Al Gore Speaks out on the decline of public discourse

The piece is rather long and what I am about to post really is self-serving to our interests here but it really does cut to the heart of his speech.

Gore on the Threat to American Democracy

...On the eve of the nation's decision to invade Iraq, our longest serving senator, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, stood on the Senate floor asked: "Why is this chamber empty? Why are these halls silent?"

The decision that was then being considered by the Senate with virtually no meaningful debate turned out to be a fateful one. A few days ago, the former head of the National Security Agency, Retired Lt. General William Odom, said, "The invasion of Iraq, I believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history."

But whether you agree with his assessment or not, Senator Byrd's question is like the others that I have just posed here: he was saying, in effect, this is strange, isn't it? Aren't we supposed to have full and vigorous debates about questions as important as the choice between war and peace?... Full Text of his remarks

He also talks about our national obessesion with things like OJ while we ignore what is important to this country. I am not one to think you should eat, sleep and breathe this stuff but it should occupy as much of our time as putrid TV like "Survior", "American Idol" and "Whatever Paris Hilton is doing."

Based on the text of his speech I can definitely tell that Al Gore has read Dr. Cornel West's Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism" An extremely powerful book that takes a critical look at the place of debate, hope, religion, race and youth in our quest for democracy. Let's just hope he doesn't claim to have written it.