Gore Vidal : There Never Has Been Democracy in the United States

[guinnesstrail]

Vidal is predicting Obama's assassination. And it is coming.

[getyoasshome]

@guinnesstrail syke...

[000sauce000]

@guinnesstrail I don't think so. Obama is too willing to "play ball", as it were.

[NoGoodBoyo1000]

Vidal has always been a deluded , bufoonish, hatemongering,Marxist, elitist twat. Die already!

[xtrmsprts]

he was right... the powers that be sure fucked obama's image in the eyes of the dumb cattle that is the american populace.

[xtrmsprts]

fat martin luther king sure loves his friiiied chicken. this guy's a sham, he disgraced his fathers name and legacy... pork chops king

[steveinchelsea]

If this is the Fall of the Roman Empire II aren't we at least entiled to a DeMille style orgy?

[JOMO59]

The end of the Roman Empire (like all empires) stems from economic debt and then bankruptcy due to excessive wars, which, in turn, stems from excessive militarism - particularly militarism for profit.

[davehutchinson67]

@JOMO59 it was a little more than that....no one has been able to precisely say what ended the Roman empire. The armies of Rome were not even of Italy or original Roman states...they were primarily mercernaries and/or barbarian tribes...so ergo excess militarism? maybe..if you consider the goths and others who served in the legions as loyal? yeah right...that and much else has to do with the fall of Rome.

[trisoctehedron]

@davehutchinson67 Actually, one of the main theories about the reason for the fall of the Roman Empire was the effect of the burden, over three centuries, of the immense expense of defending a border that circled the entire Mediterranean, with enemies always pressing against that border in multiple places at once. See The Awful Revolution—The Decline of the Roman Empire in the West by F. W. Walbank.

[bapyou]

@davehutchinson67

"The armies of Rome were not even of Italy or original Roman states...they were primarily mercernaries"

Shades of Blackwater.

[philippides]

insightfu:

Thank goodness he speaks out intelligently in a country that allows for that; that allows for the true version of patriotism. That is to say, not "my country right or wrong", but "my country, held to its highest ideals, firmly by its informed citizens". And the more of those there are, the better off we all are.

[ToulacAxeHand]

This man would be welcomed with open arms in the UK parliament

[insightfu]

Yes, only in the United States will someone like Gore Vidal be able to live the kind of life he lives. He should have gone to Vietnam and tried to criticize the government there.

[gillan5]

A man like Vidal should have lived his life here in Europe and not waste his intelligence in a nuts-country like the USA. People like him will not be heard in the US. Everything which is not far right is still communism to them anyway.

[numberonenobody]

Speaking in such generalizations makes you seem just as ignorant as those you mock. True, we are far from perfect, but we aren't pyshopaths. To those of us who care about our empire, and the well-fare of one another, Gore Vidal is a rallying voice that we certainly need. If he were in europe you couldn't appreciate such a intellect. He'd be just another intellectual taken for granted in the eurosphere.

[gillan5]

Well spoken, but I - honestly - fear for America. I guess even 10.000 Vidals would not be much of a progress. Too much Rambo and not enough Woody Allen.

[utilabound1]

Irrational, apologetic, denying, TV land pyschopath.

[utilabound1]

Shut up please.

[numberonenobody]

what the fuck are you on about?

[utilabound1]

None of your business.

[numberonenobody]

@utilabound1 It is when you pretend to understand what the whole issue was about, but all you contribute is a completely nonsensical put down that does nothing to advance your argument. if someone asks you to better define whatever it is you're saying. "Shut up" as a reponse, seems to rather prove your argument was entirely faulty to begin with. So, I ask again, What the fuck are you on about?

[Pachecure]

Gore is merely reminding us: "History repeats itself," but who cares? This is the "United States of Amnesia."

[Vespuchian]

@Pachecure

I remember a line from a book I read: "[America] has a memory of only four years".

[Vespuchian]

@Pachecure

I remember a line from a book I read: "[America] has a memory of only four years, nobody's going to remember this after the next election."

