Why is the U.S. at this point? writes Vidal...and then further down in his writing he answers the question:
the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion

but he missed adding that since approximately 90% of Americans are self-proclaimed Christians AND the U.S. is the most uneducated country in the Western Hemisphere (Correlation, anyone?) perhaps it’s the reason why Bush was voted in as our president.  Blind faith at its very best.

Can we learn from our mistake?  Please, majority vote with rationaliy, not religion....for no prize is at the bottom of ths cereal box.

Bush is a wonderful President who is looking to get rid of the evil in the world.
I just wish he do something about the corporations ripping off America and its people.
Bless him for getting rid of the mass murderer of Iraq.
Saadem Hussein has terrorized the Iraqi people for 30 yrs.
The dead have been estimated in the hundreds of thousands over that period of time.
All those who think evil can just go unchecked are fools.
It is the obligation of humankind to make sure that all its people live free and be free of fear.
Bush has been demonized because he is a religious man and believes in doing the will of the Almighty.
The atheists and self centered materialistic society of our generation does not understand the battle to rid the world of the evil that men do.
President Bush does.
He will go down as one of our greatest Presidents.
Bless you all,
Bless the United States of America.

Didn’t care for this article, much.

W.

Thomas,
I wouldn’t call it Erection Day--that assumes too much—to have an erection you need to have cajones, and the “crumb-bums” holding office and those on the ballot, lost their cajones a long time ago, to lobbyists and other creeps looking for deals and favors.  The election machines are not sex toys—since they’re only designed to frustrate the user, and not to satisfy.

THE GOP HAVE PARAPHASED OUR NATIONAL VOTE INTO “ERECTION DAY”....YET AGAIN, ANOTHER SCREWING, THIS TIME WITH A SEX-TOY MACHINE!

I sent a message to my representatives today.

My immediate concern in contacting my representatives is the Cheney-Specter Bill. In doing this I also had in mind of the words of Berman and Lewis that Gore Vidal includes in his “President Jonah (redux)” above:

“Finally, we shouldn’t be surprised at the antipathy toward democracy displayed by the Bush administration…. As already noted, fundamentalism and democracy are completely antithetical. The opposite of the Enlightenment, of course, is tribalism, groupthink; and more and more, this is the direction in which the United States is going…. Anthony Lewis who worked as a columnist for the New York Times for thirty-two years, observes that what has happened in the wake of 9/11 is not just the threatening of the rights of a few detainees, but the undermining of the very foundation of democracy. Detention without trial, denial of access to attorneys, years of interrogation in isolation—these are now standard American practice . . .”

Tribalism and fundamentalism are both in opposition to democracy; another opposition to democracy within our society and government is tyranny.

Symbolic of this danger, in a movement towards tyranny, is the “Cheney-Specter bill” that floats around Congress and might soon become law.

Move-on.org summarized the this bill with these words:

“It allows President Bush—and every president after him—to wiretap Americans indefinitely, in secret, without a warrant and without any oversight. 

“It effectively pardons the president for any illegal behavior by forcing Congress to concede that he has the inherent authority to conduct the program —something federal courts, numerous legal experts and many leading Republicans disagree with. 

“It completely guts FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which has protected the privacy of Americans against illegal wiretaps for close to 30 years.

“It prevents any legal challenges from taking place in the public court system. Instead, it moves all cases to a secret court, where only Bush administration officials can argue it.

“It would help “immunize” any officials who broke the law in this program from being held accountable in the future. 

“Since the program was exposed in December of last year, we’ve learned that President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the program, Vice President Cheney also personally intervened to stop telecom companies from testifying to Congress about it, and a federal court recently ruled the program unconstitutional.9 In an effort to protect himself from further consequences, the president is pressuring Congress to let him off the hook.”

Given the treads above and angered by this turn by some in Congress toward support of tyranny, I share the following

----

Senator Patrick Leahy; Senator Jim Jeffords, Representative Sanders:
Re: Cheney-Specter bill--
Honored Representatives of Vermont,

GEORGE W. BUSH SHOULD NOT BE PARDONED.

He should NOT be pardoned for:

his VIOLATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES;

for his ASSAULT ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS;

for his wiretaps and other crimes AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Nor should he be pardoned for his WAR CRIMES against the people of Iraq.
for his LIES AND WAR OF AGGRESSION against Iraq.

