Humanvalues Weblog

Hello and thank you for checking out this Podcast. I’d like to tell you about a new book that speaks to the dilemma in which we voters find ourselves at the moment. We need to bring about a real Ballot Box Revolution that will tilt this Democracy toward its working class citizens. If this really is a nation of,… for, and by its People, why have we allowed the so-called Free Market system to become more powerful than ourselves? How can it be allowed to dominate us? What are we, chopped liver?

How is it that the system that is “too large to fail,” got that large? And without proper oversight? How is it that this faulty system must be saved by the hard-earned tax money of its victims? We, who are small, are allowed to fail, to loose our homes, our jobs, and who gives a damn? The People should be served by the market, not the other way around. We are not here to serve the market! It should be working in our behalf!

This Nation was conceived in Liberty, and this ideal of personal freedom was not designed for the freedom of its market system that would become so powerful as to allow its People to be ground-up in its machinery. This is another case of the tail wagging the dog!

Lefties Are In Their Right Minds

The book that I’m introducing is called Lefties Are In Their Right Minds. I’m going to say that again: Lefties Are In Their Right Minds! Do you like that title? No? You are shocked by that assertion? You recently heard our Democratic Candidate accused of being a Socialist, and denying it vehemently. Those gathered around him also were expressing their own disdain of such a possibility. But, ladies and Gentlemen, guess what we’ve got? Not only do we have Socialized Militarism, but now we have Socialized Capitalism! The exploitive Capitalist Free Market can’t stand on its own but has to be propped up by the Government and the tax-payer’s money! What a surprising development this is! Maybe if there had been a little Socialized Government regulation in behalf of the people, we wouldn’t have been left to be doubly victimized by the so-called Free Market.

I want to tell you who I am and why I’ve written Lefties Are In Their Right Minds. The story starts more than a hundred years ago, way back in 1902. A young man born of Wall Street wealth grew up learning of the flaws of this Democracy right at the Family dining table. He heard of plant closings that put people out of work; he heard of the thwarting of labor unions. Being an ethical person, he began to champion the underdog, the victims. He believed in worker’s Rights and even went to jail for supporting strikers. That young man was Corliss Lamont, you may have heard of him? I was honored to have been his wife. I’m sad to be his widow. He would be making some fiery speeches in support of a Democracy that would not betray its own people.

When he learned of the Bolshevik Revolution he identified with the workers, the soldiers, the sailors, the farmers who were throwing off the Czar, like we, in the U.S. threw off the King and declared our own independence. He proceeded to study and write and visit the new Socialist Democracy and he believed that we in the U.S. might be inspired and that the same ideas could take root in this country as well, and the people would benefit thereby. He wrote and published in 1939 the book entitled You Might Like Socialism: A Way of Life for Modern Man. I quip the following: Sorry, Corliss. They didn’t like it then and they don’t like it now, but who the hell are the theys? It turns out to be the Fat Cats who profit by uncontrolled Capitalism. And, hold your hats for this comment: you might not believe it, but I’ll say it anyway! It’s the American People themselves who don’t even understand that they are getting screwed! We have been totally brainwashed!

We have been conditioned to fear and be repulsed by the dreaded S-word, or worse, the C-word, and even the L-word is a no-no. We have been brainwashed for over a century. And do you know where it all started? No? Well, it started on Wall Street. Capitalism was scared spitless with the idea that workers would have a right to demand a share of the profits and to have a voice in the management of their own industries or factories. The church was terrified of those godless Atheists who were throwing off the blood-sucking Russian church, and refusing to be docile and obedient anymore! So here you have a collusion of church and state to stop the spread of dangerous ideas…which could possibly spread like wildfire.

President Woodrow Wilson was persuaded to invade the new Soviet Union. So, there we were in 1918 sending troops to Vladavastok and Archangel in Siberia to protect the White Russians from these Bolsheviks. The rationale was, and I quote: “To strangle the dangerous infant of Socialism in its cradle.” I’ll just bet that you’ve never heard of that before! The ideal of Socialism started out just that way…as an ideal…the same way that our ideal of Democracy started out as an ideal. But we all know what happens when power runs rampant and tramples those ideals. We end up with a totalitarian system that thwarts the will of the people and simply perpetuates its own power. So, this is what the book is all about: urging the people to regain their power.

If you unite in your purpose you can create a true Revolution at the Ballot Box. Throw out the perpetual warmongers, put some Democrats in office who will actually respond to your needs and your wishes. We can have good schools, real health care, secure jobs that don’t migrate overseas; we will rebuild our infrastructure; we will create new industries for non-toxic renewable energy. We will create a peaceful relationship with other nations and provide ethical leadership. Afghanis and Iraqis will actually applaud us when we leave.

I say that Socialists are called Lefties because on the left is where the heart is located.

We need heartfelt compassion and concern for all of Humankind. This is the only way that Americans can be safe and become the truly great nation that we like to believe we already are. We can work together and make changes. Please visit the Web site and read the whole book if you like. Later there’ll be paperback copies sponsored by Half-Moon Foundation. The Web page is located at https://www.corliss-lamont.org/lefties/.

