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LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Article Excerpt
Byline: The Register-Guard

See through righteous ideology

A copy of the Magna Carta changed hands recently, from one wealthy family to another, and it could help to remember what that document represents and what it does not.

The men who gathered almost 800 years ago to limit the power of a king were the Dick Cheneys and Alexander Hamiltons of their time, and their goal was to shift from rule by a political ideology to an economic one. The king derived his mandate from God, while the nobles who confronted him derived their power from their business interests. Money won a battle that afternoon. Those competing perspectives continue today, and the remarkable thing is how easily we confuse them. Not so easily forgiven is the way the news media muddy the issue.

Take the war in Iraq. Do you still think this ever had anything to do with national security, or have you realized that very shortly a trillion dollars will have gone down a hole in the war industry, one which by its nature has no competition? Do you still think that the war is going badly, or have you realized that, if the goal was to shut down the second largest reserve of oil and double its price, then the war is going really, really well? Do you still think that the average reservist is a noble defender of freedom, or have you realized that he or she is basically...

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