Saturday, January 21, 2006
Zell Miller: Will America Survive?
Zell Miller, former Democratic Senator from Georgia, said that the United States is in a crisis of morality that could destroy the country. Miller served in the Senate four years, serving out the term of Senator Paul Coverdell, who died in July of 2000.
He made his remarks on the Right Hour, an Internet radio program hosted by Paul M. Weyrich, CEO and Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, where he discussed his new book, "A Deficit of Decency” and other national issues.
"Recent generations have been more interested in giving their children the material things that they did not have when they were growing up. But they have failed to give them the spiritual things that they had when they were growing up; the valuable things like family, and Faith, and love of country, and duty. Duty to family, duty to country. These are the things that seem to be missing so much right now,” said Miller.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who recently compared the American military to fascists on the floor of the Senate, did not escape Miller’s sharp eye. "As far as what Senator Durbin did, that’s a national disgrace. He should have apologized, and the U.S. Senate, in my opinion, ought not to let him get away with just an apology. He deserves some kind of reprimand or censure. What he did is to put our men and women in uniform further into harm’s way than they already are."
Miller also continued to be critical of his own Democratic party and its current chairman Howard Dean.
"Probably the Republicans ought to be cheering him on, because he’s doing more harm than good for the Democrats. Here is a man who should be trying to broaden the base of his party, a party that has been shrinking now for many, many years. Instead, he is narrowing the base even more. How can you broaden the base of a party when you are talking about independents and Republicans having no sense, being evil, not working a day in their life? It is ridiculous.”
In his book, Miller cites examples of the country’s ruinous moral decline taken from the entertainment industry, professional athletics, tolerance of a corrupt United Nations, a flaunting of immigration laws, and a dysfunctional tax code.
Miller’s father died when Zell was two weeks old, and he was raised by his mother. He believes that his religious upbringing in the Appalachian mountains of north Georgia, a "very patriotic part of the country,” was, in part, responsible for the development of his character. But his experience in the United States Marine Corps was the key building block. Miller’s first book, "Corps Values,” is still available today.
The former Senator expressed strong support for the nomination of John Bolton to be Ambassador to the United Nations. "I want a man up there who will aggressively defend the interests of the United States, not tiptoe through the tulips. I want a John Wayne kind of character, not a Woody Allen,” he said.
Miller noted too that the country’s immigration problem was a bipartisan "dereliction of duty” that is unrivaled in the history of the country.
Miller, 73, has been married for 51 years, and lives in Young Harris, Ga. His previous book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat,” was on the New York Times best seller list in 2004.
He made his remarks on the Right Hour, an Internet radio program hosted by Paul M. Weyrich, CEO and Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, where he discussed his new book, "A Deficit of Decency” and other national issues.
"Recent generations have been more interested in giving their children the material things that they did not have when they were growing up. But they have failed to give them the spiritual things that they had when they were growing up; the valuable things like family, and Faith, and love of country, and duty. Duty to family, duty to country. These are the things that seem to be missing so much right now,” said Miller.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who recently compared the American military to fascists on the floor of the Senate, did not escape Miller’s sharp eye. "As far as what Senator Durbin did, that’s a national disgrace. He should have apologized, and the U.S. Senate, in my opinion, ought not to let him get away with just an apology. He deserves some kind of reprimand or censure. What he did is to put our men and women in uniform further into harm’s way than they already are."
Miller also continued to be critical of his own Democratic party and its current chairman Howard Dean.
"Probably the Republicans ought to be cheering him on, because he’s doing more harm than good for the Democrats. Here is a man who should be trying to broaden the base of his party, a party that has been shrinking now for many, many years. Instead, he is narrowing the base even more. How can you broaden the base of a party when you are talking about independents and Republicans having no sense, being evil, not working a day in their life? It is ridiculous.”
In his book, Miller cites examples of the country’s ruinous moral decline taken from the entertainment industry, professional athletics, tolerance of a corrupt United Nations, a flaunting of immigration laws, and a dysfunctional tax code.
Miller’s father died when Zell was two weeks old, and he was raised by his mother. He believes that his religious upbringing in the Appalachian mountains of north Georgia, a "very patriotic part of the country,” was, in part, responsible for the development of his character. But his experience in the United States Marine Corps was the key building block. Miller’s first book, "Corps Values,” is still available today.
The former Senator expressed strong support for the nomination of John Bolton to be Ambassador to the United Nations. "I want a man up there who will aggressively defend the interests of the United States, not tiptoe through the tulips. I want a John Wayne kind of character, not a Woody Allen,” he said.
Miller noted too that the country’s immigration problem was a bipartisan "dereliction of duty” that is unrivaled in the history of the country.
Miller, 73, has been married for 51 years, and lives in Young Harris, Ga. His previous book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat,” was on the New York Times best seller list in 2004.
