violachic

War is easier than peace. The government elects to punish an enemy it perceives as weak because it’s easier to send the aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf than to attempt the harder task of making an American society not so wretchedly defaced by its hungry children, its crowded prisons, and its corporate thieves. The Bush Administration owes its existence to our apathy and sloth; if we have allowed the American political argument to degenerate into mindless catchphrase and the fifteen-second sound bite, how can we not expect our government to think in the same language, to depend for its authority on the easy and patriotic lie, and whenever it doesn’t know what else to do, to arrest mysterious strangers and bomb Iraq?

Want the whole article? It is from Harper's April 2003 issues, but Harper's doesn't post its stuff online; I actually found it posted on someone's blog, after several hours of searching and searching on, like, four different search engines. It is an editorial by Lewis H. Lapham. It is interesting reading. I origially came across the quote when I was lucky enough to attend services at Judson Memorial Church in New York's Greenwich Village.

Interesting place, interesting article, interesting quote....

Crossposted to