Good Night, And Good Luck.

CBS News has an interesting column on whether political debate is futile.

Speaking of CBS News, I bought "Good Night, And Good Luck" on DVD and was just as impressed as I was when I first saw it in theatres. It's a really great film that reminds us of the power of journalism done right and how a climate of fear is a danger to democracy. The most powerful moment in the film is the recreation of Murrow's March 9, 1954 "See It Now" broadcast, in which he took a critical look at Sen. McCarthy, using his own words against him. The conclusion of this broadcast had words that still loud in the year 2006-

...No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Indeed, Cassius, indeed.

And Ezra Klein looks at how a McCarthy quote Murrow used also rings true today-

When Murrow took on McCarthy, he based his program on a quote uttered by the junior senator from Wisconsin. The quote was:

"The American people realize this cannot be made a fight between America’s two great political parties. If this fight against Communism is made a fight between America’s two great political parties the American people know that one of those parties will be destroyed and the Republic cannot endure very long as a one party system."

The story of the past few years has been the Republican party's attempt to recast the war against terrorism as a choice between the parties, one party who will fight and the other who will capitulate. And using that, they retook the Senate in 2002 and held the White House in 2004, consolidating control over the government and marginalizing the Democrats' ability to exert oversight. And now, with no Murrows able to call politicians to account, the system has veered vastly out of balance. Good night and good luck indeed.

Just more stuff to think about.