Saturday, June 10, 2006
Pacifica Commentary for June 7, 2006
The Button
Certainly we have become numb to the reality of nuclear destruction. This shadow has been over the human race for 60 years and now the danger of its use is greater than ever. One single individual in Washington has the future of this planet in his hands. There are no checks and balances, there is no judicial review, there is no advice and consent of the Congress. Friends, we are living in a nuclear dictatorship. The President can eliminate hundreds of millions of people in a host of countries simply by pushing the button. This should never be the prerogative of one individual. Actually, it should never be the prerogative of any individual or of any group.
Suppose a nuclear explosion takes place in the United States. Will the president strike back at a nation that had no part in the attack as he did after 9/11? After striking the wrong nation and having deadly radiation flow into surrounding countries, should we be surprised if they retaliate? The President's button represents a suicide attack on all of us.
Even if we had the most brilliant and humane president imaginable, she or he should never have authority over such a button.
This is not a matter of brilliance of an individual, it is a matter of the future of this miracle planet. And if you don't believe it is a miracle planet, please show me one like it.
Nationalism is killing us. It is archaic, fossilized, irrelevant and destructive.
What does it take to awaken people to this reality? At this moment in history our every thought and plan must be made with the planet in mind.
Global warming is a reality but the greed for short term profit together with a failed and catastrophic war has Washington trying to divert our attention to issues that should not even be in the sphere of the Federal Government.
Unfortunately what is good for profit is very bad for the globe.
Fully electric cars were manufactured and running well in the 1920's. But they were abolished by the oil industry. If this were not the case don't you think we would have made some progress with electric vehicles in the last 86 years?
We must take the quest for profit out of the world's drivers seat. We must take the button out of the hands of the president. And how do we do that? We do it by planetary thinking, the only kind of thinking that will make life possible for our grandchildren.
And we must turn our thinking into action by with a new Declaration of Peace.
The worn out eighteenth century nationalism in which we are currently living assures us that our grandchildren will have neither life, nor liberty nor the pursuit of happiness.
Certainly we have become numb to the reality of nuclear destruction. This shadow has been over the human race for 60 years and now the danger of its use is greater than ever. One single individual in Washington has the future of this planet in his hands. There are no checks and balances, there is no judicial review, there is no advice and consent of the Congress. Friends, we are living in a nuclear dictatorship. The President can eliminate hundreds of millions of people in a host of countries simply by pushing the button. This should never be the prerogative of one individual. Actually, it should never be the prerogative of any individual or of any group.
Suppose a nuclear explosion takes place in the United States. Will the president strike back at a nation that had no part in the attack as he did after 9/11? After striking the wrong nation and having deadly radiation flow into surrounding countries, should we be surprised if they retaliate? The President's button represents a suicide attack on all of us.
Even if we had the most brilliant and humane president imaginable, she or he should never have authority over such a button.
This is not a matter of brilliance of an individual, it is a matter of the future of this miracle planet. And if you don't believe it is a miracle planet, please show me one like it.
Nationalism is killing us. It is archaic, fossilized, irrelevant and destructive.
What does it take to awaken people to this reality? At this moment in history our every thought and plan must be made with the planet in mind.
Global warming is a reality but the greed for short term profit together with a failed and catastrophic war has Washington trying to divert our attention to issues that should not even be in the sphere of the Federal Government.
Unfortunately what is good for profit is very bad for the globe.
Fully electric cars were manufactured and running well in the 1920's. But they were abolished by the oil industry. If this were not the case don't you think we would have made some progress with electric vehicles in the last 86 years?
We must take the quest for profit out of the world's drivers seat. We must take the button out of the hands of the president. And how do we do that? We do it by planetary thinking, the only kind of thinking that will make life possible for our grandchildren.
And we must turn our thinking into action by with a new Declaration of Peace.
The worn out eighteenth century nationalism in which we are currently living assures us that our grandchildren will have neither life, nor liberty nor the pursuit of happiness.
