Newspaper logo  
 
 
  Confusion Reigns at Inauguration

COMMENTARY:

Confusion Reigns at Inauguration

by Fred Cederholm

I must confess that I was left more that a bit confused after reading and re-reading Bush's inaugural address. Just where are "we" headed with this "vision thing"?
I've been thinking about the Inauguration, the oath of office, confidence, elections, and the components of freedom. So much was going through my head as I watched the events unfold on the Capitol steps last Thursday, January 20th.

Central to the oath of office sworn to by both the Vice-President and the President were the words: "...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." The cornerstone of this Republic's freedom rests in the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights--as detailed by our founding fathers. Just how do they square with the "protections" enumerated in the Patriot Act(s) and amplified in the Homeland Security Act, or any other terror driven bills yet to come?

We saw a most confident George W. Bush take the oath and deliver an address to this nation and the world. You would expect such an all-powerful personage to exude these traits. Confidence and faith go hand in hand. Both Bush and Carter shared this duality of character strengths in their personas, but Carter's was tempered by a pervasive humility. This was not always the case with Bush in these prior four years.

I followed the Bush address word by word, and took copious notes. Later, I downloaded the complete text--which I have read and read and reread and reread. Concepts of freedom and liberty were central to the speech, but only in the most abstract and obtuse way. I must confess that I was left more that a bit confused-- just where are "we" headed with this "vision thing"? (Kind of the way I felt years back when confronted by his father's "thousand points of light" - and I must point out that I supported him ONCE, too.) What could, would, or should "we" as the remaining global superpower be doing to enhance our security by promoting/encouraging such worldwide freedom and liberties?

Free elections are central to freedom and liberty, but CHOICE also enters into the mix. This administration has a great deal riding on the coming elections in Iraq. While they may be free (or at least freer than those under Saddam), where or what are the choices? Neither individuals nor parties are named, and there has been no campaigning. Rather, the electorate will vote for loosely defined "groups" who will later select specific representatives. This "pig in a poke" indirectness is further diluted by the vagueness of the "pokes." Does this situation meet the historical norms behind OUR understanding of elections, choice, freedom and liberty?

Anybody acquainted with me, or following my columns over this past year and a third; knows that I was underwhelmed by the choices given us in Election 2004. From my perspective, we enjoyed the freedom to pick Brand B, Brand K, or to not vote at all. Some choice! I know there were many hardcore supporters on both sides, but a lot of us were left frustrated on the peripheries. This country, its finances, its currency, and its economic direction need leadership and a plan of action--not open-ended military plans of attack. While it may be good for some businesses, war is really not good business.

The world condemns our military/diplomatic arrogance and our endless global-sucking consumption; while at the very same time, the world depends on US/us to look out for their global interests and to provide a bottomless market for their goods, services, and products. What is wrong with this picture?

The American Experience of our 200-plus-year history has long set the benchmark for freedom and liberty on the planet. Subliminal love/hate envy of our successes and our freedoms of the past is now being supplanted by an overt love-to-hate US/us in these early years of the 21st century. These and many underpinnings of our current situation have got to change, and NOW!

When we depend on about $2 BILLION of new foreign capital a day to keep up our present level of consumptive spending going, when the value and acceptability of our currency is determined by foreign central banks and monopolies, when half of our national debt is held abroad, and when our level of charitable works and aid is nominally determined overseas; are "we" truly free? I'm Fred Cederholm and I've been thinking. You should be thinking, too.


Copyright 2005 Fred Cederholm. All rights reserved. Fred Cederholm is a CPA/CFE, a forensic accountant, and writer who contributes the column "TH*NK*NG" to The Weekly Observer in Creston, (Ogle County) Illinois. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.A., M.A. and M.A.S.). He can be reached at asklet@rochelle.net.


Copyright © 2005 The Baltimore Chronicle. All rights reserved.

Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.

This story was published on January 24, 2005.

 
Local News & Opinion

Ref. : Local Newsbriefs

Travel
Films, Arts & Education
Letters

Ref. : Letters to the editor

Open Letters:

06.24 Mr. Holder, You Must Hold Torturers Accountable

Health & Environment

06.29 Thinking about Climate

06.26 False Health-Scare Ad on CNN

06.25 Louella Learns the Limits of Medicare

06.23 The Simple Answer to America’s Health Care Crisis: Medicare for All

06.23 Tell ABC: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate

06.23 Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex

06.22 Thinking about Recoveries

06.20 Obama's Health Care Waterloo

06.15 Obama, Like Clinton Before Him, is Blowing the Chance for Real Health Care Reform

06.11 Two Key Health-Care Numbers

06.10 Big Breakthroughs for Single Payer Health Care

06.10 Readying Americans for Dangerous, Mandatory Vaccinations

Media Watching

06.29 WP's Connolly Back, on Health Reform

06.17 Hypocrisy and Hope: Western Coverage, Iranian Courage

06.15 Excusing Outrages of the Right

06.11 Tying Obama to Bush's Budget Mess

US Politics, Policy & Culture

06.30 Obama's Torture Hypocrisy

06.30 Court Circular: Annals of Imperial Continuity

06.29 Obama, They Want You to Fail

06.26 Who to Trust on a Truth Commission?

06.26 Tarnished Shields: The Morally Bankrupt 'Family Values' Republican Leadership

06.25 America's "Bases of Empire"

06.24 Twelve Angry White People: Jury Nullification in a Pennsylvania Coal Town

06.24 Touring Empire's Ruins

06.23 Employers are Undermining the Economic Stimulus Program

06.19 Criminalizing Dissent: Obama Pot Calls Iranian Kettle Black

06.17 Afghanistan's Operation Phoenix

06.16 Are You Ready for War with a Demonized Iran?

06.13 Where's the Anger as the Wheels Come Off Obama's and the Democrats' Recovery Program?

06.10 Waiving the Rules for Old Glory

06.10 Obama's Era of Openness Is Closed

“High Crimes?”

07.03 Reviewing Marjorie Cohn and Kathleen Gilberd's "Rules of Disengagement"

07.01 Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure

06.25 It's All Good, Again: 'Uptick' in the American-Made Tides of Violence in Iraq

06.22 Obama Opposes Plame-gate Release

06.21 Dexter's Legions: The "Good" Killers of the "Good" War

06.18 Extending the Tradition: Proudly Taking American Torture Into the Future

06.15 New UN Report Denounces America's Human Rights Record

06.14 Fear Rules

Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance

07.01 Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism:" The Economic Strategy of Imperial America

06.23 Obama's Financial Reform Proposal - A Stealth Scheme for Global Monetary Control

06.10 Cyberscares About Cyberwars Equal Cybermoney

International

07.01 Pirates of the Mediterranean

06.29 Color Revolutions, Old and New

06.25 Iran Divided & the 'October Suprise'

06.23 Astringent Corrective: AbuKhalil on Iran's Turmoil

06.22 Reviewing F. William Engdahl's "Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order:" Part I

06.20 Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?”

06.20 Through a Glass Darkly: Sifting Myth and Fact on Iran

06.19 Iran's Election and US - Iranian Elections

06.16 The Ir-Af-Pak War: Obama Looses the Manhunters

06.12 Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead

We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
Google
This site Web

Public Service Ads:
Verifiable Voting in Maryland