Partisanship Archives | The Land West of Long Mountain Project

An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans

In this open letter and peace essay composed in January 2020, author Joseph Modugno makes an appeal against partisanship in America and against war with Iran in Asia. At the dawn of the new decade, Joseph calls on his country and on humanity to give up fear and forever war and to put our great faith and deep belief as human beings not in the force of war but in the power of peace.

Ultimately and finally, though: this long, lyric essay and open letter aspires to inspire humanity, all human beings on earth, to shrug off the shackles of ignorance and fear and the manacles of war and violence, to let go of hate and fear and pursue enlightenment, wisdom, open-heartedness and our higher moral genius and cosmic consciousness by practicing the way of the white clouds, by daring to embark on the eternal hero’s journey, and by celebrating and singing out of our collective ecstatic love the poetic praise of everything under the sun.

The Forever War on Iran

In Part IV of “An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans at the Dawn of a New Decade: An Appeal Against Partisanship in America and Against War with Iran in Asia,” we dive into Washington’s decades-long war on Iran and explore the equally-long fight for freedom and independence in Iran.

Over the course of the essay, we also take a brief journey through the history of Iran, celebrating Persian civilization and poetry along the way, before examining the CIA’s 1953 coup d’état in Tehran and learning about the roots of Iranian-American conflict in the 20th century and about the moral obscenities and military failures of the US’s wars in West Asia in the 21st century. We wrestle with the truth of the Washington War Machine and grapple with the Beast of Endless Wars.

Finally, the letter concludes with an appeal for civility and sanity, so as to save ourselves and the planet from the insatiable machine of Forever War. Throughout it all, the essay makes a pealing appeal for peace between America and Iran in Asia and peace between partisans at home.

A Bipartisan American Rebuke

In Part III of “An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans at the Dawn of a New Decade,” Joseph makes an appeal against partisanship and against partisan politics in America, exploring the danger of political parties to democracy and the bipartisan complicity of the left and the right in US empire and US war crimes. In this way, the piece hopes to eviscerate the illusion of partisanship in Washington and to free Americans from the prison of partisan politics and from this degrading and enslaving lie. Finally, the piece makes an appeal for peace between partisans.

The Info War Blues

Part I of “An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans at the Dawn of a New Decade: An Appeal Against Partisanship in America and Against War with Iran in Asia.” In this first section of a longer essay, Joseph examines life in the age of social warfare and forever war and attends the absurdist theater in DC for an evening performance of “The Great Deranged Drama of American Democracy,” before finally plunging headlong into Plato’s cold dark cave to plumb for timeless truths and mysteries achingly relevant to our modern times.