The Piper

	.American Free Press
	...Volume V... #52... Dec 26, 2005.....americanfreepress.net

 

P. 14, AMERICAN FREE PRESS * December 26, 2005... Views of America
with Michael Collins Piper

Populist American Author Predicts Bush Administration Disaster

By Michael Collins Piper

Audacious and outspoken American writer Gore Vidal says that America needs a "White Knight" to come in and rescue the American republic, but that he fully expects the controlled media to do everything in its power to destroy any emerging political figure who would make any attempt to do so.

In a recent interview published on Nov. 7 in The Nation magazine, Vidal went so far as to say that he believes that the United States has a government that "is not only corrupt but a menace to other countries, to our liberties, to our Bill of Rights," and that he believes President George Bush would not hesitate to attempt to institute martial law in order to maintain power for himself and his political cronies.

Vidal points out that he is often asked what he called "silly questions," such as "who's the next leader of the opposition who can become president?" He responds:

Well, first The New York Times won't interview him.

He won't get on prime-time television if he looks like a winner. That's out. Or he will be made a fool of, like they did with Howard Dean when they amplified his famous cry. That was all done at CBS to make him look like a maniac. They are very resourceful.

So if you have a media that is completely controlled by corporate America — or whatever phrase you want to use to describe our rulers — no information is getting through that is useful to the public. No White Knight is going to be acknowledged in the press or seen on television. He would have no way of connecting with the people. And this is a permanent fact in our situation ....

If there could be a viable opposition to the oil and gas junta that has seized power — all three branches of government, I think — it will have to be at the grass-roots. Then you will have to find a way of publicizing through the Internet the White Knight — or the Black Knight, whoever comes along to save us.

Vidal then spelled out what could be the winning rhetoric of a populist leader who could come forward to challenge the powers-that-be.

"First of all we should be allowed to keep the money we earn, because most of us are heavily taxed," he said. And although that sounds a lot like what Republicans want, Vidal noted: "They don't mean it. What they mean is: `We people who have money, we don't want our children to pay any inheritance tax. We don't want our huge incomes to be taxed. We don't want the profits of our big corporations ever to be taxed.'"

Vidal said that a real challenger to the power elite would have to say that "the profits on corporations are going to be taxed ... The people understand .this. And if they don't, you can explain it in 10 minutes."

In addition, Vidal said, it's time to cut the military budget in half. "That would save us a lot of money. We could rebuild a lot of levees. We don't need it. ... We can''t win a war anymore. They can't bring back the draft. We are at end times now for this regime. Just keep your fingers crossed [that] we are not at end times for our country."

Illustration of Gore Vidal with the following caption: "So if you have a media that is completely controlled by corporate America — or whatever phrase you want to use to describe our rulers — no information is getting through that is useful to the public. No White Knight is going to be acknowledged in the press or seen on television. He would have 'no way of connecting with the people. And this is a permanent fact in our situation. . . ." ...........................................................— GORE VIDAL

 

Gore Vidal's Imperial America In Imperial America, Vidal observes that there's something suspicious about the Cheney-Bush junta. They have created the Department of Homeland Security, the USA PATRIOT Act and embarked upon a series of wars in pursuit of the world's oil reserves without concern for "the decent opinion of mankind." Vidal's essay is a survey of American Empire, where the war on terror is judged "nonsensical" where America is an "Enron-Pentagon prison," a land of ballooning budget deficits, tax cuts for the privileged, and of course the creeping totalitarianism of the Justice Department. Imperial America (hardcover, 181 pages, #1063, $20) is available from FIRST AMENDMENT BOOKS, 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20003. Call 1-888-699-6397 toll free to charge to Visa or MasterCard. see page 16 for a handy ordering coupon.

 

. . ..A journalist specializing in media critique, Michael Collins Piper is the author of Final Judgment, the controversial “underground bestseller” documenting the collaboration of Israeli intelligence in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He is also the author of The High Priests of War, The New Jerusalem, The Judas Goats, and Dirty Secrets, all available from America First Books and FIRST AMENDMENT BOOKS. He has lectured on suppressed topics in places as diverse as Malaysia, Japan, Canada, Russia and Abu Dhabi.

(Issue #52, December 26, 2005, American Free Press)