For his crime of BACKING ISRAEL’S MURDEROUS INVASION of Lebanon;

for his part in the systematic devastation of Lebanon and Gaza aimed against those civilian populations and in direct violation of international law;

for dragging his feet in bringing about a timely “cease fire,” and for the Bush administration’s complicity in assisting Israel with prior planning and materials for that invasion.

BUSH MUST NOT BE GIVEN IMMUNITY FOR HIS, OR FOR HIS ADMINISTRATION’S CRIMES, AND NO IMMUNITY FOR HIS INTRODUCTION OF TORTURE OF PRISONERS OF WAR; PRISONERS BY “ALLEGATION” AND PRISONERS HELD ILLEGALLY BY BUSH’S ORDER, SUBJECT TO HIS SADISTIC TORTURE, HELD WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, AND IMPRISONED BY ARREST UNDER HIS SUBJECTIVE CLAIM THAT THEY ARE “TERRORIST” BEFORE THEY ARE INDICTED, CHARGED, BEFORE EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED, BEFORE THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THESE ALLEGED CRIMES IS ESTABLISHED, OR SENTENCED BEFORE BEING BROUGHT TO TRIAL BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER US LAW WITH A PRESUMED INALIENABLE RIGHT TO FACE THEIR ACCUSER(S) AND AN ASSUMPTION OF INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE, AND TO BE TRIED WITHIN THE EXISTING JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND BY THE LAWS OF UNITED STATES, OR WITHIN INTERNATIONAL COURTS - OR UNDER THE US CONSTITUTION OR IN AGREEMENT WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW THAT INCLUDE, AMONG OTHER APPLICABLE LAWS, THE NUREMBERG CODE AND, AS BINDING ON OUR GOVERNMENT AS SIGNATOR, THE ARTICLES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION .

GEORGE W. BUSH HAS UNDERMINED THE REPUTATION OF OUR COUNTRY, AND IS AN INSULT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

FURTHER, G. W. BUSH IS KNOWN AROUND THE WORLD TO BE A TORTURER AND LOVER OF DEATH PENALTIES AND THUS AN INSULT TO AMERICA, BOTH AN INSULT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND TO PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

I am a Vermonter, so I make this demand:

Do not pardon George W. Bush. Charge him with War Crimes instead. American Justice demands nothing less than this course of action on your part as a member of our Congress and as a Representative from Vermont.
Sincerely,

~Bruce Boyle

Britain is following America into the darkness. Our young people are not taught our history and care not to read newspapers. They seem to know of nothing outside their own social group. Politics has fallen into a contest of personalies with policy and good governance given no thought.
We gave the terrorists their victory, our democracy is in tatters, and they only attacked once.
It seems unlikely we can climb back while we try to sell democracy from the mouth of a gun.

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I agree with Mr Vidal and Mr Berman in toto.  However, Mr Berman gives way, way, too little credit for Noam Chomsky’s contributions to understanding the problems in this country.  Manufacturing Consent is the goal of elites and they do it well enough to assure a “Dark Ages America”.

This is Vidal at his finest, a comprehensive essayist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Western civilization and a deeply thoughtful appreciation of American political history. 

Nature and chance have never before conspired to bring us someone like Vidal, who has no allegiance to anything accept his own perception of political and moral truth.  It is reassuring that his mental clarity and sardonic humor is so demonstrably intact in his 81st year of life (if only the same could be said of our “president” in his 61st). 

Those with an interest in Vidal might like to visit a website maintained by Harry Kloman at the University of Pittsburgh.  It is a bit hagiographic and “fan"-like in nature, complete with anagrams of the author’s name (which also appears in Chinese), but otherwise a nice source of well researched information about our “greatest living man of letters,” who is, at the very least, our most underappreciated.

This story hits the nail on the head....America in a self chosen, self feeding downward spiral created from its own parochialism with the boy idiot ‘leading’ the way in his flight suit. It’s definitely the ‘not ready for prime time’ superpower. And still about 30 more horrible months to go. Brilliant!

Being eternally optimistic, I adhere to the reverse of, “What goes up must come down.”
I’m sticking with, “What goes down must come up.” Once the degree of fascism & fear our country is experiencing becomes obvious to the faithful of a God that I’m not acquainted with, Truth and Transparency must prevail. Meanwhile, let’s pray for the Rapture and get them out of here so we can bathe in the beauty of our Universe.

i find it so moronic to attack Bush when he is due out anyway. We didnt hear you americans that much at the time of his second Selection in 2004. What’s the point in bashing him now? He’s gone. Unless you expect him to change the constitution in order to stay a third term.

