[Vision2020] This Kind of Democracy?

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Letters section of today's (November 27, 2005) Spokesman Review
with appreciation to Hank Greer of Spokane.

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This kind of democracy?

President Bush is right. We must not leave Iraq. We must continue to kill
Iraqis and they us and each other until they have created a stable democracy
like ours.

A democracy where the president can declare you an enemy combatant and hold
you indefinitely in prison without charges or access to an attorney. Where
the vice president lobbies for the use of torture. Where the Senate gets
angrier over the leak of secret CIA prisons than the fact that they exist.
Where the House of Representatives consistently passes laws written by
lobbyists benefiting corporations and paid for by the people. Where the FBI
can use the Patriot Act to secretly search your house without judicial
authorization. Where religious fundamentalism threatens the environment,
ignores the human condition, and discounts science. Where the poor are
increasingly made to pay for the greed of others.

No, President Bush, do not leave Iraq until our mission is accomplished. And
when we are done let us erect a monument. And let the inscription contain
the words, "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair." But where to build
it? In which land will the lone and level sands stretch far away?


Hank Greer
Spokane

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


"While insisting on the pursuit of the great liberal values of tolerance,
equality, justice, and free discussion, liberals should join with
conservatives in supporting virtue formation in our families and character
education in our schools. The very survival of our nation depends on such an
alliance."

- From "Moscow as a City of Virtues" by Nick Gier (Professor Emeritus of
Philosophy at the University of Idaho)