Thursday Night

8 Random Items for 1/14/2009 #3

The President will occupy the airwaves Thursday night in order to give a short farewell address to the nation. I haven't decided if I will watch it yet or not, but if he interrupts 30 Rock I will not be a happy man.

I'm tempted to watch. I want to see if I can get through a televised George W. Bush speech without screaming, red faced and neck veins bulging, at the television set. My wife and I will have a 12 year old in the house and my language while listening to Bush speeches tends to involve a certain long word that begins with mother and ends with an 'e' and a 'r'. I don't really find anything offensive about cursing but I wouldn't want the child to think she could use the same word when yelling at her teacher. It might cause her problems.

Anyway, I expect Bush to be a pathetic figure Thursday night. Even more than usual. He is practically pleading with the American people not to hate him. Good luck with that Mr. President.

It is hard to believe that it has been over 8 years since the Supreme Court decided that the will of the voters in Florida didn't matter and installed the Bush administration. We have seen two recessions, the most recent of which is the most serious financial crisis this nation has faced since the Great Depression. We witnessed the most horrific terrorist attack anyone could imagine, while our leaders were asleep at the switch. We left one just war unfinished and fought another unjust war. We saw our government decided that it is American to torture our enemies. We saw one of our greatest and most historic cities leveled by a hurricane and we saw our government screw up the response to an astonishing degree. Sadly, I could go on and on about the so called "accomplishments" of the Bush administration.

If we can take anything away from the last eight years, it is that our elections matter. I do not want to hear one more idiot on the far left assert that there is no difference between the two major parties. We will, as a nation, continue feeling the consequences of the 2000 and 2004 elections for a generation.

Remember. American democracy only works when "We the People" are engaged and educated. There is no excuse not to know what is going on. There is no excuse for anyone to simply accept the conventional wisdom as parroted by the traditional media. There is too much information available to anyone willing to search it out to ever use ignorance as an excuse. Read. Learn. Listen.

Somewhere, sometime, somehow ... we lost our way. Our national promise faded and our worst instincts prevailed. It is the not the first time this happened in our history and it will not be the last time. Now though, now we have a chance to move forward. We always do. Lincoln moved us past slavery. Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts. Franklin Roosevelt eased the sufferings of millions during the Great Depression before leading the world against fascism. We face evil and even when that evil is something within ourselves, we ultimately triumph and become something more free and more liberal.

On Thursday night, we will begin closing the door on one of the darkest periods in our nation's history. Afterwards, if we do our part ... if we force those we have chosen to represent us to act accordingly ... we can once again move our nation forward. We can take this tragedy that was the Bush administration and build upon it. We can move our nation even closer to fulfilling the promise of those most liberal of words in our Declaration of Independence. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Together, we can make it happen. We can bring our nation closer to that goal our founders set for us. Thursday night does not represent the end ... it represents the beginning.