Welcome to the New World Order: Bush the Uber-Parent
Welcome to the
In an earlier post (Kissing the Whip) I pondered the question of why some
Americans would vote against their own material interests. I speculated that
there must be an overriding emotional imperative, so strong that it eclipsed
rational considerations. My conclusion was that Bush supporters do not, in fact
want the responsibility that participating in a democracy entails, that they
are seeking the comfort of an Uber-parent.
It turns out that this is exactly how Bush sees himself:
White House
Chief of Staff Andrew Card said yesterday that President Bush views America
as a ”10-year-old child" in need
of the sort of protection
provided by a parent.
Reports Boston.com
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This scares the hell out of me. The relationship between a parent and a
child is not a democratic relationship, it is a dictatorship. It is not an appropriate
model for a democratic society. It is
a relationship that says Do as I say, I make the decisions, I decide what freedoms
you may access, what friends you may have, I know best.
Hitler, Tito, Stalin, Mao - History is
littered with examples of dictators casting themselves as ‘Father of the people’:
In Iraq children were encouraged to refer to Saddam Hussein as ‘Father
Saddam’ or ‘Uncle Saddam’.
After the death of Stalin, people
wept for the man they called "father"
Tito was a considered a benevolent
Father
style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'> ‘In rural
Mao looms larger as a flawed emperor who yet remains a
father figure’
style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:'>
Dictators have always cast themselves as the father of the people, that is why
Hitler’s Germany was an authoritarian ‘Fatherland’ not a nurturing Motherland,
why and how he went one step further and sought to interpose himself in the
relationship between biological parent and child through the mechanism of the
Hitler youth movement, to supplant the role of the actual parent:
When an opponent
declares, ‘I will not come over to your side, ‘I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs
to us already…What are you?
You
will pass on. Your descendants, however,
now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new
community
style='color:'>. (Hitler,
Nov 6th, 1933)
style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:'>Religion is the model from
which dictatorships derive their structure, irrespective of whether the individual
regimes profess to be religious or atheistic in themselves. That decision rests
on whether the regime in question finds it expedient to conflate themselves
with a religion, thus co-opting its followers (as Franco did) or whether
they seek to cut to the chase and supplant God himself, like Mao and Stalin.
The dictator demands that the people have an uncritical faith in him. To do
otherwise becomes heresy. Hitler was
well aware of this:
I have followed [the Church] in giving our party program
the character of unalterable finality, like the Creed. The Church has never
allowed the Creed to be interfered with. It is fifteen hundred years since it
was formulated, but every suggestion for its amendment, every logical criticism,
or attack on it, has been rejected. The Church has realized that anything and
everything can be built up on a document of that sort, no matter how contradictory
or irreconcilable with it. The faithful will swallow it whole, so long as logical
reasoning is never allowed to be brought to bear on it. [Adolf Hitler from Rauschning,
_The Voice of Destruction_, pp. 239-40]
Nazi officials like Reichorganisationsleiter (Reich Organization Leader) Dr.
Robert Ley gave speeches with quasi-religious overtones, attacking intellectualism
as un-German and calling on the people to treat Hitler as an all knowing father:
Once people laughed at us and said: "What do these
Nazis want? They speak of instinct, of racial instinct. These are outdated ideas.
The understanding is the important thing. Knowledge is all, one must study at
the universities." No, my friend, one can’t study it! It is a question
of race, of blood, of inheritance. Either you feel your people, or you do not.
Either fate was kind enough to give you this instinct, or not. All the learning
in the world cannot replace instinct. If you do not have it, you are lost to
our people…
…We are a young people. We have all the weaknesses of
a child. A child wants a father to hold it. When there is thunder and lightening,
the child is afraid and hurries to its father, for it wants to be safe. That
is like the leadership of a people. You, block leaders, block wardens, cell
leaders, cell wardens, must be that if there are storms again in
the people, if sacrifices are again demanded. You must say: "Citizens,
stay calm! The Führer is always right!"
The
republicans sought to present a moderate façade at their conference, but how
moderate are former segregationist Zell Miller or
Cheney, who voted against the release of Mandela on six occasions? After all
the events of the RNC - the manifest hatred expressed by the attendees, the
illegal detention of protestors, the tone of the speeches - I am left with the impression that there is
no longer any doubt what these people represent.
