The need to dream and to hope

Sean Penn is not my favorite actor, and by his own admission is not a professional journalist; but his analysis of the current political situation in America is spot on. In his speech before the Open the Debates Super Rally, he reviews terrorism in this country going back to Tim McVey's bombing at Oklahoma City. He then asks, what part do we play as a society that enables these acts to occur. The answer Mr. Penn offers is very interesting indeed:

"This should lead us to demand in ourselves, to remember and to honor the wondrous foundation of security and freedom that is born from our United States Constitution. Citizens rights, human rights, rights to a quality of life and the fulfillment of the human need-the NEED not luxury–to dream.

"To believe in the possibility of change built on reason, the possibility for peace, and our responsible stewardship of the Constitution. When do such acts as those in Oklahoma City or those in Santa Cruz become pervasive? Again, we are excusing no one their violence, but they become pervasive every time we devolve our Constitution. Each generation’s responsibility is to be more complete than the last in its commitment to Constitutional principals [sic].

"The major parties are both running candidates who not only approved the un-Constitutional misuse of FISA warrants, but also supported retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who violated the public trust, who violated the rule of law, and who violated our Constitution hand-in-hand with the current administration’s unlawful and un-American wiretaps.

"We are in fact, their employers. And the Democratic and Republican candidates who seek our employment as our next president, are both on record as participants in devolving our Constitution...

I have heard our politics described as narcissistic and adolescent, but Mr. Penn lays it out quite bluntly:

"Let’s demand to hear all the voices for change that represent the needs of all Americans. We must demand it in our media. We must demand it of John McCain. We must demand it from Barack Obama. I’m sick of this High school, with suits on, called the Democratic and Republican parties. I’m telling you, you go around and you’ve heard it. They brandish their party credentials by snickering away open debate like a clique of wormy snobs. We saw our republican brothers and sisters punked out by spin and marginalization which was brought to them by their pundits and public servants. They even allowed it to co-op their own thought. But the Republican Americans are anything but our enemy. They are just as important to the fabric of this country as any of us.

"But we watched as they were suckered into serving interests which betrayed their own countries and their own people. As they confidently presented the official line, it was really an exploitation of them by their leaders. And we are no better. It can
happen to us, and to many it already has.

"So, the question is, are we going to fight for the public discourse of facts? Or will we be shamed into hiding? Not only by the O’Reilly’s and the Limbaugh’s and the Hannitys, but also by the confident disparaging of thought handed down by the James Carvilles of the mainstream media.

"Hope is never arrived at through staunch pragmatism, and it’s for that reason that I am still considering my own decision as to whom I will vote for. But in fairness to Ralph Nader, the American hero in this building with us tonight; to the Bob Barrs, the Ron Pauls, Cynthia McKinneys and the independent spirit of Dennis Kucinich: When we are told not to vote for someone because he or she is a spoiler, let’s remember that Barack Obama himself is considered the greatest spoiler of all– by a narcissistic branch of democrats who simply have forgotten their manners, a slip of hubris which most certainly has Dr. King clawing at his casket...

"In whatever decision we make, it’s imperative that we address the future. That’s what this is all about. Quality of life is the singular global issue, and it’s upon all of us to seek it for all the rest. Our hopes for our children are the clearest path to that end, and I would like to sum up in this way...

"The defining moment really, is that whoever you vote for, you better hold his ass to the fire. Putting on pressure district by district, media outlet by media outlet–that as it is our job, it is theirs to serve this country’s great Constitution. The next time somebody says the words, 'How dare Ralph Nader run,' you ask them what they did for their country today. We should demand, by any means, that his voice–so truly representative of so many of ours–is heard.

"We have got to stop telling people not to think and speak."

We simply must stop this business of "political correctness," because it is used to suppress the truth. The problems that face the Empire cannot be resolved peacefully or effectively until those issues are squarely faced and openly debated.

Thank you, Sean Penn, for stating so clearly what so many of us have been thinking.

Virtual buckeye to The Liberty Voice.