P.S. You might notice that this is my first blog post for many months. I’ve been blogging for the book. And here it is!

HumanValuesWeblog20081025-Post37.mp3   8 minutes 22 seconds – 8,041,673 bytes

Hello Mayor Bloomberg,

You are in a position to change the course of history! You have the opportunity to become a Hero in the eyes of the world. You know that as the Mayor of the greatest City in the United States you already have the eyes of the world upon you. We need your courageous leadership! Please consider this appeal?

Congress has just curtailed the Civil Liberties of the American People. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 will be know as the Permission to Torture Bill; it removes the centuries-old right of Habeas Corpus protection for those wrongfully imprisoned; it threatens to make “Enemy Combatants” or accomplices of every American dissenter to the policies of this administration. This Bill was just approved on September 29th by Congress. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was one of twelve Democratic Senators who approved the Bill.

People of our city, who are lovers of peace, plan to take to the busy streets on Thursday, October 5th! Our voices must be heard! We need for you to protect our rights to dissent! We are patriotic Americans who favor diplomacy over destruction. We favor an ethical response instead of one of revenge. We renounce Bush’s plan to bomb Iran as totally insane. This insanity must be stopped! Bombing civilian populations is a war crime! You know it! The world knows it! The eyes of the world are upon us, worrying that this will be allowed by the American People. They can’t see our bumper stickers!

New York City is still the symbolic target of those who hate the United States. We are now in more danger of terrorist attack because our inappropriate military response to 9/11 has generated more hatred rather than less. Worse still, is the revenge that will be wreaked upon New York City if the plan for bombing Iran proceeds.

There are two important points that we wish for you to consider:

1. The terrorists will have accomplished their mission of “destroying” our country if the voices of the People are stifled. We Americans are proud of our heritage of freedom, and of our Bill of Rights that allows us “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Do not allow those who hate us to have the satisfaction of having destroyed our Civil Liberties.

2. There will be a “Nuremberg Trial” for the Leadership, the military and the People of the United States at some time in the future. We cannot pretend that “we didn’t know” or that we were “just following orders.” The Bush Regime is hell bent on starting World War Three by planning to punish Iran for not obeying its dictates. There are nuclear bombs. Someone will use them. New York City is still the prime target! Don’t let partisan politics and loyalty to the Republicans allow you to be silent. We need your help. The brave New York City Police are American citizens as well as our protectors. We need their help on this important day of October 5th. We deserve the right to march on Broadway and disrupt the traffic. Business-as-usual-just doesn’t get it! Celebrities, dignitaries, and corporations are given special treatment. They are not more important than the People!

Our request to use the busy streets was denied; we cannot fathom the rationale that went into such a strange denial. You have no right to hold the People hostage this way. We have a right to speak out. We are peace loving People. The assertion that “Homeland Security” is a consideration is total nonsense. If anti-peace, supporters of the war were to heckle us or even attack us, we would hope that the Police would protect our protest march. Peace Marchers have never been violent! We have occupied the full expanse of Broadway with a sea of Citizens without incident in previous years.

We invite the Police Department, rather than barricading us, penning us up, and preventing us from gathering together to have our voices heard, to walk with us to protect us in the street. This is contrary to current accepted practices called “crowd control.”

Mistakes can be made in high places, New York, Washington, it doesn’t matter where, but to perpetuate these mistakes is not very wise. We need wisdom. It is insane for mistakes to become entrenched, even ossified, in public policy, without ever examining the unintended consequences.

The Peace People of the World are angry at the Bush policy of using the military might instead of wisdom; the Peace People of New York are angry at the prevalent Bloomberg policy of allowing military might and corporate interests to take precedence over the long range wisdom of helping the People “peaceably to assemble.” We patriotic Americans will gather in the streets on Thursday, October 5th. Our voices must be heard! Help us! We are counting on you!
Thanking you in advance,

Beth K. Lamont, Humanist Celebrant, Non Governmental Organization
Representative for the American Humanist Association to the United Nations,
Member Council of Ethics Based Organizations at the UN
777 UN Plaza, Lobby Level, New York, NY 10017

Also in behalf of: The World Can’t Wait!, Not In Our Name, International Action Center, Students Against the War, Grannies Against the War, Veterans Against the War, (these last three are categories, not titles) and many other concerned organizations and citizens.

All right! I’ve had it already! It’s barely the beginning of Ned’s campaign and already I’m up to here with the idiotic nonsense, drivel, innuendos and even outright vindictive lies that are saturating the radical right wing blogs! Red diaper Baby with a Silver Spoon! Indeed! They almost constitute a case study in illogic. What do we have here? The Karl Rove dirty tricks department out in full force to undermine a challenger to Bush’s war?

There are a few things that Ned’s critics better get right. Ned Lamont is his own man. He is neither his Great Grandfather, Thomas W. Lamont, a partner of J.P. Morgan, (as described in the book: An Ambassador from Wall Street), nor his Great Uncle, Corliss Lamont, Champion of Civil Liberties, a Democratic Socialist, and author of The Philosophy of Humanism and Freedom is As Freedom Does.

