Posted by news on April 28, 2005 at 10:02:07:
Author Vidal speaks out against war, Bush in Cal Poly talk
By Lafayette C. Hight Jr., Staff Writer
POMONA -- Author Gore Vidal lambasted President Bush, the U.S. public education system and the war on terror during a book signing Wednesday at Cal Poly Pomona.
A standing ovation from hundreds of campus and community members attending the Campus Forum Lecture Series greeted the 79-year-old author of political, literary and historical novels, plays and essays as he was led into the Student Union.
Vidal is also known for making two unsuccessful Democratic runs for Congress in 1960 and 1982, and as an occasional actor he has appeared in more than two dozen films, including the futuristic movie "Gattaca," portions of which were shot at Cal Poly.
But in his eyes, America's future looks bleak.
"Ten years and we're broke," Vidal said. "We won't be able to service the debt and we can hardly get anyone else to buy treasuries."
Vidal, who recently moved to Los Angeles from Italy, was promoting his latest book, "Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia." The amnesia has developed, he said, because of the terrible education system in the United States.
"We stopped teaching geography," he said. "Now we have an entire government ... that doesn't know where anything is. It's just a fog."
Vidal also criticized the war in Iraq, saying the founding fathers intended for war-declaring power to be a function of the legislative branch rather than the executive.
"Mind you, we have not declared war since 1941," said the former World War II soldier. ‘'These wars now are (perpetual). They are always for peace and always for democracy" and usually result in elections that are corrupt.
Members of the media were slammed for repeating "everything that they're told from the White House, as if it were from the Lord himself."
The war on terror wasn't exempt from attack either.
"You can't have a war on an abstract noun," he said. "It's like a war on dandruff ... it's not really a war."
But there were politicians that he admired, including his grandfather, Thomas P. Gore, who helped Oklahoma become a state and was one of the first pair of senators to represent it, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
‘'He actually tried to do something for the people, which is a little weird," Vidal said. "Roosevelt thought up the GI Bill of Rights. He changed the whole class structure" by guaranteeing a university education.
Student Eva Aranda, 30, a liberal studies major, said she believes the economy may collapse and the American public is grossly uneducated.
She's considering moving outside of the United States.
"I totally agree with what he said," Aranda said.