Thursday, October 27, 2005
Sense of Future
No matter what indictments are forthcoming in the days ahead, the members of the federal grand jury who spent the last two years considering the evidence of high crimes in the White House--as presented by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald--will have some interesting stories to tell their fellow countrymen. Both they and Judge Thomas F. Hogan, the chief judge of the district court who has presided over the leak case, first and foremost deserve our thanks for carrying the burden of trying to resurrect our republic from the ashes of the 12/12/2000 shock and awe Supreme Court decision, and the subsequent criminal rampage the likes of which our generation has never seen.
Every now and then, I remember the one time I served on a jury for a mere two weeks, and the profound impact it made on me--how I came to regard the notion of collective wisdom based on diverse perspectives as a reality worthy of my deepest respect. Much has transpired in the twenty years since then to shake my confidence in the possibility of a return to democracy in America, but not in its legitimacy and authenticity as a system of governance.
Perhaps, in time, the stories told by these and others called to the duties of mindful citizenship will enable us to create a new narrative appropriate to the chaotic context of the present, cognizant of our less than glorious past, and most importantly, useful to the renewal of the sense of a future in which equality and inclusion are again valued as vital aspects of our culture.
Every now and then, I remember the one time I served on a jury for a mere two weeks, and the profound impact it made on me--how I came to regard the notion of collective wisdom based on diverse perspectives as a reality worthy of my deepest respect. Much has transpired in the twenty years since then to shake my confidence in the possibility of a return to democracy in America, but not in its legitimacy and authenticity as a system of governance.
Perhaps, in time, the stories told by these and others called to the duties of mindful citizenship will enable us to create a new narrative appropriate to the chaotic context of the present, cognizant of our less than glorious past, and most importantly, useful to the renewal of the sense of a future in which equality and inclusion are again valued as vital aspects of our culture.
