The video below is from a panel discussion the New Yorker Magazine held last Saturday, October 4, 2008, moderated by Jeffrey Toobin. It is the part with Ms. Brazile pointedly saying that the election has to get down to the issues and she puts things into a real perspective making it as obvious as she can that this election is one of the most important in U.S. history.
Here is the corresponding story on the New Yorker website: DONNA BRAZILE: “IF I WERE RUNNING THIS CAMPAIGN” where you can view the video of the entire panel discussion.
It frightens me that we could go backwards as she implies explicitly and not just on race.
An idea that has been rolling around in my head for the last couple of weeks is a comparison of the McCain campaign to the all out-fight the Catholic church waged in the Middle Ages against the Guttenberg Printing Press. The church wanted to keep people ignorant so that they could keep control of their thoughts, their lives, and their money - complete enslavement.
The church fought to keep the invention of Gutenberg's printing press under wraps, because if people could easily get printed material, more would want to learn how to read. If people know how to read, their minds can be open to new ideas that others have and form their own ideas as well. The church realized that knowledge was dangerous to their control.
Sadly, this still goes on in some places in the world, e.g. the Taliban in Afghanistan, and other groups, even in this country, struggle to control what people think by feeding on their fears, by trying to stifle the media through intimidation and innuendo, and by pushing fundamentalism on the country.
i'm sure Jefferson, Madison, Adams et. al. are somewhere shaking their heads at what they are seeing...
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