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Whither Our Winter Soldier?

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lip-sink Donating Member (75 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 04:59 AM
Original message
Whither Our Winter Soldier?
"How Do You Ask A Man To Be The Last Man To Fight For a Forsaken Democracy?"

many justify the need for Kerry to factor consequence over conviction and take it that the case, if made, would be either unwinnable or deleterious to future attempts.

we have all witnessed the downturn, the retrograde descent we are making from election to election and the withering away of democratic dialog and spirit. the slippery slope is tangible in the writings of the many here who are immersed in the immediacy of this crisis. some respond to this situation with commonsensical realism and a "cynical optimism" that all must inevitably come out in the wash, one way or the other, sometime down the road. the question resounds; at what cost will this correction be purchased?

with the institutional descent that is currently being channeled toward a totalitarian endgame taking place right b4 our eyes, it no longer seems to make much tactical sense to be speaking in terms of "this one slipped away, get them next time" or "now, thankfully, its in the hands of civil society"... without the mediation of leadership, one which came as far as Nov 2 on "conviction" but has since melted back into its own pragmatic calculus, we have been largely cast back into the sphere of the private and the largely self-discrediting American cacophony of vying interests; the MSM (as a reflection of us) is no longer capable of differentiating between the value of a story on blond celebrity cleavage and the potential for a terminal and catastrophic, if not somewhat gradual, conclusion of democratic life as we have known and possibly loved it.

there is no future for Kerry to fight for except this one, the future is here, now. it has, as many here have said, been here for quite some time. the calculus of pragmatism and politically astute consequentialism is of no use in a state which is rapidly divesting itself of all ethical principle and legal foundation, a political community no longer resembling the social contract we call the Constitution of the United States of America. rather it is one quickly descending into a state of War, and that is precisely the current script this president has written for us.

if our Democratic Party leadership has ceased to stand with we who gave it body and will and, in the midst of possibly severe material struggle and moral strife, has chosen its own survival over the integrity of the cause which first moved it, that leadership has forfeited its most basic reason for existence.

if not now, when? if not here, where? the fight is at a potential turning point though, should we fail, the field only worsens for us tomorrow. the battle has arrived and there can be no certainty there will be another. the fight is upon us and we stand, thus far, without relief.

let us hold long, let us hold hard, we may be of the last to fight for the common freedom that has been our democracy.
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LittleClarkie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 05:16 AM
Response to Original message
1. Democracy lives
elsewhere.

It appears to be wintering in the Ukraine at the moment.

Our winter soldier is around. Look for a tall guy wearing a Nixon mask.
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lip-sink Donating Member (75 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 05:19 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. amazing portrait
is that hand or photoshop?
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LittleClarkie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 05:27 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. It was something I got out of the NYT just before the RNC
Here are the particulars:

'JOHN KERRY, APRIL 1971,' by Elizabeth Peyton, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, 620 Greenwich Street, at Leroy Street, West Village, (212) 627-5258. Part of a portfolio of 14 works commissioned by Artforum magazine for its September issue.

I clipped it out of the paper, and found the same picture on their on-line site and copied it into my photobucket account. One of these days I need to let her know how much wonderful feedback I've been getting about it.

I love it too. I think it's the eyes that captivate me the most. They're so piercing and expressive.
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newyawker99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 02:07 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Hi lip-sink!!
Welcome to DU!! :toast:
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lip-sink Donating Member (75 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-06-04 04:06 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. thanks newyawker. good to have arrived n/t
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