Something very important is happening here...

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Porter <bobporter () theideasgroup com>
Date: September 10, 2005 10:44:28 PM EDT
To: 'David Farber' <dave () farber net>
Cc: 'Francesca D'Amore' <francesca () francescadamore com>
Subject: FW: Something very important is happening here...



http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0509/10/D08-309629.htm

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Faith and Policy

People sense president's soulless sensibility

By Marianne Williamson

Something very important is happening here --
something more than simply a hurricane, or the
suffering of thousands who were neglected by their
government during a time of great need. Most worldly
occurrences reflect deeper truths. What is happening
is a gigantic reckoning, as Americans are forced to
come to terms with how very, very naked is the emperor
who we thought had such incredible clothes.
We are raised in the United States of America to
believe our government is the strongest in the world,
that as Americans we are basically protected, and that
our country is basically good. It is cognitive
dissonance for us to be confronted with evidence to
the contrary, and yet such evidence has been piling up
fast and furiously during this odd and potentially
catastrophic phase of American history.
There is nothing strong about rushing into a
unilateral war based on faulty intelligence,
squandering the resources necessary with which to take
care of your own people; there is nothing protective
about a government that apparently didn't monitor
events on the ground in New Orleans any better -- in
fact, less well -- than the average viewer of CNN; and
there is nothing good about taking care of the rich at
the expense of the poor.
If it took a Category 5 hurricane and the huge
suffering of thousands to bring those facts to light,
then at least it can be said there is value in this
horror. If enough Americans are beginning to wake up
and face the awful fact that our country's basic
functioning has become infected by a soulless
sensibility, then perhaps the suffering on the Gulf
Coast will not have been in vain.
Regarding the abysmal response of our government to
the hurricane's aftermath, there is a lot of talk
right now about accountability. Some argue we should
have the discussion today, while others argue that
that discussion should wait for a more propitious
time.
But there is a danger in waiting, for a governmental
status quo has talent for co-opting criticism as long
as it can buy enough time. Passions cool; memories
become revised and faded.
Six months after a disaster, the government appoints
an independent commission to find out what really
happened but by the time the commission releases its
final report, there is never much sense that too many
people are listening. The people are exhausted by
then; they're trying their best to move on.
And the status quo knows this; that's part of its
game. Do whatever you want; act horrified and
remorseful for a minute whenever too much suffering
results as a part of your actions; then put off the
accountability conversation until people are too tired
to care anymore.
This is not a new pattern in America. What might be
new -- what I sense might be happening -- is that
people are waking up to it now. And as soon as we wake
up, then the pattern will end.
Abraham Lincoln said there is not too much evil any
American government can perpetrate, as long as the
people remain vigilant. He was referring to the fact
that we have federal elections every two years,
through which we can replace the entirety of the House
of Representatives and one-third of the U.S. Senate.
The ultimate accountability conversation is written
into the U.S. Constitution; it is called elections. At
this particular juncture, that means the mid-term
elections of 2006.
The president prides himself on running the government
like a well-run business. That, of course, makes him
the chief executive. And if the government failed,
then he failed.
Fool us once, and maybe their tricks were dirty; fool
us twice, maybe their public relations was too good;
fool us now, and perhaps we just deserve to be fooled.
From war to hurricanes, oh, America, the alarm bells
of needless human suffering are going off everywhere.
A nation that refuses to wake up at this point is in a
dangerous slumber. The nightmares are upon us now.
They will remain until our eyes are opened and we have
awakened to the truth.
Marianne Williamson is a best-selling spiritual author
from Metro Detroit ( www.marianne.com). Send letters
to The News at 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or
(313) 222-6417 or letters () detnews com.




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