Peace Over Plutocracy
Conference Remarks: Building Bridges and Creating the Beloved Community
by David Swanson
Several years ago a bunch of peace activists were eating in a restaurant in Crawford, Texas, and we noticed George W. Bush. He was actually a cardboard version of George W. Bush like you might get your photo with in front of the White House, but he was almost as lifelike as the real thing. We picked him up and stood him in the corner of the restaurant, facing the corner. We asked him to stay there until he understood what he’d done wrong. For all I know he’s still standing there.
Of course, a piece of cardboard wasn’t going to really understand what it had done wrong, and the real president probably wouldn’t have either. The benefit of standing him in the corner, if there was one, was for everybody else in the restaurant. And the benefit of impeaching or prosecuting Bush for his crimes and abuses would have been, and still would be, for the world — not for him and not for those who are angry at him. (more…)