Zinn and Chomsky

Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky share similar characteristics: they are both 'leftists' (fill in your definition here), but with a difference: they expound on their ideas in a quiet, genial way, void of bombast. Demagogues they aren't.

Zinn and Chomsky are octogenerians (Zinn is 85, Chomsky a 'kid' at 80), yet they remain fresh and inventive. They are rarely, if ever, seen on 'mainstream' debates because not many care to take them on. There's a good reason for this: both take material already entered in the public record and use it to show that America, now and in the past, is an imperialist power bent on protecting its interests at any cost. If that includes world domination, so be it. Both men use this vaunted 'public record' that the establishment has trotted out as 'truth,' and turns it on its head to reveal the deceits, deceptions and untruths beneath it all.

The two of them also have encyclopedic memories and can quote almost verbatim from 'official' U.S. history and policy. It's hard to refute these guys, as a lot of dissenting right-wingers have learned the hard way.

For me, Zinn and Chomsky are precious natural resources. But, egads, are there no others following behind? They can't go on forever.