Contributors (otherwise known as “The Aerheads”):
Walldon in New Jersey ---- Marketingace in Pennsylvania ---- Simoneyezd in Ontario
ChiTom in Illinois -- KISSweb in Illinois -- HoundDog in Kansas City -- The Binger in Ohio
Who we are:
We are several commentators scattered across North America who share a great concern with the spread of political and religious extremism in American politics and around the world, particularly as it has led to erosion of Constitutional protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, arrogation of power by the executive branch, and adulation of the wealthy and powerful coupled with ridicule for the poor, the weak, and the needy, both here and elsewhere in the world.
The hubris of these extremists has led to official contempt for the rights and privileges of minorities and minority opinions, unjustifiable violations of the sovereignty of other nations, willful disregard for lawful treaty obligations, and the dismantling of institutions of international cooperation -- all of which we decry.
We deplore the closet racists who spew venom at all who differ from them. We deplore the religious zealots who are filled with hatred for virtually all scientific and human rights progress since the Inquisition. We deplore those who advocate military power to force the world to march to their beat and shun the use of diplomacy to seek consensus among nations. We deplore politicians more interested in retaining their seats than in standing up for the rights of their constituents. We deplore the demagogues who falsely trade on fear and prejudice to aggrandize themselves.
In our small way, we are trying to sweep out the stench they have created.
We stand for the compassion which the current administration miserably fails to exhibit, notwithstanding its claims to the contrary. We stand for constitutional government, sound policies and competent execution to achieve peace and prosperity for all. We stand for the separation of powers and the checks and balances built into the Constitution by our founding fathers. We stand for freedom of religion and belief and the separation of Church and State. We stand for government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
While urban and suburban and mostly living in major markets, we have approximately 200 years of combined experience, as entrepreneurs in corporate startups, businessmen in major Fortune 50-500 corporations and academics at nationally respected universities. All have advanced degrees, some several, in fields as diverse as history, law, physics, economics, finance, and theology, with a diversity of world-class, practical, real-life experience to match. None of us has a compelling connection either to politics in general or the Beltway zeitgeist in particular. One way or another, most of us have connections with and some level of understanding of right-wing thinking.
Our views tend to be similar, but often derive from diverse perspectives and occasionally conflict. They may not be startling and may even be mainstream in many respects -- in fact we share the view of many that strongly-and-accurately-expressed liberalism really is the mainstream today. However, we hope they are a breath of fresh air, not only against the stench of right-wing extremism, but also against the uninspiring parsing of language that has dominated a party out of power that too often behaves like deer in the headlights, and against the abdication of journalistic responsibility by an intimidated national media.
e-mail us at: Scatablog@Yahoo.com