No
two dictatorships are ever the same, but there are classic symptoms common to
all and the Bush regime exhibits most of them:
- Government and Corporate interests
are merged - Fear is perpetuated by demonising
a nation or a group – during the 20th century communists were
cast in this role. - The dictator is presented as
a protective father - The regime hi-jacks the media,
which becomes its propaganda machine - As the media slides to the
right, moderate pro-democracy opinions are cast as radical and subversive - Any questioning of the regime
becomes considered treasonable and the intelligentsia are attacked and accused
of being unpatriotic. - Militarism is glorified
- Unilateralism - Other countries
are presented as hostile unless they are in league with the regime - International laws are violated,
treaties are broken. - The regime does not consider
itself accountable to the people, demands for accountability are treated
as extremist attacks - The erosion of civil liberties
- The use of torture
- Imprisonments without trial
or access to legal representation
Here
are some extracts Cheney’s
RNC speech on
alongside some extracts from Hitler’s speech to
the Reichstag on
30th, 1937. Compare and contrast
the rhetoric and the tone of their justifications:
Cheney:
I am honored
by your confidence. And tonight I make this pledge: I will give this campaign
all that I have, and together we will make George W. Bush president for another
four years.
Tonight
I will talk about this good man and his fine record leading our country And
I may say a word or two about his opponent.
Hitler:
Four years have passed since the beginning of that great
internal revolution which in the meantime has been giving a new aspect to German
life. This is the period of four years which I asked the German people to grant
me for the purpose of putting my work to the test and submitting it to their
judgement. Hence at the present moment nothing could be more opportune than
for me to render you an account of all the successes that have been achieved
and the progress that has been made during these four years, for the welfare
of the German people. But within the limits of the short statement I have to
make it would be entirely impossible to enumerate all the remarkable results
that have been reached during a time which may be looked upon as probably the
most astounding epoch in the life of our people.
Cheney
On this night, as we celebrate the opportunities that
am filled with gratitude to a nation that has been good to me, and I remember
the people who set me on my way in life. My grandfather noted that the day I
was born was also the birthday of
told my parents they should send President Roosevelt an announcement of my birth.
Now my grandfather didn’t have a chance to go to high school. For many years
he worked as a cook on the Union Pacific Railroad, and he and my grandmother
lived in a railroad car. But the modesty of his circumstances didn’t stop him
from thinking that President Roosevelt should know about my arrival. My grandfather
believed deeply in the promise of
highest hopes for his family. And I don’t think it would surprise him much that
a grandchild of his stands before you tonight as vice president of the
It
is the story of this country that people have been able to dream big dreams
with confidence they would come true, if not for themselves, then for their
children and grandchildren. And that sense of boundless opportunity is a gift
that we must pass on to all who come after us.
From
kindergarten to graduation, I went to public schools, and I know that they are
a key to being sure that every child has a chance to succeed and to rise in
the world. When the president and I took office, our schools were shuffling
too many children from grade to grade without giving them the skills and knowledge
they need. So President Bush reached across the aisle and brought both parties
together to pass the most significant education reform in 40 years. With higher
standards and new resources,
are now on an upward path to excellence and not for just a few children, but
for every child.
Hitler
In making
this selection no consideration will be given to birth or ancestry, name or
wealth, but only to the question of whether or not the candidate has a natural
vocation for those higher positions of leadership. That was a fine principle
which the great Corsican enunciated when he said that each one of his soldiers
carried a marshal’s baton in the haversack. In this country that principle will
have its political counterpart. Is there a nobler or more excellent kind of
Socialism and is there a truer form of Democracy than this National Socialism
which is so organised that through it each one among
the millions of German boys is given the possibility of finding his way to the
highest office in the nation, should it please Providence to come to his aid.
Cheney
These have been years of achievement, and we are eager
for the work ahead. And in all that we do, we will never lose sight of the greatest
challenge of our time: preserving the freedom and security of this nation against
determined enemies.
…Four
years ago, some said the world had grown calm, and many assumed that the
might have been comforting; it was also false. Like other generations of Americans,
we soon discovered that history had great and unexpected duties in store for
us.
