{news} Richard Duffee's letter in the Norwalk Hour

[Richard Duffee]

Thank you, Clifford,
So if we've ever wondered why the Roman emperors were supposed to be gods,
we can see the process going on in front of our eyes. We're not supposed to
believe we can know them: we're supposed to have faith in them.

My previous interaction with Shays was this: the day before, on
Sunday morning, Oct 19, when Shays arrived at the Temple Israel debate, I
said, "Well, hello, Mr. Shays," and gave him a flyer. He shook my hand and
said, "God bless you," leaving me wondering, "Why? Because you think I'm
taking votes from Himes? Because I'm a mortal? Because it's Sunday? Because
you're a saintly man?"

So on Monday I got my answer: it's because I'm supposed to vote for him on
faith, not reason--that is, because he's supposed to be a saintly man. He's
not supposed to make sense: that is, I'm not supposed to know why he's
actually saying "God bless you," just as I'm not supposed to know from the
platform what the party leaders intend. I'm just supposed to be humbled and
impressed. And why is that? Because he's supposed to have so much more power
than I have that I'm not supposed to be able to comprehend how he does what
he does or why he does it.

So we're on a direct course to emperor worship. That's the essence of
fascism: the mystification of treating a person as a god is the inevitable
result of extreme hierarchy when the people on top want their intentions to
remain secret.
Richard

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 2:58 AM, Clifford Thornton <efficacy at msn.com> wrote:

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>  This is a great fuckin letter.  Wow, I love it.
>
> Cliff
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* David Bedell <dbedellgreen at hotmail.com>
> *To:* fairfieldcountygreens at yahoogroups.com ; ctgp-news at ml.greens.org
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 30, 2008 2:51 PM
> *Subject:* {news} Richard Duffee's letter in the Norwalk Hour
>
> Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS
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> Richard's letter was published in the Norwalk Hour on Tuesday, Oct 28.  The
> same issue had his entry in the Hour's voter guide.
>
> http://www.thehour.com/story/458313
>
>
> Governments cannot be run in secrecy; citizens must seek truth
>
>
>
>
>
> Copy and paste below into your page: (close this pane)
>
> Governments cannot be run in secrecy; citizens must seek truth
> To the Editor:
>
>
>
> Asked on Sunday what planks of the Republican platform he disagreed
> with, Christopher Shays replied that the platforms of the Democrats and
> Republicans don't mean much. On Monday I asked him what he meant. He
> replied that platforms are made up by a committee composed of the
> representatives from each state and that they're not terribly important
> in actual policy formation.
>
>
>
> This truthful statement indicates the most serious structural flaw of
> our government. When citizens cannot trust that party platforms express
> what party leaders actually intend to do, we have nothing better to
> rely on for that knowledge. The Republicans and Democrats are telling
> us to cast our votes on the basis of faith in them, not knowledge or
> rationality.
>
>
>
> When we must vote on the basis of ignorance, we do not live in a
> functioning republic, but in an oligarchy.
>
>
>
> The policies the government will actually pursue under either major
> party are fundamentally secrets among the party leaders. What they tell
> us is merely what they think it convenient for us to hear.
>
>
>
> So long as we continue our imperial ambitions we must expect to be kept
> in the dark. Republics require a modicum of honesty, tolerance, and
> openness, while empires -- which are merely systems of slavery at a
> distance -- must always be ruled by a mystifying and degrading
> combination of secrecy, fraud, and violence. Any republic that attempts
> to rule an empire deteriorates into rule by the greediest and cruelest.
>
>
>
>
> If we do not reclaim our responsibilities as citizens, ever deeper forms of
> subjugation await us.
>
>
>
> Richard Duffee
>
>
>
> Green Party Candidate for Congress, 4th district Ct.
>
>
>
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