A Letter Sent to Bill Moyers

[Michael]

The following is a letter which I wrote to former PBS reporter and Johnson White House staffer Bill Moyers. The letter was inspired by an article written by Molly Ivins entitled
“Run Bill Moyers For President, Seriously”. I read the article on the CommonDreams.org web site.

I’d like to preface the letter by doing something that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and at least one other man I know personally would never think of doing. I admit that I made a mistake.

Senator Barbara Boxer was the only senator to stand with the Congressional Black Caucus in questioning the integrity of the voting in Ohio after the 2004 presidential election. She has also been a strong opponent of our actions in Iraq and, up until recently, didn’t hold back in expressing her opposition.

Why, then, did Senator Boxer travel to Connecticut to support Joe Lieberman, an avid supporter of The Regime’s murderous activities in Iraq? As I write in my letter to Moyers, it is obviously more important for Boxer to “play politician” than it is to legislate honestly.

As troubled as my belief in our Corporacracy run, one party, two division electoral system has been, Boxer has weakened that belief even further.

I’ve removed links to any “Boxer For President” sites. Some sites, I notice, have already been removed.

Finally, as I’ve changed my mind about Senator Boxer, I may very well change my mind about Mr. Moyers. In fact, assuming that my mind is made up may even be a stretch. However, I can say that I will vote in November, but, in cases where there is no “third party” or independent candidate that I trust, I will either be writing in a name or not voting in that contest. As of now, and anything can change, unless Moyers becomes the Democratic candidate for president in 2008, and I truly don’t see that happening, I have no intention of voting for a Democrat or Republican in November of this year or in November of 2008.

I would urge all of you to join me in boycotting the professional politicians, but I know that there are those of you who still believe the process that’s presented to us.

My letter to Bill Moyers:

Dear Mr. Moyers,

My name is Michael Bonanno. I worked for a Fortune 500 multinational chemical manufacturing company for 25 years. I was within three years of being able to retire with full benefits when my employer “delayered” me (Orwell was a genius).

I’ve just read a column written by Molly Ivins. The column is entitled “Run Bill Moyers For President, Seriously”. Although I’m sure that this column appears elsewhere, as Ms Ivins’s columns are syndicated, I happened to read it on the CommonDreams.org web site. I’ve read many columns you’ve written on the CommonDreams.org web site as well.

In her column, Ms. Ivins suggests, “seriously”, that we encourage you to seek the Democratic Party’s 2008 nomination for president. I’ve never thought of that possibility prior to reading Ms Ivins’s column.

As I’m quite sure that every Democrat and every Republican serving in the Senate and most Democrats and Republicans, if not all, serving in the House are far too beholden to multinational corporations, I’ve been racking my brain to think of potential candidates who probably aren’t beholden to corporations.

Aside from being a man of impeccable integrity, you are articulate, composed, lucid and patient. If I knew what the word “brilliant” really meant in describing a human being, I’d probably write that you are brilliant as well.

You, Mr. Moyers, have a Kennedyesque sense of humor. In my 56 years, I’ve never heard a politician deliver a humorous line in a way that was one of the trademarks of both John and Bobby Kennedy. You can easily gain the attention of an audience with that kind of easy going humor and then, with your propensity for convincingly presenting logic that is undeniable, you can enlighten that very same audience.

While you don’t intentionally target the emotions of your listeners/readers, the points that you present and the manner in which you present them do arouse appropriate and constructive passion in the members of your audiences. You’re obviously not a supporter of “wedge issues”.

I disagree with Ms Ivins on one point, however.

I am strongly opposed to The Electoral College. I believe that The Electoral College has a “trickle down” affect. If there were four candidates running for local dog catcher, a Libertarian, a Green, a Democrat and a Republican, the Democrat or the Republican would most likely win. Americans are conditioned to look at so called “third parties” as one would look at someone with a third eye.

When looking at the history of The Electoral College, one would see that either a Republican or a Democrat received the majority of electoral votes in any given presidential election with the exception of the first few elections held in The United States.

One looks at a map shown on any commercial television network on the evening of a presidential election and sees red dots and blue dots. I suggest that red and blue are not the only colors in the spectrum. However, it reinforces the conditioning about which I refer above.

In 1992, Ross Perot garnered 19% of the vote. He was running against a virtual unknown in Bill Clinton and an insider’s insider whose lack of leadership was one of the main reasons for the economic troubles of the time, President George H. W. Bush.

Perot’s speech was entertaining but not particularly articulate. He warned about the adverse consequences of NAFTA. I believe people were too busy “getting a laugh out of” listening to him speak and failed to zone in to his message. Form certainly outweighed substance in the case of Ross Perot.

I have no trust in the Democratic or Republican party.

Dennis Kucinich, who is supposed to be a “maverick”, supported John Kerry in 2004 although Kerry opposed many issues which Kucinich supported and supported many issues, especially the escalation of the war in Iraq, which Kucinich opposed.

If I read the Congressional Record correctly, and, for me, it’s sometimes difficult to understand it clearly, Kucinich recently voted for HR2830 which is the “Pension Reform Bill”. This bill was introduced by John Boehner (R-OH) and can do nothing but hurt retired Americans, present and future. Representative George Miller (D-CA), a so called “liberal”, gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House opposing HR2830.

One of the two senators from the state in which I live, Senator Barbara Boxer, is another so called “maverick”. She was the only senator to stand with The Congressional Black Caucus in questioning the integrity of the voting process in Ohio in 2004.

She has come out in no uncertain terms as opposing our actions in Iraq. At one point, I supported the idea of her pursuing the presidency in 2008.

Yet, she made it clear that “playing politician” is more important than legislating honestly when she traveled to Connecticut to support pro war Democrat Joe Lieberman. Her campaigning for Lieberman shocked the support for her potential run for the presidency clear out of me.

Consequently, Ms Ivins may be right in suggesting that you pursue the Democratic Party’s nomination. What Ms Ivins doesn’t suggest and what I do suggest is that, if you aren’t nominated, you should run for the presidency as an independent.

You may not be nominated, Mr. Moyers, because I hope that you’ll make it clear that you won’t play the kind of games that Representative Kucinich or Senator Boxer play.

Mr. Moyers, you are absolutely resplendent when you speak to an issue and, considering the fact that most of the issues facing us today deal with life and death and even deal with the use of “the ultimate force”, the American people need leadership that is strong yet extremely clear in what its plans are and why it believes that those actions are best for The United States. Our president needs to be honest with the American people.

The rest of the world needs to know that The United States of America is a rational nation that reacts rationally because its president is a rational human being.

Mr. Moyers, you are that human being.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Michael Bonanno

If you’re interested in writing to Mr. Moyers and you didn’t happen to catch the Ivins article, the address she gives is P.O. Box 309, Bernardsville, NJ 07924.

To friendship,
Michael

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” - Galileo Galilei

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[mtmynd]

I, too, read that article today on common dreams, and I must say that I think it would be a brilliant idea to have a candidate standing before the U.S. public and make, what I'd hope to be, perfect sense using logic and even a sense of 'political morality' if there is such a thing left in our country.

Even if Mr Moyers did not win at least his presence and common sense may make an impact upon the voting public. I think that in itself would be a refreshing change from the candidates that we have had to indure in, at least, the past two Presidential campaigns, and quite possibly would cause the other candidates to use some modicum of common sense and rationality for the common good of the Nation and not be slavishly dedicated to the corporate cause.