Hitler
Surely nobody
will doubt the fact that during the last four years a revolution of the most
momentous character has passed like a storm over
January four years ago, when I took my oath of loyalty before the venerable
President of the Reich?
Cheney
Sept. 11th, 2001, made clear the challenges we face.
On that day we saw the harm that could be done by 19 men armed with knives and
boarding passes. America also awakened to a possibility even more lethal: this
enemy, whose hatred of us is limitless, armed with chemical, biological, or
even nuclear weapons.
Just
as surely as the Nazis during World War Two and the Soviet communists during
the Cold War, the enemy we face today is bent on our destruction. As in other
times, we are in a war we did not start, and have no choice but to win. Firm
in our resolve, focused on our mission, and led by a superb commander in chief,
we will prevail.
Hitler
I was a soldier
for more than four years in a war where more blood was shed than ever before
throughout human history. I never lost my nerve, no matter what the situation
was and no matter what sights I had to face. The same holds good for my party
colleagues. But we did not consider it as part of the programme of the National Socialist Revolution to destroy
human life or material goods, but rather to build up a new and better life.
And it is the greatest source of pride to us that we have been able to carry
through this revolution, which is certainly the greatest revolution ever experienced
in the history of our people, with a minimum of loss and sacrifice. Only in
those cases where the murderous lust of the Bolsheviks, even after the 30th
of January, 1933, led them to think that by the use of brute force they could
prevent the success and realization of the National Socialist ideal—only then
did we answer violence with violence, and naturally we did it promptly.
…We certainly had the power in our
hands to do what has been done in
murderer who steals upon his victim unawares, shunning the open fight, and who
is capable only of murdering defenceless [sic] hostages.
We have been soldiers and we never flinched in the face of battle throughout
that most gruesome war of all times. Our hearts and, I may also add, our sound
common sense saved us from committing any acts like those which have been done
in
Cheney
President Bush does not deal in empty threats and half
measures, and his determination has sent a clear message. Just five days after
Saddam was captured, the government of
abandon its nuclear weapons program and turn the materials over to the
for nuclear weapons that were once hidden in
up and stored away in
to be a danger to Americans.
The
biggest threat we face today is having nuclear weapons fall into the hands of
terrorists. The president is working with many countries in a global effort
to end the trade and transfer of these deadly technologies. The most important
result thus far and it is a very important one is that the black-market network
that supplied nuclear weapons technology to
to
source of nuclear weapons proliferation is out of business and we are safer
as a result.
Hitler
Through a
number of treaties which we have made, we have relieved many strained relations
and thereby made a substantial contribution towards an improvement in European
conditions. I need remind you only of our agreement with
countries, our agreement with
we have established with
with Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Spain etc. Finally, I
may mention our cordial relations with a whole series of nations outside of
Cheney
In the global war we are fighting, we owe a mighty debt
to the men and women of the
with courage and reached out to civilians with compassion, rebuilding schools
and hospitals and roads. They have won stunning victories. They have faced hard
duty and long deployments. And they have lost comrades, more than 1,100 brave
Americans, whose memory this nation will honor forever. The men and women who
wear the uniform of the
the thanks of our nation. And they have the confidence, the loyalty, and the
respect of their commander in chief.
In
this election, we will decide who leads our country for the next four years.
Yet there is more in the balance than that. Moments come along in history when
leaders must make fundamental decisions about how to confront a long term challenge
abroad and how best to keep the American people secure. We faced such a moment
after World War Two, when we put in place the policies that defended
the Cold War. Those policies containing communism, deterring attack by the
by Democratic and Republican presidents in the decades that followed.
Hitler
I mean
here that if
will not increase but decrease, despite all the good intentions of individual
statesmen. For this commerce is based not only on the undisturbed and guaranteed
stability of production in one individual nation but also on the production
of all the nations together. One of the first things which is clear in this
matter is that every Bolshevic disturbance must necessarily
lead to a more or less permanent destruction of orderly production. Therefore
my opinion about the future of
leader of the German people and must safeguard its interests in this world as
well as I can. And therefore I am bound to judge things objectively as I see
them…
…I shall not neglect anything that
is necessary to guarantee the existence of the German people, although other
nations may become the victims of the Bolshevic infection.
