November 19, 2012
November 19, 2012
Trade liberty for safety or money and you'll end up with neither. Liberty, like a grain of salt, easily dissolves.
The power of questioning -- not simply believing -- has no friends. Yet liberty depends on it. ***
Many thanks to Michael Montgomery, Ashley Berry, and Aleksandar Jokic for their generous contributions.
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Thank you for your consideration.
Cordially,
Jan Baughman and Gilles d'Aymery
Note from the Editors:
We've not had much to say in the pre-election season, but it turns out that our contributors have much to say in the post-election period. From Glenn Reed, who crossed the country from blue state to red and back again, creatively reporting his impressions; to Joel Hirschhorn, who questions the very state of democracy in the U.S.; and David Jordan, who was disappointed with President Obama's first-term performance, but is delighted that he defeated Mitt Romney and that Karl Rove failed. Other opinionators include Peter Byrne, Manuel García, Jr., Jan Baughman, Gilles d'Aymery, and Fabio de Propris, and their sentiments range from sheer relief that Mitt Romney lost to exuberance that it's finally over, with some true successes and minor victories to celebrate in between.
Michael Barker steered clear of the election, instead providing a critical review of Paul Hawken's misrepresentation of "green capitalism" in his most recent book Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming. Isidor Saslav was better entertained by the Bard Collage Summerscape Music Festival, which this year featured Camille Saint-Saëns, whose beautiful music never changed throughout his life. Peter Byrne relates the corporal tortures of Edward Lear; Raju Peddada questions the rationality of burials, which if continued threaten to turn our cities into necropolises; and Guido Monte's poem tells the story of a homeless woman and her dog. We close with your letters on our New Age edition, and a plea for the Super PACs to send some leftover money our way to close out our annual fundraiser -- it's money well spent.
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US Elections & Democracy
Blue, Red & Blue Again
Sometimes life forces you to the sidelines. Often it's left you black and blue. Such was my reality this year. So, for the first election cycle since the mid 1990s, I didn't volunteer for any campaigns except for some tabling for Vermont's senator Bernie Sanders. Despite my revulsion for Romney-Ryan, there was just too much on my plate. Circumstances also led me to cross the country in the last three weeks before the presidential election. More... Glenn Reed is a long-time activist and author who lives in Fair Haven, Vermont.
Real Democracy Requires Political Competition
Now that the presidential election and myriad other state and local elections are over in the U.S., it is important to go back to fundamentals and ask the key question: Is the U.S. truly a first-rate democracy deserving broad global respect? I say no. Because the evidence says no. More... Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy and Sprawl Kills. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Some Thoughts On The US Election
After a long period of seriously contemplating not voting because I was so disappointed in Obama and thought he would continue to behave in this fashion because it was in his DNA, so to speak, I did the deed. I then found myself delighted with the results. Not only was his win important and clear, but any number of very nasty people caught their lunch. More... David Jordan is a retired professor of French History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Post Election Thought
What does Obama's reelection say about racism in America? It says, at the very least, that we had better put the subject in perspective. I can now sit on the other side of the world and read the racist slurs of his fellow citizens on their president. These comments are brief, anonymous, unreasoned and right from the sewer. They are very like those I heard about FDR when I was eleven in Chicago. More... Peter Byrne is an American-born teacher and writer who lives in Lecce, Italy.
Election 2012: Equality Outvotes Privilege
On November 6, 2012, the American electorate delivered a consensus in favor of greater equality of economic benefits and tax responsibilities, as opposed to greater austerity to preserve the privileges of accumulated capital. More... Manuel García, Jr. is a retired physicist, author, and family man who lives in Oakland, California.
2012 US Election: A Pretty Good Morning After
On November 7, 2012, the Lebanon, Ohio, tea party woke up to proclaim that "the world mourns the loss of America. Socialists, welfare and unions took over this country yesterday. Today I wear black. The day America died." As for me, after so many election cycles of disappointment, being shut out by the two-party system that doesn't represent me and that has drifted steadily to the right, I awoke feeling pretty good, thinking that when inspired people will vote their values, that actions do have consequences, and change can be more than just a campaign slogan. More... Jan Baughman is a clinical researcher and Swans' co-editor.
Good Lord The US Election Is Over
As written in "2012 Election Oblivion" I've had no interest whatsoever in the US presidential election, though I added that I would be glad to see Michelle Obama and her two beautiful daughters, Malia and Sasha, stay in the White House for another four years. They will. President Obama was reelected without much contest, except in the TV channels that wanted to make the race competitive -- it never was -- so that they could keep hoi poloi watching their ads. The electoral process was once again corrupt -- a sham. More... Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Post Election: Obama, Work And Pay
As an Italian, I'm glad Obama has been reelected. Here in Italy only the loneliest Berlusconi sycophant, the journalist Giuliano Ferrara, dared to express admiration for Mitt Romney. If, however, the Italian right was not drawn to the Republican candidate as it was to Reagan and Bush, father and son, the left, for its part, is highly pleased. Romney's program would only have increased the global financial crisis that originated in the USA in 2007-08 and spread around the world. More... Fabio De Propris is a teacher, writer, and translator who lives in Rome, Italy.
Patterns Which Connect
No Idea(ology), And Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest
In Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming (Penguin Books, 2007), green capitalist guru Paul Hawken set himself the onerous task of examining the global growth of civil society organizations in the late 20th century (and beyond). Awestruck by their collective successes to date, Hawken describes this movement as being "fiercely independent" in its efforts to create a "global humanitarian movement arising from the bottom up." However rather than focusing on political success stories, he is overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of groups that are part of this "atomized" movement, which he feels may signal "the growth of something organic, if not biologic." Could it be, he asks, that this movement is "an instinctive, collective response to threat?" More... Michael Barker is an independent researcher who lives in London, England.
The World of Music
Saint-Saëns At Bard
I recently returned from three inspiring weekends at Bard College's 2012 Summerscape Music Festival. And what a festival! As Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College and the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, the festival's resident orchestra, put it, as he addressed his audience during the opening festivities at this year's events: "Other colleges have a football team; we have a music festival." In 23 years of working at it Botstein and his team have created the greatest music festival in the world. More... Isidor Saslav is a retired concertmaster who lives with his wife, concert pianist Ann Heiligman Saslav, in Overton, Texas.
Arts & Culture
Edward Lear Of The Disappearing Nose
2012 marks the two-hundredth birthday of Edward Lear. He was a painter, travel writer, diarist, and author of immortal nonsense poetry illustrated by his own hand. Born seven years before Queen Victoria, he was a complete Victorian, safe with the children but morbid when left alone with his dark shadow. As we celebrate his white-as-milk nursery image, let's not forget the iron-gray history of his body. More... Peter Byrne is an American-born teacher and writer who lives in Lecce, Italy.
Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust
Why would I needle such a morbid subject? On a Friday, several moons ago, I had a few errands that took me past five huge cemeteries within seven miles. This burned my contemplation as to how, if we continue burying our dead, can we possibly bury billions in India, and China, and in congested Europe in the ensuing years? And, as I passed these huge cemeteries I hardly saw a handful of people in all of them combined. More... Raju Peddada is an industrial designer who lives in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Multilingual Poetry
ornella and tato
ornella has no age Guido Monte teaches Italian and Latin literature in Palermo, Italy.
Letters to the Editor
On the New Age edition: Michael Barker on the UFO myth, but what of the military sightings?, agreement with Gilles d'Aymery's feeling that New Age is as old as antiquity, and a defense of the good work of Jim Burch and the Beyond War organization. More... We appreciate your comments. Please, remember to sign your e-mails with your real name and add your city, state, country, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Thank you.
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