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Poor Accusation, No Logic
I read with some dismay the letter [June 10] from William R. Delzell of Springfield, Massachusetts. My dismay is first directed toward the accusation that Jim Cooper pandered to voters in his senate campaign. The author of the letter presumes that Cooper adopted positions contrary to his beliefs, simply for the purpose of attracting Republican and/or conservative voters. I expect that Cooper would have welcomed votes from any segment of the voter base, but I am absolutely certain that he did not adopt any positions during his race that were contrary to his beliefs. Those beliefs may not have been pleasing to the author of the letter, but I am certain that they were heartfelt positions of Jim Cooper. He simply does not pander. He is the most direct and nonpolitical politician whom I have ever known. If our Congress was populated by a number of persons with the character and principles of Jim Cooper, then we would have wonderful governance.
The second point of concern for me is the author’s profession that he voted for Ralph Nader in the most recent presidential election. I do not impugn his motives, but I question the logic of casting a vote that led to the election of a president whose views are contrary to every view expressed by the author in his letter to you. Those who voted for George Bush surely did so out of admiration for his principles and the belief that those principles would best serve our country and its entire populace. Those who voted for Ralph Nader surely could not have held those views, and yet they also played a role in Bush’s election.
Idealism is wonderful, but life’s experiences have taught me that it must be tempered with practicality and logic. I found neither practicality nor logic in the sentiments expressed by the author of this letter.
Dudley W. Taylor
Knoxville
Inside, Looking in
The photos at TDOT’s new SmartFIX website are all quite stunning, showing wide, clean, untrafficked roads (a relocated Fourth Avenue; I-40 eastbound widened; a viaduct at I-275; James White Parkway entrance ramp to I-40 westbound; Broadway southbound entrance ramp to I-40 westbound and James White Parkway exit ramp from I-40 westbound; Old Magnolia Avenue at North Central Street; Hall of Fame Drive; etc.), most with idyllic, undulating grassy berms. But, it’s telling that our “new and improved” TDOT still creates all of their renderings from the perspective of a driver on the road, with no consideration of what this project looks like to the person standing in, say, the Old City, looking up at the James White Parkway/Hall of Fame Boulevard Bridge (or what the space underneath the bridge will look like for that matter), or standing in Fourth & Gill looking up at Hall of Fame Boulevard/I-40, or in Parkridge looking up at I-40.
Does it ever occur to anyone at TDOT to consider what their projects may look like to someone who is not “on” their “new and improved” roadway, but beside it, living next to it, having to walk underneath it, etc.? Or would a perspective like that just get in the way of TDOT’s real business, which is keeping the TRBA membership fat & happy? Sure looks a lot like the same ol’ TDOT to me.
Arthur B. Carmichael III
Knoxville
Sur Les Barricades!
An open letter to the anti-war movement in Knoxville area—Part 2:
In Part 1 [June 10] I tried to sum up some of the big events and conclusions that can be drawn. Now I want to discuss Bush’s plans for the near future and for the 2004 presidential election and the plans we must make to oppose and defeat his policies.
Despite Bush’s many failures, he intends to press ahead on many levels. This administration literally intends to transform the culture, to rewrite the most basic legal norms and rights and create a permanent political alignment to last for generations. They are serious; they’re in power, and they’re backed by large chunks of the American power structure.
They have claimed the 9-11 attacks as their source of legitimacy. But 2004 is an election year, and they have a new goal: They want a mandate for their agenda. That means they want to claim that all this has been embraced and approved by the people themselves. We cannot and must not allow that to happen!
Here in the United States, there must be a clear, powerful, and unmistakable repudiation of everything represented by the Bush clique and their agenda. When this year has ended and the election circus is over, it must be unmistakable that millions in the United States completely reject the agenda of war and repression.
Last year at this time millions of people in the world strongly protested the war in Iraq. There were massive marches, school walkouts, and teach-ins. Although it did not end the war, the warmakers could not claim they had a mandate for that war. Now in 2004, millions worldwide sense that the whole course of history is at stake, and that irreparable harm may result if this juggernaut of war and repression isn’t stopped. And they’re right.
But even within the ranks of the antiwar movement, people are being told that throwing their energies into “anybody but Bush” is the only way to change the direction of the country. That is such a trap for all of us! It is really crucial for people to understand that the mandate for this horrendous agenda cannot be significantly challenged if people put their energies into the electoral arena. I know that many people who do not share this view are going to vote for the Democrats, including people who know that the Democrats are not going to change things. With each passing month, the official electoral arena has become more and more tightly controlled and the allowable range of debate has shrunk. The now official assumptions about security, anti-terrorism, and the need for pre-emptive strikes are simply not supposed to be questioned.
For a few months, with Howard Dean in the race, some people thought they had a way to voice some anti-war sentiments within the primaries. But now that’s over, and everyone is now told to back John Kerry—a man who voted for launching the Iraq war, voted for the Patriot Act and upholds Bush’s plans to occupy and forcefully subdue Iraq.
Our resources and energies must not get channeled and drained into an electoral black hole that is fully dominated by the ruling class. The whole agenda of these last few years must be called out, exposed, denounced, and resisted. And that will not happen by focusing on the elections, where such challenges have already been ruled out of order. The mass resistance we organize in the period ahead can have a huge impact on everything that follows. This is a moment of great danger and great possibility. We must fight to turn things around today, well aware that we are preparing new forces for the new struggles of tomorrow.
Richard Anderson
Knoxville
June 24, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 26
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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