Cheney
This nation has reached another of those defining moments.
Under President Bush we have put in place new policies and created new institutions
to defend
violence at its source, and to help move the
old hatreds and resentments and toward the lasting peace that only freedom can
bring.
Hitler
But it was
essential for the National Socialist Revolution that this party should put forward
demands which of themselves would involve a real revolutionary change in the
principles and institutions of government hitherto in force.
When certain individuals who were
blind to the actual state of affairs thought that they could refuse to submit
to the practical application of the principles of the movement which had been
entrusted with the government of the Reich, then, but not until then, the party
used an iron hand to make these illegal disturbers of the peace bend their stubborn
necks before the laws of the new National Socialist Reich and Government.
Cheney
This is the work not of months, but of years and keeping
these commitments is essential to our future security. For that reason, ladies
and gentlemen, the election of 2004 is one of the most important, not just in
our lives but in our history.
And
on the question of
the world, the differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush are the
sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest. History has shown
that a strong and purposeful
preserving freedom and keeping us safe yet time and again Senator Kerry has
made the wrong call on national security. Senator Kerry began his political
career by saying he would like to see our troops deployed "only at the
directive of the United Nations.".
Hitler
The National
Socialist Movement, however, limits its sphere of internal activity to those
individuals who belong to one people and it refuses to allow the members of
a foreign race to wield an influence over our political, intellectual, or cultural
life. And we refuse to accord to the members of a foreign race any predominant
position in our national economic system…
…I must ask also whether
the grounds for assuming that
found in the fact that we have left he
If such be the grounds, then I would point out that the
A number of great nations do not belong to it or have left it. And nobody has
on this account asserted that they were following a policy of isolation.
…I must also say here that I do
not accept the opinion which holds that in the moment of peril the League of
nations could come to the rescue of the member States and hold them up by the
arms, as it were. No, I don’t believe that. Mr. Eden stated in his last address
that deeds and not speeches are what matters. On that point I should like to
call attention to the fact that up to now the outstanding feature of the
Cheney
Even in this post-9/11 period, Senator Kerry doesn’t
appear to understand how the world has changed. He talks about leading a "more
sensitive war on terror," as though al-Qaida
will be impressed with our softer side. He declared at the Democratic Convention
that he will forcefully defend
been attacked. My fellow Americans, we have already been attacked, and faced
with an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us, we cannot
wait for the next attack. We must do everything we can to prevent it and that
includes the use of military force.
Hitler
…Here it
is not a question of a special form of national life in
demand for a world revolution. If Mr. Eden does not look at Bolshevism as we
look at it, that may have something to do with the position of
to us. But I believe that nobody will question the sincerity of our opinions
on this matter, for they are not based merely on abstract theory. For Mr. Eden
Bolshevism is perhaps a thing which has its seat in Moscow, but for us in Germany
this Bolshevism is a pestilence against which we have had to struggle at the
cost of much bloodshed…
…In January and February of the
year 1933, when the last decisive struggle against this barbarism was being
fought out in Germany, had Germany been defeated in that struggle and had the
Bolshevic field of destruction and death extended over Central
Europe, then perhaps a different opinion would have arisen on the banks of the
Thames as to the nature of this terrible menace to humanity. For since it is
said that England must be defended on the frontier of the Rhine she would then
have found herself in close contact with that harmless democratic world of Moscow,
whose innocence they are always trying to impress upon us…
…The teaching of Bolshevism is that
there must be a world revolution, which would mean world-destruction. If such
a doctrine were accepted and given equal rights with other teachings in
delivered over to it. If other nations want to be on good terms with this peril,
that does not affect
on the following points: —
(1) We look on Bolshevism as a world
peril for which there must be no toleration.
(2) We use every means in our power
to keep this peril away from our people.
(3) And we are trying to make the
German people immune to this peril as far as possible.
Cheney
Senator Kerry denounces American action when other countries
don’t approve as if the whole object of our foreign policy were to please a
few persistent critics. In fact, in the global war on terror, as in
Bush has brought many allies to our side. But as the President has made very
clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of many, and submitting
to the objections of a few. George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip
to defend the American people.
