The Course of Empire
Posted on | July 2, 2007 |
“First freedom then glory. When that fails, wealth, vice and corruption.â€
-Lord Byron
I am reminded tonight, yet again, of artist Thomas Cole’s series of paintings circa 1836 which he entitled The Course of Empire and captioned with the above Byron quote. (http://www.isu.edu/~wattron/OLCole2.html) What is it that has reminded me of this? Another glaring example of the incredible lack of respect which the Bush Administration has for this country’s laws, principles, and very foundations. By pardoning Lewis “Scooter†Libby, Bush has once again proven beyond the shadow of a doubt his utter contempt for anyone and anything that does not do exactly what he says, exactly when he says it. And now it has spread to the American Justice System with the slap in the face that is this most recent “commutation†of a sentence handed down by a jury and confirmed by a judge.
I fear we are coming to the end now. Of America. Not the country itself of course, for that is not in any real danger of vanishing from the face of the earth. But America isn’t really so much a place as it is an idea. A set of values, laws, and principles that, when they were first instituted here, had never been applied in any country before. And it is those very ideas, simple things like “Liberty and Justice for Allâ€, that George W. Bush and his incompetent gang of thieves, crooks, and liars have shit upon over and over again. Today is only the latest example. And I fear it will get worse before it gets better.
Apparently the man’s approval rating is at a record low 29%. How is even that number possible, I ask? How can 29% of this country support a man who has not done a single thing right? Who has squandered the treasure of our country by funding endless wars that have no purpose and bled our brave men and women of the armed services to death in a battle that simply cannot be won. Are there really 29% of us that feel it is more important to prohibit homosexuals from marrying than to wage war for legitimate reasons? That as long as frozen embryos are not allowed to be used for scientific research that could save and improve lives, remanding Habeus Corpus is not a big deal? That it’s irrelevant that bin Laden hasn’t been caught as long as we got Saddam? I could go on and on, believe me, but let me just put all of those issues into a single question: Are you fucking kidding me?
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Thomas Jefferson
It might be time to sharpen the pitchforks. Because tomorrow may be too late. Who wants to buy a bumper sticker?
Comments
4 Responses to “The Course of Empire”

July 3rd, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
Thank you for that post! Dubya is a pathetic excuse for a leader. I see you have links on this post from LSU. Did you take classes from there? I’m a LSU student and was just pleased to see that.
July 4th, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
totally agree!
July 4th, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
There are apparently 3000 people waiting for Bush to possibly commute their sentences. Scooter leapfrogs over all of them, and we are expected to believe there wasn’t favoritism? Well, the 29 percent of jackasses and idiots think Bush didn’t go far enough. They are celebrating! It’s as though they all were reaffirmed in their belief that their party of bullies, scoundrels, liars, murderers, thugs and goons can yet live on!!! And it does! Salve Bush.
Just wait until the attack ads from corporations hit the airwaves in the months running up to the election next year. Now that the Supreme Court overturned McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules (well the one part of it that actually WORKED), you will see Wealth, Vice and Corruption in the form of 30 second attack ads of the likes we have never seen before. It will be ugly and turn voters off more than they already are.
Wake up people!
July 28th, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
here here!
that was so good…and sadly…so true.
it’s scary what people think is American and i too fear what is ahead {not that i live in fear but looking at the level of political and historical ignorance (or ignoring of those two) combined with the easy persuasion of much of the American public it does cross my mind}. that painting series and quote really captures so much…it does seem a likely foreshadowing of what could be ahead. i just returned from a trip to East Africa and seeing the Western influence is actually quite sad in some ways to me…the remote villages that have not been touched are so much more beautiful and clean…while primitive. i know so many who think our American empire is so great and would not agree with me, they would say it’s grand that those poor people are finally becoming like us…so much more advanced (money, possessions, modernization, good roads)(whatever!) …okay i think i’m getting off on a tangent…and possibly onto a soapbox.
ok, so this response is a bit depressing/bitter…but i suppose this topic is not exactly a light & happy one.