Stop what, what shall we or they do to cease our degrading democratic state and the constraining of our human freedom?  There is so many of us on this planet, I’m afraid we are all apes doomed to be ruled by the rich and powerful and “all-knowing”.  Our futures are decided to an extent, but keep your mind as untarnished and fresh as possible.  I’m beginning to think that the wisest decision is to avoid all politico-philosophical works by all writers no matter how close they may tread to the truth and how illuminating they may be.  Just inhale-exhale, I say.

Franklin the heir to the Graham scam said that Bush was selected by God showing poppa Billy was too busy amassing a 300 million dollar fortune to teavh his sonthe difference between the Supreme Court and the Supreme being.
Of course Bush thinks God is with him , how else can anyone explain an ex drunk , failed businessman,who is a stupid arrogant spoiled brat was picked to run the leading nation on Earth and destroy it?

Oh dear Amanda, I’m afraid reading Mr Vidal hasn’t helped improve your grammar, has it m’dear? Perhaps you would enjoy the works of a British writer who did make headway into politics, Jeffrey Archer :}
So many comments on here still echo the politics of personality. Too many people are focussing on the gap between George W’s eyes instead of the removal of their democratic rights (Though Lefty you have grasped the truth) Anyone who has studied any politial history will know that the “freedom” we have experinced has always been fleeting, the darkness is coming my friends. Read, or reread, some Orwell, another writer who understood politics too well to want to get his hands dirty with it, and see how little has changed.

I’ve read Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace and now am half way through Dreaming War.  I am thoroughly held spellbound yet at the same time downright disturbed.  I now realise how ignorant I have been.  Has Mr Vidal yet written a book suggesting in his opinion what can be done to halt this seemingly degrading state these politicians have gotten us into?  If so could somebody email me to tell me the title please.  Its aj42 at lineone dot net.

Mr Vidal, I think its time to turn your hand to the political arena and get them votes in!

Bush and his inner cult circle are a rotten curse on America’s soul.  Break free of the Cult of Bush!

The fascist state is here. It is now. We must find the cojones to turn back the fascist conspiracy that has almost ruined our country. The generation that fought and won WW2 and left us with incredible advantage over other nations must be spinning in their graves at our sniveling demeanor before the Rupert Murdochs who’ve bought their way into power over this unsuspecting politically correct generation. My hero, Gore Vidal has done his part. Now it’s time for the rest of us to ours.

“He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.  The hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty...”

I feat for my country because God is Just.” Thomas Jefferson.
It is my faith that justice shall prevail, but not in the short run.
Old Salty Dog
Lexington, Ky

Germans still can’t figure out how their ancestors chose a madman in the 1930’s. Jose

“But here the Babylonian whore hath built
A dome, where flaunts she in such glorious sheen,
That men forget the blood which she hath spilt,
And bow the knee to Pomp that loves to varnish guilt.”

I thought Morris Berman’s simple quote says it all:  ““If a nation is unable to perceive reality correctly, and persists in operating on the basis of faith-based delusions, its ability to hold its own in the world is pretty much foreclosed.” He could just as easily be talking about the Islamic fanatics of the world as the American ones.

In regard to Michael’s recent blog, not only is the emperor naked, he stinks to high heaven and he’s up to his elbows in innocent blood. Of course, the media fail to report this and the people remain largely ignorant.  The illusion once again triumphs over the reality. Thank you “watchdogs of our freedoms” for undermining democracy once again.

no matter how you twist and complain about voting irregularities, the voters still have the man they voted for (or didn’t vote for as the case may be) because no one (apart from the fringes) is doing anything except putting their heads in the sand and accepting the erosion of their fundamental rights and the ascendancy of the emperor. It reminds me a little of the fable of the emperors new clothes. The majority of americans refuse to see that the president is naked!

if one goes to the link for “preserving democracy: what went wrong in ohio?” one is told that no such page exists.
going to the house home page and the judiciary committee one is told no matches exist.
any ideas how to find it?

I find it difficult to be as magnanimous as Mr. Vidal. I prefer this pussilanimous little prick be called to task for the crimes he has commmitted. Something simple, say a public flaying followed by a roll in a bed of rock salt (at least as a low-key beginning of the festivities) would give me - for one - great pleasure.

j’aimerais avoir un livre de vidal 2006.Car,je veux être un treès bon pharmacien qui maîtrise la chimiethérapeutique et la pharmacologique.