Hitler
I regret
to say that it was not possible to carry through all the necessary measures
by way of negotiation. But at the same time it must be remembered that the honour of a people cannot be bartered away; it can only be
taken away. And if it cannot be bartered away it cannot be restored through
barter; it must simply be taken back.
That I carried out the measures
which were necessary for this purpose without consulting our former enemies
in each case, and even without informing them, was due to my conviction that
the way in which I chose to act would make it easier for the other side to accept
our decisions, for they would have had to accept them in any case.
Cheney
Senator Kerry also takes a different view when it comes
to supporting our military. Although he voted to authorize force against Saddam
Hussein, he then decided he was opposed to the war, and voted against funding
for our men and women in the field. He voted against body armor, ammunition,
fuel, spare parts, armored vehicles, extra pay for hardship duty, and support
for military families. Senator Kerry is campaigning for the position of commander
in chief. Yet he does not seem to understand the first obligation of a commander
in chief and that is to support American troops in combat.
Hitler
grave catastrophe. Of course, we must admit that the right men were always needed
to formulate the necessary measures and enforce them without paying any attention
to those negative persons who always think that they know more than others.
A bevy of parliamentarian weaklings are certainly not the kind of men to lead
a nation out of the slough of distress and despair.
Cheney
The other candidate in this race is a man our nation
has come to know, and one I’ve come to admire very much. I watch him at work
every day. I have seen him face some of the hardest decisions that can come
to the Oval Office and make those decisions with the wisdom and humility Americans
expect in their president.
Hitler
Members of
the German Reichstag: The revindication of the honour of the German people, which was expressed outwardly
in the restoration of universal military service, the creation of a new air
force, the reconstruction of a German navy and the reoccupation of the Rhineland
by our troops, was the boldest task that I ever had to face and the most difficult
to accomplish.
Cheney
George W. Bush is a man who speaks plainly and means
what he says. He is a person of loyalty and kindness and he brings out these
qualities in those around him. He is a man of great personal strength and more
than that, a man with a heart for the weak, and the vulnerable, and the afflicted.
We all remember that terrible morning when, in the space of just 102 minutes,
more Americans were killed than we lost at
City
all of us. George W. Bush saw this country through grief and tragedy. He has
acted with patience, and calm, and a moral seriousness that calls evil by its
name. In the great divide of our time, he has put this nation where
against the tyrants of this world, and on the side of every soul on earth who
yearns to live in freedom.
Hitler
There could
be no more eloquent proof of how profoundly the German people have understood
the significance of this change and new development than the manner in which
the nation sanctioned our regime at the polls on so many occasions during the
years that followed. So, of all those who like to point again and again to the
democratic form of government as the institution which is based on the universal
will of the people, in contrast to dictatorships, nobody has a better right
to speak in the name of the people than I have.
Cheney
Fellow citizens, our nation is reaching the hour of
decision, and the choice is clear. President Bush and I will wage this effort
with complete confidence in the judgment of the American people. The signs are
good even in
to a news account last month, people leaving the Democratic National Convention
asked a
for directions. He replied, "Leave here and go vote Republican."
President
Bush and I are honored to have the support of that police officer, and of Democrats,
Republicans, and independents from every calling in American life. We are so
fortunate, each and every one of us, to be citizens of this great nation and
to take part in the defining event of our democracy: Choosing who will lead
us.
style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>The Bush regime has the religiousity of Franco, the corporatism of Mussolini, the
militaristic foreign policy of Hitler but it also has elements all of its own,
some of which may represent the chinks in its armour.
It glorifies the military and yet it simultaneously
derides and abuses it – The so-called Swift boat veterans, the purple heart
Band-Aids, the cutting of veterans benefits, the extension of their tours of
duty, their under-equipping, the large sums paid to private military contractors,
the concealment of the troops’ coffins, the fact that Bush hasn’t attended a
single funeral, the fact that 95 % of the administration have never served –
they are trying to have it both ways and it is hard to imagine that they will
be able to sustain this position indefinitely. Orwell says that one of the safeguards
against fascism is the fact that:
“however much
you deny the truth, the truth goes on existing, as it were, behind your back,
and you consequently can’t violate it in ways that impair military efficiency”
style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'> (Looking
Back on the Spanish War )
Bush
doesn’t seem to quite grasp this.
