Edwards: Reporting for Duty: "In truth the killing always starts with you and us - the public. First, we have to be persuaded that we are led by good, reasonable people who absolutely would not kill unless they had to. Psychological buffers must be set up in our minds to protect us from the realisation that our leaders are willing to kill cynically - for power, for profit, for the status quo.

"Because these buffers erode over time, our leaders must be manufactured fresh, smiling and new every few years by the same system of power with the same ruthless goals. We know all about Bush-I and Thatcher, but things are different now. Now there is Clinton and Blair. And now Bush-II and Blair. And now, perhaps, John Kerry and Gordon Brown. All arrive declaring their determination 'to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world', while the same boot continues stamping on the same human face - for ever.

"The killing, actually, starts with the surreal emptiness and manufactured optimism of party conferences and conventions. Have you noticed how desolate you feel when you see John Edwards' fake perma-grin, and when you see John Kerry's carefully rehearsed salute as he declares, idiotically, 'I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty'? Do you notice how you cringe when you see Kerry pointing into the crowd - a gesture associated with confident authority and power? Do you notice there is something nauseating about the empty cliches, about the speeches about nothing, about the cheering about nothing? Isn't it deeply wounding that, after millions of years of history, humanity has arrived at this utterly fraudulent charade as an expression of 'democracy'?"

Edwards: Reporting for Duty: "In truth the killing always starts with you and us - the public. First, we have to be persuaded that we are led by good, reasonable people who absolutely would not kill unless they had to. Psychological buffers must be set up in our minds to protect us from the realisation that our leaders are willing to kill cynically - for power, for profit, for the status quo.

"Because these buffers erode over time, our leaders must be manufactured fresh, smiling and new every few years by the same system of power with the same ruthless goals. We know all about Bush-I and Thatcher, but things are different now. Now there is Clinton and Blair. And now Bush-II and Blair. And now, perhaps, John Kerry and Gordon Brown. All arrive declaring their determination 'to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world', while the same boot continues stamping on the same human face - for ever.

"The killing, actually, starts with the surreal emptiness and manufactured optimism of party conferences and conventions. Have you noticed how desolate you feel when you see John Edwards' fake perma-grin, and when you see John Kerry's carefully rehearsed salute as he declares, idiotically, 'I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty'? Do you notice how you cringe when you see Kerry pointing into the crowd - a gesture associated with confident authority and power? Do you notice there is something nauseating about the empty cliches, about the speeches about nothing, about the cheering about nothing? Isn't it deeply wounding that, after millions of years of history, humanity has arrived at this utterly fraudulent charade as an expression of 'democracy'?"