The article by Gore and the comments which accompany it demonstrate that America faces some similar problems to ourselves in Australia.

Our ‘fearless’ leader, John Howard, while not as stupid as GWB, operates much the same way: he allies himself with religious groups, tells lies, is a miniature megalomaniac, is in bed with the rich and powerful, and is supported by the right-wing media.

He sent our troops to Iraq and Afghanistan against the wishes of the Australian people using faulty intelligence and is currently trying to dismantle unions so that employers have all the power and workers have none.

As in America, our opposition is in total disarray and democracy, to all intents and purposes, is dead.

So, you are not alone. As capitalism and greed sweep the world, worse is to come I’m afraid.

Dig bombs shelters while you may!

Wonderfully done.  But well crafted anaylsis grounded in a thorough understanding of history and precendent is woefully inadequate and NO MATCH FOR RAGE AND RIGHTEOUS ANGER against the incipient American dictatorship.  Yes we need words, but they are not enough.  They must be followed by deeds of direct action, which under current conditions require more than a dash of fortitude.  The new dark ages won’t be rolled back with devastating op-ed pieces or standard issue electoral politics.  Recreating the enlightment and a progressive society will require fighting the fundamentalists and new imperialists at every turn.  Weak willed dems (e.g. congressional delegation, most of the rest of nationally recognized “leaders") with very few exceptions have been neutered or cowed and incapable of leading the fight.  If the neo-dictatorship is to be rolled back, it will be through the energies and acts of the rank and file.  To the barricades we go.

Hopefull not redundant

How we got in this mess?  Well, if you will remember, the 2000 election debacle, the result was decided not by millions or thousands or hundreds of votes, no, it was the decided by one vote, in the Supreme Court. Getting the case to the Supreme Court is still the most amazing feat of juris imprudence ever committed, way to go Jim Baker III. Plus the Republican jackboots that interrupted the vote count in several polling locations also welded shut the case for the Republicans, and no amount of recounts could put that election back together again.

When we proceed from a lie, and a fake and a sham, what comes from it is a lie, a fake and a sham of an administration read: abomination!

To remain in power, this abomination had to rig the 2004 ‘election’, so that states such as Ohio, where it was going to be decided, purged voter rolls of over 300,000 legally registered democratic voters. Thus welding shut again the case, never to be opened again.

So, how did we get here? Lies, deceit on an unimaginable scale, and trickery. Is it such a leap to suggest that, if the highest officials in the land can lie us into a full-blown attrocity such as Iraq, they could allow, and heartily embellish (WTC 1, 2 and 7 collapses from demolition charges set prior to 9/11) the attacks of 9/11 to usher in a ‘New Pearl Harbor?’ The Project for a New American Century statement of purpose, has this reference clearly and prominantly part of their ‘raison detre.’

How did we get here? Allowing the revolving door between government and the private sector (Carlyle Group, K Street, etc.) to go unchecked, allowing uprecedented access of ‘private’ businesses to ‘public’ administration.

How did we get here? When party affiliation (ie. Republican) is more important than the country and the constitution you supposedly protect and defend.

How did we get here?  Come on, look at it. It is clear. We have been had by our own complacency and fear. Remember FDR and Winston Churchill, we need someone of this stature now to slap us awake, and get us moving in the direction of freedom again.

Thank you Mr. Vidal for all you have done to slap us awake!!

Re: Comment #4997 by skip on 3/10 at 5:03 pm

My sentiments also.

But times they are a-changin’!

Jill, you hit it on the nose. All our efforts so far have been detrimental to the real goal - stop people hating each other and finding reasons to want to kill each other.

As for the comments about why people on the left arent in the streets protesting, withholding taxes, etc. My answer 1) we have a two term presidency, and no matter how bad things get, we will wait to see if the next administration sets about fixing them. Since they have never in my lifetime looked to be on so bad a trend, Im contemplating protesting now. If the next administration does not turn this around, I will be carrying signs in the street, even if alone. 2) If said “president” we have now decides to make any moves as to change the laws that will remove him from office, I will start a militia and we will revolt. We cannot go down this road much further, and Im quite frankly afraid of how bad it could get in three years.