Another
weakness is Bush’s total ignorance of, and lack of empathy with ordinary people.
Jeffrey St Clair quotes Bush as saying: "I don’t understand how
poor people think".
style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>
Bush’s
former professor at Harvard, Yoshi Tsurumi , remembers similar statements:
Even though it was over
30 years ago, Tsurumi "vividly" recalls Bush the student making this
stunning statement in his classroom at Harvard: "People are poor because
they are lazy."
This
is more Marie Antoinette than Hitler, it has more in common with South-American
style dictatorships than European ones – not surprising given that American
administrations were instrumental in installing them. South-American fascism has been
is being self-directed.
Tsurumi continued reminiscing about
this truly unremarkable pupil. He wrote, "Bush was opposed to labor unions,
social security, environmental protection, Medicare and public schools. To him,
the antitrust watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange
Commission were unnecessary hindrances to ‘free market competition.’ To him,
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was ’socialism’…" (Inequality.org,
Bringing things up to date, Tsurumi
made this telling point: "President Bush and his brain, Karl Rove, are
leading a radical revolution of destroying all the democratic political, social,
judiciary and economic institutions that both Democratics
and moderate Republicans have built together since
But
unlike South-America the American people have had a stable democracy for a long
time. They are accustomed to certain
rights and liberties. Even If they haven’t yet realised the value of them, they
will probably feel the absence of them as they are systematically removed. The Bush regime is so thoroughly lacking in
empathy for the average person that they can’t even effectively pretend to know
or care as Hitler and Stalin did. Whilst
the media machine is designed to do this for them, it is to be hoped that even
Fox viewers will eventually see through the lies. Orwell
notes:
“Too ignorant
to see through the trick that is being played on them, they easily swallow the
promises of Fascism, yet sooner or later they always take up the struggle again.
They must do so, because in their own bodies they always discover that
the promises of Fascism cannot be fulfilled.
To win over the working class permanently, the fascists would have to
raise the general standard of living, which they are unwilling and probably
unable to do”
The
problem is that the realisation usually happens too late to rally collective
preventative action. The 2000 election
was essentially a coup, possibly the quietest coup in history. As Greg Palast notes in his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (p.80)
style='font-family:Verdana'>
“Two other presidential elections were nearly stolen
in the year 2000, in
in the
counted. Peruvians and Yugoslavs took
to heart Martin Luther King’s admonition that rights are never given, only asserted.
They knew: When the unelected seize the presidential palaces, democrats
must seize the streets”
It
was as if
that it couldn’t believe or even contemplate the reality of what was taking
place. Four years on, reality itself
has become the battle-ground. After four
years of turning reality on its head, the tissue of patent lies that comprised
Bush’s conference speech go completely unchallenged by the media, as Robert Parry
observes:
This election has become a test of whether reality still
means anything to the American people, whether this country has moved to essentially
a new form of government in which one side is free to lie about everything while
a paid “amen corner” of ideological media drowns out any serious public debate.
For weeks now, George W. Bush’s campaign has been radically
testing the limits of how thoroughly one party can lie, misrepresent and smear
without paying any price and indeed while reaping rewards in the opinion polls.
Bush personally capped off this binge of dishonesty with his acceptance speech
at the Republican National Convention, continuing his pattern of lying about
how the war in
He
closes with a warning:
if these tactics succeed in politically destroying John
Kerry this fall – the United States can be said to have succumbed to a new form
of government that will be democratic in name only, with elections transformed
into largely ceremonial affairs for affirming the Republican choice without
meaningful consultation with the American people about the best policies to
pursue. The nation is already dangerously far down that road.
We
have seen that this administration is prepared to declare that black is white
and up is down, we have seen that the police are prepared to arrest people without
due process, detain them in defiance of explicit judge’s orders and deny their
attorneys access to them and we have seen an election falsified. It has been demonstrated that the Diebold GEM vote-counting software is designed to facilitate vote fixing. It could be time for Americans
to start thinking about what they are going to do after November 2nd.
