11.2008
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
Oh fuck, he's pretending that religion is the foundation of human rights and human freedom instead of governance or the State. Thank fuck we've had nobler and higher-minded men in the Democratic Party to dissuade us of that notion. The State is all, the extreme limit of human rights are all such things that the state declares to be such rights, civil rights refers not to processes and procedures that the state must guarantee to be whole but rather to whatever customs and privileges the State decrees belong to it's people.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Jesus, he's openly trying to raise some extreme national zeitgeist and ennobling kampf in all of it's forms, be it internal, personal, public, military, and especially social. Oh Jesus he's talking about the Bill of Rights and the American Revolution. He's one of those war-hungry hyperaggressive overcompensating male gun nuts, isn't he?
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
"Liberating" countries is something of a worrying trend, Mr. Kennedy.
This much we pledge--and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
This is promising, actually. We cannot face al Qaeda alone, but Spain's retreat in the face of terrorism weakened us precipitously. Fortunately, Britain would never be the victim of such an attack, not because they are not in Iraq, but because their police would be and have been watching everyone the whole damn time. Mr. Kennedy, by attempting to build international trust and international relations here, is speaking of expanding that police net until such countries as join our side do so with impunity and without fear of reprisal.
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Now this? This is a thing called psyops. It's the absolute cornerstone of counterintelligence and counterguerilla warfare. It recognizes the validity of the Maoist method of civilian network-building and trust-building, and it is what we have failed to do adequately so far in the war on terror. This is actually alarming, though, because it requires that the enemy present a recognizable threat to the civilian populace, which in our particular case, calls for false flag operations and other such foundational principles of psyops. Hearts and minds need blood and guts as much as aid and comfort. I do not know whether to be reassured or not, it depends on how well Mr. Kennedy is capable of performing advanced coordinated intelligence operations. Let us hope he is capable of recognizing both meritous and nonmeritous plans on sight.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
He's apparently intent on expanding the Monroe Doctrine, and personally threatening Venezuela and Argentina.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
And now he's asking Iran to keep their biological and nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. He's ASKING. IRAN. One does not ask Iran. One elects a senile Cold Warrior psychopath with an itchy nuking finger to threaten to melt Iran down to glass, pave over it, and paint red, white, and blue stripes across the whole thing to get hostages released.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
Riiiiiiiight.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.
So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Negotiation with terrorists is something that only the KGB ever did well. They did it by negotiating the release of one of their ambassadors from Chechen terrorists by taking the terrorist's families hostage and cutting off bits of them one at a time when the terrorists refused unconditional surrender. After the terrorists surrendered, some of their family members even managed to survive their injuries, such is the mercy of the Motherland.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
He's reaching out to everyone simultaneously, here. It's an old Imperialist trick, play each faction against the other with you as the benefactor of each, so that your support becomes necessary to their struggle. It matters not how much the Empire-approved genocide costs the people involved, the Empire profits from it both economically and in terms of social power.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.
Good luck with that one, man. Saddam didn't even HAVE weapons of mass destruction and we couldn't get U.N. inspectors in his weapons facilities.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.
So your solution to global terrorism is to give them HOBBIES. Well, hobbies and food. Way to overlook the fact that prior to our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq the majority of al Qaeda members and the vast majority of 9-11 hijackers were spoiled Saudi Arabian civilians who were mostly disgusted by the desert-conquering disease-eradicating educating Americanizing techniques we've tried over there to get the most out of their 10-18% of our oil supply.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free."
So, is he threatening Middle Eastern regimes here?
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
A World Government where terrorism is policed before it can start up, you say? Good fucking luck.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
Hardly reassuring.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Oh God, more war and more invasions and more military pushes. Necessary, obviously, to do what he states he intends, but we can't invade every shithole on planet Earth. Even the strictest and most fundamentalist Muslims can't keep their own Jihad-running ranks from occasionally deciding that Allah doesn't exist and they've been working for Iblis all along in Algeria.
Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Yet more promises of running a good psyops commandery. This is what we need to have any chance of genuinely winning the war on terror short of global genocide. But the expense is going to be just too much, especially for America as it stands.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
I'm sure the governments of the Earth would be more receptive to killing terrorists and seizing their countries if we could manage to make it profitable. As it is, we're too reluctant to do an old-fashioned British-style massacre or to turn Iraq into a Belgian style "Congo Free State" to turn anything resembling a profit.
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
"City on the hill" bullshit, eh? Well, it works normally as American rhetoric, but it won't do a whole fucking lot for the rest of the world at large.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.
And again he's talking in the sort of nationalist terms that lead to things like getting your ass drafted to die on a retreat from Poland.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
But, perhaps he is going to institute some sort of mass psyops sort of thing. Using the nationalistic rhetoric that inspires militarism, but instead of a traditional army he might be planning for rebuilding and going all Hearts&Minds with a civilian task force. Maybe he's smart enough to realize that we need a different kind of imperial force to win over civil resistance since we are not willing to use the traditional means (referring to swords in hearts rather than hearts and minds).
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.