off the forces of greed in the face of a molly-coddling, unsuccessful, all-too-ineffectual and most sappy, love.

    Away with the gurus of self-satisfaction and “the secret” to personal happiness. Onward to effective actions, well- organized, to bring us closer to an honest, good and just end.

33. 911_InsideJob March 24th, 2007 5:38 pm

    Too many words, too late for hope. The rich who rule this country have had their taste for blood money and there is no stopping the devil of greed. Look what the last election brought us, nothing but in-fighting and the war rages on because people are getting rich off it. People say, only one more year for Bush, what a joke, do you think the rich power brokers will let a peoples person get in? Hell no! As soon as the first nuclear weapon is used and that will be soon, our fate will be sealed to a life time of war and terror like never before here in apple pie and mom America. America, you had a chance to change it but you got duped by the corporate managed lying news media and they were the real terrorists. Bush fooled you!

34. Dieter March 24th, 2007 9:44 pm

    The history of all Western revolutions since the 18th century, including the American, tells me that fundamental changes in governance have always preceded the full blossoming of new economic systems even though such systems were present “in status nascendi” at the time. If you advocate or fight for a new economic system today to eventually replace ‘capitalism’ you must first bring about fundamental changes of our governance which transfer power from the current ‘elite’ to a new and hopefully much broader ‘elite’ without unduly worrying what the future economy must exactly look like. The latter was the disastrous mistake that the Russian Bolsheviki made. I do not know what these changes should be but I believe that they should include at least the abolition of the electoral college, the abolition of ‘winner take all’ at every level of governance, and the abolition of all Senates, federal and state, to be replaced by unicameralism. It is also pretty clear that the funding of representatives and parties must be drastically curtailed. How about paying representatives by the hour that they really work for us? And restricting laws to a central issue with no ’sweetening’.
    If my reading of history is correct, then the first leadership for ‘empowerment’ of a new ‘elite’ will actually come from some of the current ‘elite’.
    There was a slim chance for a revolution in US governance at the conclusion of the civil war. Karl Schurtz understood this. Obviously the chance was botched.
    I respect Bill Moyers but, regrettably, this piece is a bit antediluvia hence disappointing.

35. wellstonian March 25th, 2007 12:40 am

    as usual eloquent & wise.

    However, I don’t share Moyers belief in Christianity & religious faith as the key to fundamental political & economic reform. More often than not religion has been the hand-maiden of reaction.

    It may come as a surprise to Bill Moyers, but Woodrow Wilson was no saint. The Palmer Raids took place on his watch & with his support. Ditto, for the unconstitutional Sedition Act, which was used to justify Eugene V. Debs imprisonment.

    Moreover, Wilson was a segregationist & opposed non-Anglo-Saxon immigration, deeming east & southern europeans to be inferior.

36. Commondreamer2 March 25th, 2007 1:32 pm

    I am a descendant of Irish refugees from the potato famine, African slaves brought grow rice, Native American Indians whose land was stolen, and Chinese who were brought to build railroads, and English planters who owned slaves. I was born during the Great Depression, which tells you I witnessed WWII and all subsequent wars, suffered discrimination in housing and employment, and also was given opportunities to gain an education through the support of both liberal and conservative religious and public sources. Now I am about 10K a year below that $100,000 threshold to the top 12% of income earners. I give biography to lay the foundation for my comments. Yes, Woodrow Wilson was no friend to Blacks. Yes, the democratic republic founded in this country originally counted slaves as 3/5 of a person (apparently only the men; at that time women didn’t count at all because they couldn’t vote). Yes, this country has perpetrated terrible wrongs on a number of ethnic minorities. I lived the first part of my life very aware that there was a powerful class system at work in this country, since my parents and all the generations before were poor. They all worked hard, believed in education, and eventually in my generation all of the children were at last able to finish college, and in some cases master’s and doctorate degrees. It still saddens me that there are areas of this country to which I and my family would be very uncomfortable, a I was when visiting Texas, because of hate stares; that my children who are in mixed marriages get hate stares even in the middle of what are supposed to be enlightened communities.

    I am certain that Bill Moyers is quite aware of all of the flaws in the character and behavior of Wilson and others he cited. I know very well from his other publications and media productions that he is aware of all of the abuses heaped on minorities throughout American History. He does not need to prove himself by rehashing all of what he has already said. He had a point to make, and he makes it well within the limited time frame and purpose of this address.

    I was raised a Christian as well, and became quite aware of the hypocrisy that surrounded my childhood of other Christians who could say from memory “love thy neighbor a thyself” then turn around and segregate me, or at least fail to include me in social activities that involved their children. Even when opportunities did present themselves to be part of some social activities, the economic disadvantage that led to my not having the right clothes to wear of money to pay fees for some things was crushing as being called the N word,

    I laud the public education I did receive. Were it not for the majority of educators who did level the playing field in the classroom, I would not have had the successes I have had.

    We do have a lot to lose if we don’t get off this slippery slope on which we now find ourselves, and push harder to get back not only our control of our society We must go beyond previous levels to extend the promises of our constitution, democracy and the Ten Commandments to all people. Apply the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would be done by. Oddly, when people are cruel and abusive to each other, the Golden Rule comes back to bite, if not in the generation of the abusers, then in that of their descendants. The sins of the fathers are visited even unto the third and fourth generations.

37. Ann Ramsey March 26th, 2007 11:07 am

    Thank you, Bill Moyers, for helping to “put right” (as in “making righteous”)the relationship between religeon and politics.

38. gmkaake March 26th, 2007 3:54 pm

    Wow - you all so inspire me. The depth of your awareness is profound. Thank you for giving me back my hope in humanity.

39. smendler March 26th, 2007 8:08 pm

    (1) Someone asked, where is the Great Leader to rise up and lead this movement? Sorry: there won’t be one. (This is just as well, really - they’re awfully good at doing bad things to great leaders; just ask Paul Wellstone.)

    Or in other words ……..

    ………. You’re it.

40. smendler March 26th, 2007 8:10 pm

    (2) Having said that, I can’t think of any other human being who would make a better Presidential candidate for independent progressives right now than Bill Moyers.

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