[Originally posted on goofyblog 11.25.06]
Gore Vidal has written an article for Playboy about the Gore dynasty. Senator Gore of Oklahoma (’07-’21;’31-’37), who is both Al Gore and Gore Vidal’s grandfather, helped put Wilson into the Presidency in 1912, but became disillusioned when Wilson would not push for reforms at home, suspecting he wanted US involvement in the European war. He campaigned for Wilson in ’16 only when Wilson agreed to run on the slogan “he kept us out of war.”
However as soon as Wilson was elected, he went about making the world “safe for democracy” (sounds similar to some modern slogans, doesn’t it?). The only thing Wilson succeeded in was helping the rise of the Frankenstein monster of nationalism preparing Europe for the rise of Hitler 2 decades later.
This legacy continues on into today both in Iraq and at home. As John Lukacs writes, “Patriotism is the love of a particular land, with it’s particular traditions; nationalism is the love of something less tangible, of the myth of a people, and is often a political and ideological substitute for religion both modern and populist.”
In 1914, the world currency was the pound sterling and it was weakening. In 2006, the world currency is the dollar and it is weakening. We are at a turning point. As Vidal says:
Gore Vidal has written an article for Playboy about the Gore dynasty. Senator Gore of Oklahoma (’07-’21;’31-’37), who is both Al Gore and Gore Vidal’s grandfather, helped put Wilson into the Presidency in 1912, but became disillusioned when Wilson would not push for reforms at home, suspecting he wanted US involvement in the European war. He campaigned for Wilson in ’16 only when Wilson agreed to run on the slogan “he kept us out of war.”
However as soon as Wilson was elected, he went about making the world “safe for democracy” (sounds similar to some modern slogans, doesn’t it?). The only thing Wilson succeeded in was helping the rise of the Frankenstein monster of nationalism preparing Europe for the rise of Hitler 2 decades later.
This legacy continues on into today both in Iraq and at home. As John Lukacs writes, “Patriotism is the love of a particular land, with it’s particular traditions; nationalism is the love of something less tangible, of the myth of a people, and is often a political and ideological substitute for religion both modern and populist.”
In 1914, the world currency was the pound sterling and it was weakening. In 2006, the world currency is the dollar and it is weakening. We are at a turning point. As Vidal says:
“Today, as the American republic crumbles at home and stumbles abroad, we face two crucial elections: one to decide whether or not the gas-oil junta will continue to control the legislative branch, and a second election (2008), which will reveal whether or not we have drifted into a nationalist dictatorship with a chief executive who claims to have inherent rights to spy on us the people while imprisoning, without due process of law, anyone suspected of past, present or future terrorism—this last category the dream of every dictatorship.”The first Senator Gore fought against Wilson’s misguided and hypocritical plans, the second Senator Gore fought against our involvement in Vietnam and now Al Gore remains wise and coherent and with his own family legacy to stand by, far more compelling than the Bush dynasty and their oil-dealings.
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