The Threat to American Democracy
I found this interesting speech by Al Gore regarding the state of democracy in America, and the role corporate media, especially television, is playing in its demise. Gore does a great job of putting into words what some, but not enough, people are thinking.
Reading this speech reminded me of an old Saturday Night Live skit that parodied the 1988 presidential debates between George Bush Sr. and Michael Dukakis. George Bush, played by Dana Carvey, is looking like a fool spitting out is his usual platitudes: “thousand points of light”, “A kindler, gentler America”, “stay the course” in an attempt to kill time because he doesn’t have anything of substance to say. Mercifully his time runs out, the camera turns to Michael Dukakis, played by Jon Lovitz, and he replies : “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy”. I was reminded of this skit because I had the same thought after reading this speech. Did Al Gore really lose to George W. Bush in 2000? I can’t believe it. I don’t know if Gore employed a speech writer for this speech, and I highly doubt he ever would have made this speech if he was in or running for office, but can you imagine Bush making a speech like this? Never! What do you think Bush will be doing after his term is up? (Hopefully serving a prison term :)). I think a public speaking tour about clearing brush is the best we can hope for.