What Would Truman Do?

From the "Democrats I Admire" vault:

---Why won't they walk and talk this way anymore?

First Speech to Congress (April 16, 1945)

"So that there can be no possible misunderstanding, both Germany and Japan can be certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that America will continue the fight for freedom until no vestige of resistance remains!

We are deeply conscious of the fact that much hard fighting is still ahead of us.

Having to pay such a heavy price to make complete victory certain, America will never become a party to any plan for partial victory!

To settle for merely another temporary respite would surely jeopardize the future security of all the world.

Our demand has been, and it remains--Unconditional Surrender!"

.....

"Nothing is more essential to the future peace of the world than continued cooperation of the nations which had to muster the force necessary to defeat the conspiracy of the Axis powers to dominate the world."

--- No commentary required.

"Truman Doctrine" Speech (March 12, 1947)

"At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.

One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.

The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

Democratic National Convention (July 15, 1948)

"As I have said time and time again, foreign policy should be the policy of the whole Nation and not the policy of one party or the other. Partisanship should stop at the water's edge; and I shall continue to preach that through this whole campaign."

--- Yes, Truman said it. If it were only so.

State of the Union Address (January 7, 1948)

"We have learned that the loss of freedom in any area of the world means a loss of freedom to ourselves--that the loss of independence by any nation adds directly to the insecurity of the United States and all free nations....

We believe that the United States can be an effective force for world peace only if it is strong. We look forward to the day when nations will decrease their armaments. Yet so long as there remains serious opposition to the ideals of a peaceful world, we must maintain strong armed forces."

--- This was when American liberals used to defend democracy. Now they would call him "Hitler," like our current selected, not elected fuhrer. I know, we've evolved. My ass.

State of the Union Address (January 9, 1952)

"The things we believe in most deeply are under relentless attack. We have the great responsibility of saving the basic moral and spiritual values of our civilization."

--- Common-sensical, self-affirming leadership with vision. Completely devoid of self-pity, self-hatred, nihilism, or relativism. Naive ignorance they say. If to be sophisticated is to wish for cultural suicide, then I'll be ignert.

Harry Truman's testicles were comprised of corrosion-resistant, galvinized, high-strength steel.

Wiretapping

From Slate.com

Tap Dancing: Telephone surveillance by the government—past, present, and future.
By David Greenberg
Posted Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001, at 3:00 AM ET

Truman's attorney general, Tom Clark, expanded FDR's national security order to permit the surveillance of "domestic subversives." Clark and Truman endorsed wiretapping whenever matters of "domestic security" were at stake, allowing taps to be placed on someone simply because he held radical views....

...After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, President Clinton, warning of international terrorism, proposed measures similar to those George Bush seeks today. Civil libertarians in Congress refused to pass them, but Clinton redoubled his efforts after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and again after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. Yet Congress held firm, giving Clinton none of the new wiretapping powers he sought.

--- This was written long before the recent NSA eavesdropping "controversy." Just put it in perspective. I like to think I'm libertarian, but we're fighting for SURVIVAL in the War Against Islamic Expansion (I really don't like the ambiguous "War on Terror" but I understand the term's strategic value). I don't think wiretapping is extreme enough! Harry! Come back!!