WHY WE BELIEVE

PHOTOGRAPH: Sharon Farmer


This is the moment of truth. Americans are going to the polls to choose their President. Tomorrow we decide; and the whole world is holding its breath, and wondering if America can get back in touch with its "better angels". The disgrace of Abu Ghraib stabs at our hearts. The President's lying, scheming, sick adventure in Iraq is a failure. The jig is up for George W. Bush. Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." No, not in a democracy. Not in our country.

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson nails it, in the most recent issue of RollingStone Magazine:

"The question this year is not whether President Bush is acting more and more like the head of a fascist government but if the American people want it that way."

The most obscene thing about the Bush Government is that they just continue telling lies that have been publicly discredited by authoritative sources. They continue to spit out the Big Lie that connects the 9/11 destruction in New York to Iraq. They have continuously justified the bloodletting in Iraq in those terms. And they smear their political opponents with indiscreet, ruthless enthusiasm. Calumny and hypocrisy present no barrier to them. Karl Rove, the Regime's hatchet man, specializes in poisoning the well, twisting an adversary's actual virtues and slurring and mangling them so that they seem like vices. Malicious rumors and whisper campaigns are the specialty. This administration is one that has shamelessly appropriated public anxiety over terrorism for its own partisan purposes. They have clearly damaged America's reputation and have lowered this nation's effective prestige. Bush is a dangerous leader who is addicted to risks and is apparently indifferent to the tragic consequences of his actions.

There is an alternative. The beautiful photograph taken by Sharon Farmer is a tangible image of our hope. Our candidate for President, John Kerry, is sharing the stage with Caroline Kennedy at a rally during the last days of this campaign. This image represents a continuity of purpose. It represents the promise of public service. It is proof that our history will not be re-written by those who lack moral courage and compassion for their neighbors. Our American history is not a plaything for the small-minded, and it is not a prize to be won by opportunists.
Those of us who remember President Kennedy can see a flicker of something in John Kerry. This is why we believe. Even if Kerry possesses just a flicker from that flame, it will be enough.