Gore Vidal, as a celebrated writer and wit, would be a fixture on television had he not had temerity to criticize Israeli policy foreign and domestic. Were he not so prominent a write, with powerful friends, he would have shared in the oblivion of Nicholas von Hoffman and other mere mortals.

But be on other side, and you can be a mediocrity inflicting yourself on the airways on a daily basis. Witness Norman Podhoretz, Cliff May, Frank Gaffney, Ken Adelman, John Woolsey, Reul Gerecht, Tony Blankley, Charles Krauthammer and George Will.

Gore Vidal famously announced that George Bush KNEW of the 9/11 attacks in advance...and welcomed them!
He recently has taken back these remarks.
Gore Vidal moaned (pre 9/11) about airport security, and how it was not needed because U.S. planes hadn’t been targets. In his collection of essays, collected after the attacks, he discreetly edited this little tidbit.

His handpicked biographer caught him in a whopper of a lie.

Yes, Gore Vidal is a man to be taken seriously in this time of worldwide turbulance.

What’s happening is so tragically surreal. The Empire planned and executed the 9/11 attacks to provide a rationale for going into Afghanistan and Iraq. The hijackers were patsies, like Lee Harvey Oswald. (Please see David Ray Griffin’s, “The New Pearl Harbor” and his follow book which eviscerates the findings of the 9/11 Commission). It’s also apparent that the Empire is using 9/11 to gradually put an end to the Constitution. Remember the Patriot Act was almost instantly produced after the attacks and Patriot 2 is waiting in the wings. Its passage assured when the Empire launches another “terror” attack, which, of course, will be blamed on patsies, possibly with Iranian ties. Who will save us? Congress? The media? Hardly. It’s looks pretty damn bad.

So, why can’t he be impeached? All the wrong
he has done would fill a book. All the people
he has caused to die would fill a city. Aren’t
there enough of us who think and have our eyes open to start a movement to get him out?
Count on my vote.

I have NO hope for this country.  This is a government of the people and the people are very ignorant.  Even if King George did steal the election(and he did) you the people allowed him to do it. He is still allowed to run rampant over every thing that is good.  He has set us back many years in environmental concerns. He has killed our young people, he has lied and made a mockery of our laws.  IMPEACH this criminal.  He is not our president.

I don’t hear that many options being discussed. Why is there so little talk of general strikes, tax withholding, sit-ins, and such? Citizens of many countries much be puzzled at the tolerance of the American left. Will they continue to be so polite when the draft becomes necessary again?

A well deserved “well done” for Vidal. I would add the similarities to Joshua at Jericho and the battle of Good vs. Evil (to say nothing of the end-times myth of the Battle of Armageddon) plus the similarities between the story of Job and “stay the course” reasoning. I have heard Bush’s irrational cadence mouthing biblical mythology from my adult male relatives since I was a child. Bush(#43) got his political philosophy from evangelical Christian pulpits on Sunday mornings, filtered and clarified in Bible Study throughout the week. Those of us who have been through that brainwashing recognize the mindset immediately.

Gore Vidal is a genueine American, reading his detailed and sane observation is joy to the ear and mind.Thank God, he is still with us to enlighten and provoke our thoughts.

But isn’t it great fun watching an empire decline? We always knew it would happen, but in OUR lifetimes? I LOVE IT....And we can watch it die...in living color.....LOL..G

Gore Vidal’s insights on American politics in general and this bunch of common criminals in particular is brilliant and precise.  I wish we had people in Congress with this kind of intelligence coupled with the courage to take a stand and get these bums out.  They’ve destroyed our country.  I dread the day the American public realizes that the emperor not only doesn’t have on clothes, but that none of us does either!!!

Your article prompted me to review Joseph Campbell’s works The Hero With A Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers).

It’s tempting to cast him as a jonah, but he’s undeserving! According to Campbell, Jonah is the archtype of the “reluctant hero”.

More apt, I think, is the archetype presented by the Cretan King Minos, whose failure to accept his duty to the people resulted in the creation of the monster, the Minotaur.

good article

I “read” faces—along with other body language.  Was true with Nixon when I saw him 10 yrs. before he became president—I knew he was weird.  There wasn’t a doubt in my mind when I first saw Bush, Jr.  I knew from the beginning that was no better than an ignorant, self-centered elementary school-kid.

“I knew he wasn’t ‘right’ when I first saw him” my father said on hearing of W’s plan for retaliation for the 9/11 attacks; “His eyes are too close together!”.