Americans would rather shop than vote

Hello Joe -

I wanted to say how much I agreed with Colin and you concerning the fate of our young and, also, about the nature of stupidity. I had to write because you were sort of quoting my long-time hero Albert Einstein when he said that "There are only two things which are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe." I can imagine that Einstein would shake his great head sadly if he could be alive now and see how true his opinion was.

From a No-Nothing President to a populace that would rather shop than vote, it looks pretty grim for his adopted country. I think he would see a similar cult of personality that characterized Hitler and recognize the same degree of extreme recklessness that Hitler exhibited as he took Germany into the abyss. I just read that Bush wants the military to have a "big push" in Iraq with 20,000 more troops. He still thinks he can get his big victory and be judged by history as the great liberator of the evildoers over there.

One last thing for now. I was a bit relieved when the Demos did better than I expected during the elections. It was certainly better than having the Repubs keep their majority or make even more gains in the Congress. However, I have no illusions that they will work at really implementing the kinds of changes that I believe are urgently needed. I also don't believe that Bush and Cheney, despite richly deserving it, will be impeached because it would require deep investigations into members on both sides of the aisle and the people of this country would get a better sense of just how corrupt and criminal their so-called leadership is. That will not be allowed to happen. Kurt Vonnegut said it well:  "There are no such things as Democrats and Republicans anymore -- just Realtors and SuperRealtors."

Best regards,

Bruce Bennett

P.S. Colin is right -- Green Day is a great band.

------

Dear Bruce,

I completely agree with you. Lately though, when it comes to the stupidity, I am trying to recognize it, then let it go. It's not going to go away without some major catastrophe as a cultural learning event, so all I can do is try to avoid practicing it as a member of the culture.

Oh the Vonnegut quote is priceless! It will be stuck in my head for a long long time. I'd steal it, but he's too famous and I'd get caught.

In art and labor,

Joe