Reading notes

Ron Reagan writes in Esquire. Man, is this good. I applaud people who fear no man, who will not be silenced, who dissent with clear thinking and authority. Thanks, Ron.

Suddenly [as this summer 2004 started], everywhere you went, a surprising number of folks seemed to have had just about enough of what the Bush administration was dishing out. A fresh age appeared on the horizon, accompanied by the sound of scales falling from people’s eyes. It felt something like a demonstration of that highest of American prerogatives and the most deeply cherished American freedom: dissent. …

It’s one thing to get trashed by Michael Moore. But when Nobel laureates, a vast majority of the scientific community, and a host of current and former diplomats, intelligence operatives, and military officials line up against you, it becomes increasingly difficult to characterize the opposition as fringe wackos.

Does anyone really favor an administration that so shamelessly lies? One that so tenaciously clings to secrecy, not to protect the American people, but to protect itself? That so willfully misrepresents its true aims and so knowingly misleads the people from whom it derives its power? I simply cannot think so. … This [article] is the critique of a person who thinks that lying at the top levels of his government is abhorrent. Call it the honest guy’s critique of George W. Bush. …

When Mr. Bush talks about the economy, he is [probably] not talking about your economy. … In Bush’s economy, his world, friends relocate offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. You are not a friend. You’re the help. …

Watching Bush flounder when attempting to communicate extemporaneously, one is left with the impression that he is ineloquent not because he can’t speak but because he doesn’t bother to think. …

How many people would have voted for Mr. Bush in the first place had they understood his eagerness to pass on crushing debt to our children or seen his true colors regarding global warming and the environment? Even after 9/11, were people really looking to be dragged into an optional war under false pretenses? …

Beyond issues of fiscal irresponsibility and ill-advised militarism, there is a question of trust. George W. Bush and his allies don’t trust you and me. Why on earth, then, should we trust them?

We shouldn’t. I see numerous benefits to having one’s Aha! moment now rather than later. For example, if I supported Bush now and continued to do so until after the election, only then to realize I’d been punked, lied to, played for a sucker, I’d be shamed to my dying day. I’d never forget what I’d done, and worse, people who know me would never forget.

In contrast, being able to say to the next and following generations “I saw the light in time” is a much happier projection.

[via Randy]