[Pachecure]

@Vespuchian Yep, that's why Representative Democracy has been so useful for BIG Capital--they moved quickly to subordinate government to their interests. Americans need to wake up, wise up, and engage in Participatory Democracy in order to TAKE BACK OUR POWER.

[Brantinger]

I dont wanna get into hairsplitting discussions about "democracy" which definition would justify the comment and which wouldnt, but I wanna say that Vidal led a life that he couldnt lead in most other countries (especially since he is gay), became famous and made a fortune. To make such comments publicly after all that is a disgrace and ungrateful. Mr Vidal u r pathetic.

[reed0the0red]

this is what we call an "ad hominem" attack which means you are attacking the man and not the issue, debate his content, otherwise your argument is irrelevant.

[Brantinger]

Sorry I wont take lessons about the ethical superiority of vegetarian lifestyle from somebody who lives good from shares of the pork industry. This is what we call "hypocrisy". In political issues u cannot completely separate the person from the subject because the person mostly partakes in the subject matter by being a citizen. To take that into account is a question of honesty.

[reed0the0red]

did you see my last post man's lifestyle is irrelevant to his argument, i.e. scared straight a fairly successful campaign to keep at risk youths out of prison. Argue the content not the person, otherwise the argument always degrades into an insult contest.

[jsijason]

Because he became wealthy and has freedom of speech somehow means that he cannot criticize abuse of power?

He cannot make critical observations?

"You became rich here... now shut up!"

Nonsense.

[Brantinger]

Who is talking about rights here? I didnt say he has no right to use his freedom of speeche in a contemptible way, otherwise it wouldnt be a real right. But freedom of speech also extends to noticing such failures.

[sweetness111983]

Vidal is a capitalist, he never denies it. What we have had since Truman is cronie capitalism. Just a game by the oligarchs, and not a true fair market when a few have enough money to dictate how it is to those with less.

[Zeno1999]

Univ health crae in US wld never happen -docs, pharma, priv hosp and insurance crooks wld not allow it.... dream on .. poor to middle class becoming poor .. dream on...

Obama/Mccain mimicked power grabbing aggression at the end of Roman empire except not much killing only abroad. Yes economic collapse is similar too.

WTG Mr. Vidal - only few ppl have guts to spk truth. God bless you.

[goosewearinflannel]

Univ health care will never happen, because, as crazy as it sounds, people actually like to spend their hard earned money how they see fit, not how The State sees fit.

[Foxyarse2]

Vidal should be treasured...a national institution.

You want the truth...no bullshit...listen to Gore Vidal/

[behaack]

Huh...everything Vidal says in that interview was BS. The man is paranoid and senile.

[coling68]

Everything Gore Vidal has said going back 30 years has come to pass. Look it up.

[wehaack]

Ok I just looked it up. You are wrong.

[Slimcase85]

Legend.

[vi67]

USA is NOT a democracy.

The USA is a Constitutional republic - A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over citizens.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all."

[6minus3minus2]

What you just described is a representative democracy.

[HimmuraTube]

More Vidal please...this country needs to hear more of his wisdom. Now more than ever.

[trexx32]

Wouldn't matter Americans are fat, lazy, and too apathetic when it come to knowledge and the truth.

[Lew847]

This interview is encouraging compared to the interviews with Vidal from a year or two ago. I sense a hint of optimism now.

watch?v=WXqOQgYhUAc

watch?v=4dkjvqzTVyg

[squarepusher2]

Brzezinski is against wars?

Vidal, I'm with you on everything but what's this about Brzezinski being such a pacifier? He's a hawk that makes Kissinger blush.

The Georgia/South-Ossetia debacle has Brzezinski's dirty fingerprints all over it. That, and he's a member of the Azerbaijan-US Chamber of Commerce.

Brzezinski is a radical Polish Jew that has a hardon for a nuclear confrontation with Russia. All else is secondary except his paranoid delusions.

[tracala]

"american people are very stupid" he said,

that's the problem

[odin422]

5/5 as usual