Reaching for Glory : The Johnson White House Tapes, 1964-1965 by Michael R. Beschloss
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Hi Win,
Thanks for the URL to Kennedy's allegorical attribution. Ain't it just like a politician to fulfill our worst expectations, i.e. When are they lying? When their lips are moving. I bought that 'Chinoise' chicanery for the last 3 decades. Now I'm really disillusioned.
Speaking of which, there was a fascinating interview on PBS's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross today. Michael Beschloss was the guest and he was playing some of the tapes from the period immediately following the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. As the tapes indicate, for Mr. Johnson, it was the Tonkin Gulf Irresolution. He was deeply concerned about the evidence pointing to an unwinnable war, and an unwinnable election if the Republicans could chew him up for skedaddlin' when vamoosin' was in order. So he stayed the course. And, of course, in the grinder of history, another 55,000 Americans lost their lives in what our elite "leadership" (I'm using that term loosely) considered an unwinnable situation in an unlikely venue. Terry Gross made the point that LBJ was probably closer in spirit to deeply concerned Americans like me who were getting tear gassed for telling the truth, than he was to the apparatus of war-making that didn't have a moral and ethical "fail-safe" button.
So, now we know, 36 years after the fact, that our leaders, for the sake of their own egos, and their electoral advantage, were willing to put the lives of thousands of loyal citizens at risk, in spite of deep-seated doubts about the direction they were leading the country in.
This is why I'm so disappointed that some on this thread would say that we ought to be obliging to the recent executive order sealing the papers of the Reagan Administration. Can we honestly believe that this later day administration was acting sincerely and exclusively for the benefit of "the silent majority". Hoo-haw. Got a bridge fer ya...
I don't think we ought to have to endure the hubris of the elites for three decades before we find out what they're doing to us, in our name. Recycling ought to be much less a burden on a democracy. Leaders may be less willing to engage in foolishness if they realize they'll actually be held accountable within some reasonable length of time. I ain't holding my breath. Everything lately seem to indicate that 1984 is finally arriving, but I think we need to resist the degradation of our democracy with every byte we can. The Internet allows us to communicate, to discuss, to learn and to understand. The key is in our hands. Will we chose to turn it in the lock? Will we demand that our leaders become more accountable and transparent? Not if you listen to some on this thread who are apologists for secrecy and deception while still marvelling at the possibilities of a libertarian (read, I don't want to pay taxes) future.
Gosh, have I been engaged in opinion? Hope you have one.
Salaams, Ray |
