Live Earth
The idea is a good one. On one day, the world should focus on the environment but we need to follow thru.
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The Errington Thompson Show 6-09-07
Kinda of a confusing show. In spite of this, we discuss NCLB and the Scooter Libby verdict. We dispel many right wing myths.
Tecumseh—Resistance
Few better dramatize the concept of resistance than the great Chief Tecumseh. (1768-1812) Tecumseh refused accommodation or assimilation with encroaching whites. He thought he would be better off dead than accepting these things. In this he spoke for himself, for his Shawnee tribe and for other unified Native American tribes he led into battle against Americans before his death in the War of 1812.
Tecumseh is distinct from the first three figures in this series which has run on Where’s the Outrage? this week. Frances Perkins and Barry Goldwater saw politics as the path to change. They were looking for the reigning society to accept new ideas. Thomas Paine, though willing to fight, imagined a better future and was not inherently looking for war.
Tecumseh reached the point of wanting war. He wasn’t really looking for a better future. Tecumseh wanted war knowing he might lose. He understood that settlers would be hard to displace. He wasn’t looking for revolution. He was looking for a worthwhile way to die. He was seeking a way to lose that gave value to his life and to the life of his people.
What does the principled individual do in a valueless society? What does the reformer do who sees that her cause won’t be won in her lifetime? What did an American slave do who saw he was going to live the rest of his life in bondage? What response could be offered by the Native American who saw his people victims of genocide? [Read more →]
Pete Domenici favoring withdrawl
I guess it is better late than never. Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the one who called the US Attorney at home then hung up in attorney’s face only to have the attorney turn up fired a couple of weeks later, is jumping on the pull out of Iraq bandwagon. My problem with these Johnny-come-lately Republicans is that when push comes to shove they fall in line with the White House.
I want a new strategy for Iraq. I continue to completely support the men and women in the American Armed Forces. They have not failed us. It is the Iraqi government that is failing to make even modest progress to help Iraq itself or to merit the sacrifices being made by our men and women in uniform. I am unwilling to continue our current strategy.
I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward. I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home.
I’m not buying it are you?
General Odom – withdraw troops
General Odom was head of the National Security Agency under Reagan says the Congress should withdraw funding and bring the troops home. If the president stands in the way of that objective the House of Representatives should draw up articles of impeachment.
Thomas Paine—The Real Deal
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)was a genuine revolutionary. He was revolutionary in politics, in society and in religion.
The difference between Paine and the first two subjects of this series is clear. Unlike the reforms and changes in direction fought for by FDR’s Labor Secretary Frances Perkins or by Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, Paine wanted a completely new order of affairs.
In politics, Paine’s wrote his pamphlet Common Sense only two years after arriving in the United States from Britain. Common Sense circulated among large numbers of the literate population in America. It performed a task as important as military victory. It moved people’s minds towards accepting the concept of revolution.
In society, Paine was ardently opposed to slavery. It’s often said men like Thomas Jefferson should be viewed in the context of their times on slavery. Yet through men like Paine the moral information that slavery was wrong was part of the public debate. On slavery, Jefferson and others choose to listen to different voices and competing arguments.
In religion, Paine was a skeptic. This skepticism argues Susan Jacoby in Freethinkers—A History of American Secularism caused Paine to be shunned in his own lifetime and ignored after his death as one the great American Founding Fathers.
While Paine helped make the American Revolution, he risked his life in France by speaking out against excesses of the French Revolution. He was not for revolution for its own sake. He managed well the fine line between strong convictions and losing one’s way to pure ideology or moral certainty.
That Paine understood this line can be seen in an observation he made about the French Revolution as qouted by Jacoby. Said Paine, the “intolerant spirit of church persecutions had transferred itself into politics.”
Thomas Paine was the real deal. His mix of revolution and restraint is an enduring model for those willing to imagine a different and better future.
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Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
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