Even if ignorance is bliss there is no excuse to wear it on ones sleeve as if it were the fashion of the week. We live in a wonderful country, but democracy is not a God given right. Government of the people, by the people, for the people is more precious than gold. But, friends, it is slipperier than greased lightning and disappears twice as fast if the people don't attend to it every minute. In our lifetime we, the people, have not attended to it. We have let our eyes be dazzled by visions of MTV. We have let our ears be clogged with fables of free markets and Homeland Security. We have occupied our minds with trivia and gossip about the decadent lifestyles of the rich and famous. And the only pity in our hearts has been reserved for the poor rich inheritors of inconcievable wealth. And while we were too busy, ladies and gentlemen, too busy eating, drinking and making merry to attend to the world our children will live in, our wonderful country has slid far down the slope into the Valley of the Shadow. We have grown accustomed to government of the people, for the corporate, by the corporate. We have learned to judge candidates, not by their character or voting history, but by the appearance of their genetilia and their position on abortion. We let the money changers run the temple and they stripped out the copper wiring and plumbing, we left Bonnie and Clyde guarding the bank and now we wonder where our money went!

Friends, I say it is time, and past time, to pull our collective heads out and take a good look around. Democracy isn't about choosing the wisest leader. Democracy is about what E. B. White once called, "the sneaking suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time." It's about putting all the facts in front of the people, letting them put their collective heads together and then abiding by the decision they make. When we let all the power fall into the hands of a few individuals, those few individuals are subject to all the influence the pressure peddlers can apply, and they will be influenced - they are only human. When we unbridled power fall into the hands of a few individuals, those few individuals are subject to greed, and arrogance, and pride, and all the temptations that humans are prey to - they are only human, you know.

I am here today to ask for your support for a candidate who, in life, was largely unmoved by the temptations of the spirit. A candidate who, as a zombie, is largely immune to the temptations of the flesh. A candidate who organized the Demons of Hell and has taken a leave of absence from heaven so he can be with us here. Just because that's the kind of guy he is. I mean, of course, Zombie Eugene Debs, candidate for President of the United States of America!!!!





ZED in '08