I Believe (William Rivers Pitt)

I too believe the nation is unraveling before our eyes. Sure, there will continue to be a USA - But not the nation we grew up in.

aside to edgar: Will Pitt will be in Houston on Sept. 15, at a benefit for KPFT 90.1 Pacifica radio.

I have communicated with him on other discussion boards and find him to be searingly accurate about what's going on in our country.

I'll be attending and if you want the location and time just let me know.

Oooh -- Wish I could catch that. I'm an admirer too. He teaches (if he still does) somewhere outside of Boston and sometimes turns up on The Connection on WBUR (available evenings online).

Well, he's also going to be in your fair city.

Tuesday, September 16th, 7:00pm, University of Texas campus, Jester 121 (21st St. @ Speedway, parking in the Brazos Garage 1 block south). This is the second town hall meeting on the Patriot Act, the Victory Act and the Austin City Council Resolution Vote upcoming on these things. This town hall meeting is sponsored by the Texas Bill of Rights Defense Council: www.texasbordc.org

And you also get Al Franken as part of his "Lies" tour Saturday the 13th:

Barnes & Noble ­Arboretum, 10000 Research Boulevard, 7:00 pm, discussion and book-signing.

Wow. The trouble is I live way west of there -- hard to drop everything and drive in (almost two hours), particularly at night. But thanks!

Well, I recon Pitt said it a mite better than I could have.

I'm going to copy this and send it to all our pro-Bush, pro-war relatives who bombard us with a never-ending stream of Republican swill.

Edgar, I'd like to point out a certain danger in the opinion that you have just expressed. I think it is fruitless and even dangerous to live in a state of nostalgic longing for the past. Such a longing leads us into a malaise and a sense that everything in the world is spiraling out of control and that there is little that can be done. I am 71. I think I have to recognize that the country is in the hands of people (I mean all facets of the society, not just government) who were born after I reached adulthood. I cannot expect them to shape a world like the one I knew any more that my grandparents and parents could have expected that of me. In fact, how do I know that the world as I think I knew it ever really existed. What I am saying is that we must be accepting of change because change is inevitable, and to deny it is to be left in the dust.

What I think is that we liberals have a message that was hot stuff back in the 30s, but is pretty tepid right now. What I mean is that I personally have a problem: even when I know that Bush is wrong, I do not know how to state my own beliefs in such a way that they will appeal to, or make sense to, my kids or my younger relatives and friends.

I don't deny the tug of the past, I feel it all the time, myself, still, this I know, and know it well, a song from the past will never sell.

"I do not know how to state my own beliefs in such a way that they will appeal to, or make sense to, my kids or my younger relatives and friends."

I know what you mean, Hazlitt, and the implications are troubling. I've encountered younger people (particularly the 30-55 group) who stare in disbelief at the notion of altruism and sacrifice. The good news is that their children are quite different. The parents all seem to be sullen, self-absorbed, materialistic, suspicious of others "getting something for nothing," and largely uninformed and 'way, 'way undereducated.

It's interesting that all this began a little under twenty-five years ago when the political popularity of stressing "values" and "character" became important. Words without deeds. You can date the decline of values and character from that point!

Be careful about what people tout -- it means they don't have it!

Well, I just got back from Will's talk, and it was a ripsnorter.

PUPers, we got a lot of work to do, and I ain't talkin' 'bout sweepin' out the kleptomaniacs in charge.

That's a foregone conclusion, after what I witnessed tonight.

No, I'm talkin' 'bout cleanin' up the mess BushCo is going to leave.

It's going to be huuuuuuuuuuuuge.

That's what they're saying, PDid, even in the NYTimes today. When you get a chance, would you kindly recap Rivers' talk?