CBS News 60 Minutes | The D.A. And Tom DeLay | March 6, 2005 20:15:08

In a recent story on CBS News - 60 Minutes I was glad to see that the scandalous and sickening abuse of power by Tom DeLay The Republican House Majority Leader is finally heating up and the Republicans are a little worried.

I do not strongly detest him for the money he raised illegally from corporations during the 2002 state elections in Texas. I loath and despise him for his continued and blatant self satisfying, unethical and immoral actions which have propelled him to one of the highest leadership positions in Texas. I do not think that I would be lying to say that he would sell his mother down the river to get ahead. He thinks that he is a king, untouchable and high above all else.

I don't think anyone ever told him that this was a republic and his sole purpose as Texas Republican House Majority Leader is to serve the people! I think that this also appears to be an affliction that has befallen many of our leaders. Consider the old adage, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely" an observation that a person's sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Allow me to illustrate my point:

On September 17, 1787 Benjamin Franklin emerged from the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia where a new country's Constitution was being shaped after a war for freedom. Elizabeth Powell, whose husband was mayor of Philadelphia, anxiously asked Franklin what kind of government this new country would have. A republic, madam, if you can keep it, replied the eminent statesman.

I feel as if we "the people" are loosing control of our leaders and our country and thus our republic is slowly shifting into unique form of fascism. If we define fascism as a political system that emphasizes nationalism, militarism, and totalitarian rule with an opposition to democracy and human rights where individuals are allowed to retain ownership of capital goods but are subject to centralized control, then are we not already there?

Let's see:

1) Emphasized Nationalism - Check
2) Militarism - Check (Iraq - PATRIOT Act)
3) Totalitarian Rule - Pending
4) Opposition to Human Rights - Check (Abu Gharib / Gay Rights)
5) Centralized Control - Pending

These and many other events should be "alert indicators" to the American people that we may have a problem, but they go almost unnoticed by Americans. If the citizens of this country do not have to sacrifice anything while we are at war killing thousands of innocent civilians on a lie, then why worry? If I can drive my "Hummer" down the road at 5 miles to the gallon (exaggeration) without long lines at the gas pump, then what's the problem?

As one self proclaimed Republican expressed to me in a recent heated discussion, "They have the oil and we need it! Since we are stronger than them, we can take it and we should. It's the law of nature, the strong survive and the weak do not." She reinforces my opinion that most of us (All Humans) will never be more than slightly intelligent animals.

posted by Clint Thomson @ 3/07/2005 01:24:00 AM