To: Raymond Duray who wrote (256901 ) 5/19/2002 10:05:12 PM From: MSI Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 769667 "Fifty years ago, Harry Truman replaced the old republic with a national-security state whose sole purpose is to wage perpetual wars, hot, cold, and tepid. Exact date of replacement? February 27, 1947. Place: White House Cabinet Room. Cast: Truman, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, a handful of congressional leaders. "Republican senator Arthur Vandenberg told Truman he could have his militarized economy only if he first "scared the hell out of the American people" that the Russians were coming. "Truman obliged. The perpetual war began. Representative government of, by, and for the people is now a faded memory. Only corporate America enjoys representation by the Congresses and presidents that it pays for in an arrangement where no one is entirely accountable because those who have bought the government also own the media. "Now, with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard at the Pentagon [ed: he's talking about ex-Defense Secty's now installed as VP, SecDef, and SecState], we are entering a new and dangerous phase. Although we regularly stigmatize other societies as rogue states, we ourselves have become the largest rogue state of all. We honor no treaties. We spurn international courts. We strike unilaterally wherever we choose. We give orders to the United Nations but do not pay our dues. We complain of terrorism, yet our empire is now the greatest terrorist of all. We bomb, invade, subvert other states. Although We the People of the United States are the sole source of legitimate authority in this land, we are no longer represented in Congress Assembled. Our Congress has been hijacked by corporate America and its enforcer, the imperial military machine.""Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace" , Vidal