It would seem that the Great Grandfather and the Great Uncle might have been exactly polar opposites in their thinking. Can Ned be blamed and suspected for both points of view? His critics should make up their minds! For which of the many ideas of his relatives are they faulting him? One was a highly successful, liberal, Wall Street Banker; the other, an American Patriot who was falsely accused of being un-American by Senator Joseph McCarthy. One worked within the bounds of respectability; the other, a severe critic of those boundaries. Ned’s Grandfather, Thomas Stillwell Lamont, Brother of Corliss, who followed his Father to Wall Street, was embarrassed by Corliss’ radical views. He took his Brother to task, saying that he was a traitor to his class and that he was bringing shame upon the Family.

And little wonder! Corliss Lamont was scathing in his criticism. He was challenging the totally mistaken concept that we peddle at home and abroad. Capitalism and Democracy are not, repeat, NOT synonymous! One is an economic system; the other a political system. In fact, they might not even be compatible, as He was witnessing union-busting, slimy war-profiteering, conscienceless exploitation of vulnerable and minority persons, and blatant, sinister violations of the Bill of Rights.

So which of these philosophies should Ned be faulted for? You’ve got it! The right answer: NEITHER!

As for the Great Grandfather and the Great Uncle, they actually agreed on many liberal issues, among which were education and philanthropy. Incidentally, they, both father and son, spoke on the same Madison Square Garden platform in 1942, at a meeting of the National Council for American Soviet Friendship, in behalf of U.S. Aid to the Soviets. The menacing specter of Socialist idealism seemed to frighten neither of these two Gentlemen, not even the danger to Wall Street of the radical Socialist concept of sharing the wealth with the workers!

I repeat, Ned Lamont is neither of these historic figures; he shares their genes, but he is a man of his own times and of his own experiences, with his own perspectives. He certainly must not be held accountable for potential extremes that lurk only in the perceptions of his critics. Ned Lamont is his own man. He is not responsible for previous generations. Nor is Joe Lieberman, for that matter; each of these men is responsible for his own actions and decisions, based on his own concept of public service, patriotism and especially of ethical behavior.

Ned Lamont sees the so-called war on terrorism as counter-productive to the safety of the American public, and as a destabilizing element to the world in general. Joe Lieberman no doubt acted out of patriotism when he voted to give President Bush the power to launch what Bush surely knew was an illegal, immoral war. The bombing of civilians, whatever the pretext, by whatever country, constitutes state terrorism. These acts violate Human Rights norms and are culpable by the International Criminal Court as war crimes. If the U.S. had no intention of violating Human Rights norms, it need not have bothered to coerce 84 nations into promising to not allow extradition to the ICC of U.S. personnel if they were charged with war crimes.

Acts of terror by individuals or organizations are reprehensible. They must be dealt with on an individual basis. Most of the World Trade Terrorist hijackers were Saudis; by what twisted and distorted illogic did this heinous act perpetrated upon American citizens translate into “shock and awe” revenge against Afghan and Iraqi citizens? Terrorists are hiding among them? Not valid! Though we grieve for Israeli victims of violence, now should this same illogic justify the vengeful murderous bombing of Palestinian and Lebanese citizens? Not on your life! Not on the lives of thousands of innocent victims!

War-mongers in Washington, in cahoots with the mercenary sellers of fear and hatred and armaments, have created a backlash that has caused the American public to be more vulnerable now, at this moment, than they were in September of 2001. The U.S., with its totally over-zealous, poorly conceived, but previously planned, vengeful attacks, not on individual suspected terrorists, like Osama bin Forgotten, but instead, perpetrated on sovereign nations, without provocation, has earned this country disrespect by the rest of the world. Sad to say, because most Americans still like to believe that we are the “good guys in the white cowboy hats who come to the rescue.” Vengeance will be heaped upon us for generations.

Ned may not have mentioned support of the United Nations yet, but an endorsement is certainly in order.

It is working within this International framework that world peace will come. The U.S. has had the notion that rather than being just one member of the human family, it should dominate. Adolescent arrogance develops into mature wisdom, sometimes with sad experience. The whole world will benefit from wise and ethical leadership that champions equality, justice, the rule of law, and respect for the dignity and Human Rights of all Peoples of Earth. With the strengthening of the potential of the United Nations, building its capacity to intervene and protect the innocent from the scourge of war; to intercede to prevent nuclear proliferation and other destructive military forces; and to provide humanitarian aide and support for peace and justice movements, and efforts toward building democratic institutions, we Earthlings of every nation will someday begin to realize the age old dream of living our lives in safety and Peace.

I would vote for Ned Lamont in a New York minute! Just wish he were running for the Senate in this state. Perhaps his courageous leadership will inspire our own Hillary Clinton to renounce Bush’s war as well.

Go for it, Ned! Hold steady and just stare down your ill-informed detractors, if they can’t be enlightened by your well-researched information. Go for it, Ned! I should live so long I can vote for you for President!

Sent with love from an admirer who was part of your Great Uncle’s world.

Beth K. Lamont