Dreams are not for the taking, especially when they are someone else’s dreams. In Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific the character Bloody Mary sings “you’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?” Martin Luther King’s original message stands alone as an iconic historical moment. His dream not entirely realized even today requires some recognition of what it would take to make it a reality. Suggesting his message needs to be revitalized in some revelatory new fashion is an absurdity of monumental proportions; that it should be co-opted or rewritten ignores the profundity of its original content.

Glenn Beck’s weekend rally was another inglorious attempt to make all that is detestable about his positions seem palatable and patriotic by asserting a goal of “restoring honor.” With Sarah Palin as a featured speaker and a mantra that created a mythological universe they used words like freedom and liberty as if only they possess the magical components to create a more perfect society. The proposition that the rally was about “reclaiming the civil rights movement” could only have attracted people who either slept through or otherwise missed the entire civil rights era. It was an insult to the memory of that movement’s early standard bearers, the violence they endured, the sacrifices they made.

Post continues at buzzflash.com for Tuesday, August 31st

Fabrications often pass for news these days and the borderline personalities who express dangerously silly opinions on air contribute to a surreal atmosphere that inhibits sensible political discourse. Worst of all a potentially treacherous conglomerate of candidates may win in November with a lot of help from our least reliable news sources and newly empowered corporate donors.

The Opposition’s favorite talking points are headlining once again no matter how indefensible or low-minded they may be. And many voters, led by false political gods, are supporting politicians whose policies in no way serve their interests; others are just happy to have their prejudices and hatred legitimized in the public square. Typically the cry goes up that the country is beset by a “liberal” press.

POST CONTINUES AT BUZZFLASH.COM FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 27TH

There is a popular notion that rich office-seekers are free of the corrupting influences that burden candidates of lesser means. But self-funding hasn’t proven to be a guarantee of righteousness. Rather, the need to spend hugely on campaigns can grind principles to dust and corrupt the entire political process whether the funds come from lobbyists or self-made men and women on ego trips.

In New York City Mayor Bloomberg was able to get approval from the City Council to run for a third, four-year term. His rallying cry? – - that the city would be best served by his experienced stewardship of the New York economy “as it faces the fallout from Wall Street” Bloomberg.com 11/3/08. An updated campaign finance report indicates he spent over $100,000 to win, by a surprisingly slim margin. Perhaps he was the best candidate however the public had upheld term limits in two previous referenda and Bloomberg had supported them as well until they interfered with his personal political aspirations.  In any case money was no object in his re-election bid.

POST CONTINUES AT BUZZFLASH.COM FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 24TH