Ah,
Democracy, We Hardly Knew Ye...
By Sheila Samples
24 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
"For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest
in politics, 'hold office'; everyone of us is in a position of responsibility;
and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon
how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss,
and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad,
that we demand and deserve."~~ John F. Kennedy, Profiles
in Courage [p. 265]
My friend Bernie says he's not
only tired of making excuses for Democrats, he's sick and tired of it.
"We've worked our backsides off since 9-11 getting people in office
with the courage to derail Bush and Cheney's Constitutional death train,"
Bernie wailed. "We had our feet on the ground, our eyes on the
prize, our noses to the grindstone, our backs to the wall, our shoulders
to the wheel --" he paused, mentally clicking off body parts.
"Your head in the clouds?"
I suggested helpfully.
"Yeah. That too,"
Bernie said. "We believed them when they said they wanted to end
the war. They promised to stop the torture, the slaughter of innocents,
the killing and maiming of our own citizens. Just give us the power,
they said, and we'll put a stop to Bush and Cheney's killing spree --
we'll jerk a knot in Gonzales' tail, stop the illegal spying on Americans
-- restore our battered Constitution. They promised to impeach the treasonous
warmongers, and we believed them. Well," Bernie said, "we
were wrong. We gave them the power -- and they betrayed us."
Bernie's right. They betrayed
us. Scarcely had the polls closed in November before the victorious
Democrats were out in force, backing down, caving in, reassuring George
Bush and Dick Cheney they had nothing to worry about. Incoming House
Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi held an immediate news conference, then
hit the airwaves, to include CBS 60 Minutes and Tim Russert's Meet the
Press, with a single announcement -- impeachment is no longer in the
Constitution. Oversight...accountability...checks and balances...all
gone.
Senator Chuck Schumer candidly
admitted that getting elected and getting along were his top priorities
regardless of what the people expected. He told the Wall Street Journal
that "75% of this election was about the people's opinion of the
president," but added, "...If we are seen as just blocking
the president, it will not serve us well in 2008."
Others, like Rep. Charlie
Rangel can't see the point in challenging Bush since he threatens to
veto anything that is not what he wants. Rangel said, "We don't
want really a fight with the president. What we want to do is to prove
we can govern for the next two years..." And Rep. John Dingell,
who's been around longer than anybody, agrees, saying the Democrats
will "do what makes good sense, while not getting into any extreme
positions on any matter."
What is it about 75% -- three-fourths
-- of the votes that these craven gerbils don't understand? The 2006
election was an indictment of a president who is ruthlessly destroying
our republic, our democratic freedoms, our way of life -- simply because
he can. And he can because we let him. Apparently, Democrats are so
brain dead they think the "voice of the people" they heard
was permission to show they can manage a treasonous genocidal war better
than Bush. Whereas, if like Bernie, they'd put their ears to the ground,
they'd know that each vote was a primal scream erupting from the masses
-- a mandate to stop the madness. Now.
The corrupt political cabal
before whom Democrats and Republicans grovel is evil, disgusting, and
dangerous. But even more so are their lame excuses for allowing Bush
to strip the other two branches of government of their powers and to
rule via signing statements and Executive Orders. We believed his lies,
they say. We don't want to be blamed for opposing him if there's another
attack on the "homeland." We can't speak out...we can't take
a stand for democracy lest we be accused of aiding the enemy...please
don't hurt us...
I can only hope that Dante
was right when he said, "The darkest places in hell are reserved
for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."
The silence of the Democratic lambs has been deafening since Constitutional
traitors on the Supreme Court intervened in the 2000 election to strike
the first blow against democracy. Since that time, the erosion of personal
privacy and the alarming increase in citizen-control laws has been achieved
by this administration under cover of fighting a senseless, baseless,
illegal "war on terrorism."
And Bush grows bolder with
each victory. He's determined to have no restraints placed upon him
in any area. Immediately upon ramming through the USA Patriot Act just
six weeks after 9-11, the administration went on a spree of sweeping
up and detaining thousands of citizens without charges and no access
to counsel. This act was, and continues to be, the greatest threat to
American liberties in our history. It is buoyed by Bush's Military Commissions
Act of 2006, or "no consequences torture bill," giving himself
the empirical right to torture anyone he views as a "terror suspect."
Perhaps this act is one reason
Democrats remain so subservient. Right up front, in Section 948a(2),
Bush has the empirical right to decide who is a "lawful enemy combatant."
If you are a "member of the regular forces of a State party engaged
in hostilities against the United States," or even a "member
of a volunteer corps or organized resistance movement and you wear a
fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance," Bush has the
power to decide you are not only hostile but an enemy combatant.
Bush IS the United States
-- a government of Bush, by Bush and for Bush. He has seized the power
to "grant" or "take away" basic inalienable rights
of American citizens. "I will decide who serves in my government,"
Bush recently told a member of the media questioning him about calls
for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Does it not follow,
then, that those coming out against the war, those not supporting the
troops by insisting they come home, or those calling for impeachment
would be engaged in hostilities against the United States? Isn't that
right, Mrs. Pelosi -- Mr. Conyers?
Is it any wonder that legislators
on both sides of the aisle recoil and beat a fast retreat when they
look up and see Bush, caught up in the wild influences of his own idiotic
imagination, running at them with a lighted firecracker in each hand?
Is anyone surprised that Bush so easily got them to agree to his Protect
America Act of 2007, which allows the continued secret collection of
Americans' phone calls and e-mails with no oversight...no checks...no
balances?
It is madness to stand upon
the precipice of a Constitutional crisis and even consider for one moment
plunging into the abyss by giving Bush additional time to spy on Americans,
to torture and kill innocents abroad, and to abandon an exhausted and
ill-equipped military on the killing fields of a nation embroiled in
the spiraling violence of civil war.
When party loyalty gets so
screwed up it is based on a commitment to -- an obsession with -- opposing
ideologies neither of which, in all its twisted glory, concerns itself
with doing what is right for the people in this nation, it's time to
take a break from that loyalty. John F. Kennedy was right when he said,
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer,
but the right answer."
We still have a Constitution.
And we have a choice, perhaps the last one we are free to make. We can
either use it -- or lose it.
Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian
US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for
a variety of Internet sites. Contact her at [email protected].
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