[Grovenet] political orators

Mon Oct 2 14:46:20 PDT 2006

I LOVE those last two paragraphs!
Ed
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron D'Eau Claire
  To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
  Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 2:08 PM
  Subject: Re: [Grovenet] political orators

  I really don't think JFK meant that statement 
about asking what we can do
  for our country as a military recruitment call, 
but his administration did
  several very onerous things to discourage 
Americans who were already
  committed to doing the best they could. I 
believe it was some time later
  that JFK decided we must support the Vietnam 
insurgency to avoid the
  elections that would certainly give control to 
the Communists. Back then
  people were paranoid about the Communist 
movement through the far east.

  My point was that many, many Americans were 
already doing, not asking. It
  wasn't encouraging when he lumped everyone into 
the same "you're not doing
  enough" pot. Still, his rhetorical skills 
carried it off.

  Fortunately, I was nearing the end of mandatory 
Military service and never
  had to go to Vietnam.

  Contrast that with Secretary of Defense Robert 
(Mack the Knife) McNamara. I
  was working in a defense research facility when 
suddenly we were called into
  meetings required by McNamara. In those meetings 
we were told the Secretary
  would allow no further slacking and second-rate 
work from us. To emphasize
  it, if we wanted to keep our jobs we had to sign 
an oath that we would
  henceforth cease our slovenly ways and commit to 
doing a first-rate job.
  After signing the oath we were then awarded a 
"Zero Defects" card.

  As one sage put it in the meetings, "At least we 
got the defects down to
  only one in this country, but it's a huge one 
sitting in the Defense
  Secretary's office!"

  I saw people fired on the spot for such 
comments. "Mac" simply decreed that
  any contractor not supporting the Dept of 
Defense requirements to the letter
  would be fined and perhaps lose their government 
contracts. The companies
  were simply middle-men who had to carry out the 
Government rules about
  individual behavior and beliefs without 
question. And people shook their
  heads over Mao's "cultural revolution" that 
dictated what people in China
  were supposed to think. It didn't work there or 
here, fortunately.

  The highlight of my "defense" work came for me a 
few years later when I was
  no longer willing to work on projects for more 
efficient ways to dismantle
  living human beings. Many of our projects were 
top priority rush jobs, not
  because they were needed by the troops in 'nam, 
but because they wanted to
  test them on real humans before the war stopped. 
It's hard to find
  volunteers to skewer, dismember or otherwise 
kill. One wants an active war
  for that sort of testing, and who knew when we'd 
see another?

  When I had enough of it and quit for a "civilian 
job", the highlight of my
  work there was walking into my boss' office, 
handing him my resignation, and
  setting fire to my "Zero Defects" card. I had 
alerted a photographer friend
  who was there to take a photo. Jay, my boss, 
took it in good humor, not
  feeling any more kindly to the Zero Defects 
program than anyone else. I've
  lost that picture over the years. Too bad. No 
objector ever burned a draft
  card with the same gusto as I set alight that 
Zero Defects card.

  In spite of the horrible war, JFK in his short 
service did manage to build
  national pride and instill an enthusiasm in the 
nation that I've not seen
  since. It's significant to me that LBJ, nor, if 
memory serves me right,
  President Nixon dismantled negative ideas like 
that Zero Defects program.
  That was too bad. Those programs were just 
another step in creating an
  unproductive "us-them" mentality that still 
persists between too many of the
  people of the USA and our government.

  We've lost wars. We've suffered huge economic 
setbacks as our money has
  flowed out of our hands and into foreign powers. 
We have lost our
  manufacturing base, our educational base, and 
our scientific leadership.
  But, in spite of all those things, we've lost 
something far more important,
  I think. We've lost confidence in our own 
government.

  The old saying is true, a good reputation is 
easy to lose and very tough to
  build. That includes the reputation of 
governments. Even ours.

  Ron D'Eau Claire

  -----Original Message-----
  From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com 
[mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
  Behalf Of JBlair2154 at aol.com
  Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 1:16 PM
  To: grovenet at rdrop.com
  Subject: Re: [Grovenet] political orators

  In a message dated 10/2/2006 2:15:07 PM Central 
Daylight Time,
  grovenet-request at rdrop.com writes:

  "...ask
  not what your country can do for you: Ask what 
you can do  for your
  country." I was thinking, "...just what else 
does he expect?" I  had no idea
  that the "assistance" we were providing the 
insurgency in  Vietnam would
  blossom into one of the most horrific wars and 
one of the  most horrific
  defeats in our history.

  And I had no idea that JFK meant those words as 
a recruitment call  for the
  armed forces. Seriously. Maybe he did...at least 
in part...but I've  always
  remembered it as a plea for Americans, in 
general, to be less  self-centered
  and
  more unselfish: to gripe less about being taxed 
(as well,  perhaps, about
  the
  draft) to serve as community volunteers, to view 
political  issues from a
  broader standpoint than simply a personal one, 
etc. Maybe the  historians
  among us
  will offer more knowledgeable viewpoints than 
mine.  (Meanwhile, I'll
  remember with a twinge of sadness the image of 
Ron  gripping his M1.)

  I was glad to see the discussion about the 
relevance of articulate  or even
  eloquent speakers among political leaders, past 
and present. I firmly
  believe
  that GWB's "finest moment," -- indeed, his only 
halfway GOOD moment, in  my
  opinion -- was his patriotic speech on the 
rubble. That, more than anything

  else, helped him get reelected. Reagan and 
Clinton were both excellent
  communicators, and perhaps the most popular 
presidents in recent history.
  Ergo:  what
  we Democrats MOST need as a presidential 
candidate is  someone who has not
  only
  the other credentials we value (and my list, at 
least,  is rather long) but
  is also a powerfully persuasive public  speaker.

  Barack Obama comes to mind.

  And I would like to thank Katie (I think it was) 
who provided a  link to
  Obama's website, even though my browser wouldn't 
accept the link.  Her
  suggestion
  gave me the impetus to do a quick search and 
find the site, where  I
  listened
  to his speech about curtailing oil dependency, 
then his "Call to  Renewal"
  address about religion and politics. Neither of 
these speeches were as
  well-rehearsed and dynamic as his Democratic 
Convention keynote speech, of
  course, but
  very substantive and impressive, anyway. Enough 
to make me  startle my dogs
  by clapping and yelling now and then. <G> And 
enough  to make me send the
  link
  to a former classmate who, although a devout 
"born  again" Christian, has
  the
  heart and mind of a true Democrat and thinks for 
himself. And he, in turn,
  had the courage to pass it along to that small 
group  of neoconservative
  classmates with whom he is still in touch (and 
from whom I am  alienated)
  and ask
  them to read it. (I wish him luck!) Recently, 
you see, he had  received a
  forwarded email from one of them which explained 
why a Christian  can't
  possibly be a
  Democrat. He had mentioned this to me and said 
he had  ignored it, but I
  knew
  it troubled him and I knew Obama's speech would 
offer him  solace. After a
  recent heart attack, he has been instructed to 
reduce stress in  his life,
  so of
  course, he has been sidestepping such 
provocative emails. His  response to
  Obama's speech was therefore a very meaningful 
gesture. It says a  lot about

  him, AND about Obama.

  So far, I haven't heard any party leaders 
mention Obama as a  potential 2008

  candidate. But frankly, I'm beginning to feel 
more and more  strongly that
  our
  country needs him NOW.

  Joy

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