Saturday, May 22, 2004
America deserves better #1
Subject: America deserves better #1 1/21/04
Now we have the growing WMD revelations, and new allegations of
corruption at Halliburton. Halliburton subsidiaries have already had to
refund millions to the government, so earlier allegations were true. I
expect the new ones will prove so as well. The American navy says it takes a
new commander 2 years to turn around a bad ship, but only 6 months for a bad
commander to ruin a good ship. Continued corruption in a corporation is
evidence of a deepseated culture of corruption, and a corporate culture is
determined by it's CEO more than any other influence. Cheney was CEO at
Halliburton for well over 6 months. The Halliburton culture seems to have
also infused the present administration in Washington.
Dear friends,
I am writing this letter as the first step in what I hope will be a
successful campaign. I have thought about this for months, and have delayed,
mainly because my wife didn't want me getting into politics with her
friends, and it was easy to agree with her. However with the passing of time
the reasons to act accumulate. In the last 3 weeks 5 events have pushed me
strongly, and in reflecting on all of my feelings I suddenly realized this
morning that what I feel compelled to address is not a political issue at
all.
Most of our dear friends, friends of long standing, are Republicans, a few
are Democrats, and a few are fiercely committed Republicans. However all of
our friends are intelligent people of strong moral conviction,
philosophically committed to American ideals, and concerned more for the
moral and economic well-being of their children and their country than for
themselves. The issues I want to raise with you are moral, philosophical, strategic
and economic issues that we all hold in common.
I believe deeply, and after long reflection that our present administration
is philosophically misguided, morally rudderless, strategically wrong and economically
irresponsible. I believe they are doing great harm to America, both
domestically and internationally, both for the present and for the future.
Worse, they are destroying, rather than promoting, the moral, philosophical
and economic leadership that America can and should be providing to the
world. My conviction has grown to the point where I feel I have to do
something to promote a change, but I don't want to do so as a political
activist, so I have decided to try to persuade our friends that the present
administration has to go.
I will make no suggestions about what you should do. I only want to
persuade you to do whatever your conscience and convictions tell you to do,
but to do what you can to ensure that we have a change in Washington. Any of
the alternatives we face will be an improvement.
I am going to send a series of messages over the coming months,
some from me, many from other sources. The intent is clearly to persuade you
that, regardless of your political leanings, America does not need and
should not keep this administration. A wise man once said that every nation
gets the government its citizens deserve. America does not deserve what we
have, but if it persists through our inaction, then "we" deserve it.
Murray
Now we have the growing WMD revelations, and new allegations of
corruption at Halliburton. Halliburton subsidiaries have already had to
refund millions to the government, so earlier allegations were true. I
expect the new ones will prove so as well. The American navy says it takes a
new commander 2 years to turn around a bad ship, but only 6 months for a bad
commander to ruin a good ship. Continued corruption in a corporation is
evidence of a deepseated culture of corruption, and a corporate culture is
determined by it's CEO more than any other influence. Cheney was CEO at
Halliburton for well over 6 months. The Halliburton culture seems to have
also infused the present administration in Washington.
Dear friends,
I am writing this letter as the first step in what I hope will be a
successful campaign. I have thought about this for months, and have delayed,
mainly because my wife didn't want me getting into politics with her
friends, and it was easy to agree with her. However with the passing of time
the reasons to act accumulate. In the last 3 weeks 5 events have pushed me
strongly, and in reflecting on all of my feelings I suddenly realized this
morning that what I feel compelled to address is not a political issue at
all.
Most of our dear friends, friends of long standing, are Republicans, a few
are Democrats, and a few are fiercely committed Republicans. However all of
our friends are intelligent people of strong moral conviction,
philosophically committed to American ideals, and concerned more for the
moral and economic well-being of their children and their country than for
themselves. The issues I want to raise with you are moral, philosophical, strategic
and economic issues that we all hold in common.
I believe deeply, and after long reflection that our present administration
is philosophically misguided, morally rudderless, strategically wrong and economically
irresponsible. I believe they are doing great harm to America, both
domestically and internationally, both for the present and for the future.
Worse, they are destroying, rather than promoting, the moral, philosophical
and economic leadership that America can and should be providing to the
world. My conviction has grown to the point where I feel I have to do
something to promote a change, but I don't want to do so as a political
activist, so I have decided to try to persuade our friends that the present
administration has to go.
I will make no suggestions about what you should do. I only want to
persuade you to do whatever your conscience and convictions tell you to do,
but to do what you can to ensure that we have a change in Washington. Any of
the alternatives we face will be an improvement.
I am going to send a series of messages over the coming months,
some from me, many from other sources. The intent is clearly to persuade you
that, regardless of your political leanings, America does not need and
should not keep this administration. A wise man once said that every nation
gets the government its citizens deserve. America does not deserve what we
have, but if it persists through our inaction, then "we" deserve it.
Murray
