Bad
Moon Rising: The Twilight's
Last Gleaming
By John A. Murphy
19 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
When
I found myself in Harrisburg two weeks ago surrounded by seven police
officers wearing body armor, I have to admit I was a bit taken aback.
Seven was probably more than enough to handle a sixty-year-old arthritic.
Yes, it is true; I called a member of the Democratic Party a "fool"
and a "maggot" when he explained to me that it was necessary
to remove the Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli from the ballot in
order for the Democrats in Pennsylvania to defeat the Republican Rick
Santorum. I tried as nicely as I could to explain to him that while
I agreed that Santorum is a psychopath, a Democratic victory over a
Republican at the cost of the democratic process is a bad bargain.
This 24-year-old unibrowed
gargoyle however was long past considering such foolish, romantic notions
as "freedom", "justice" and "democratic values".
When he instructed me to remove six signatures from Mr. Romanelli's
petition as invalid simply because the six people had all mistakenly
printed their name in the first column and signed their name in the
second column instead of the other way around, I slammed my hand on
the table and shouted "shit, if you’re going to remove those
signatures, you maggot".
Now of course I realize that
there have been times in the past when I have been more complementary
to Democrats but I certainly did not realize that calling a Democrat
a "maggot" was in any way similar to shouting "fire"
in a crowded movie theater. At best I thought someone might call me
impolite but instead I was surrounded by menacing members of the Democratic
Party, grabbed by a court officer in Gestapo like fashion and forcibly
removed from the room. When I refused to "sit down and shut up"
as instructed by the court officer, the police were summoned. I was
ultimately charged with "disorderly conduct", at the insistence
of the attorney for the Democratic Party, and was led away by the police.
It is against the law, you see, to call a Democrat a maggot even if
he is consuming the still living tissue of our body politic.
MUZZLING MURPHY
Last week the Peace and Justice
Coalition in my district (Lancaster County, PA) refused to allow my
campaign to place an ad in their newspaper. We were told we were in
plenty of time for the deadline and then suddenly we began to receive
a series of e-mails saying "well maybe you are not quite in time
for a full-page ad"; then, "maybe we should have a strong
disclaimer so that no one thinks the Lancaster Peace and Justice Coalition
endorses you"; next, "maybe if your ad were to appear opposite
an ad from the Democratic Party candidate it would be okay"; and
finally "due to political infighting in the Peace and Justice Coalition
your ad will not appear". Of course the only "infighting"
that could have occurred would've come from the Democrats who dominate
the peace coalition in Lancaster County. The last thing they want is
to let the antiwar community know that there actually is a real antiwar
candidate. The peace movement in Lancaster has put the election of a
pro war Democrat ahead of the goal of "troops out now" which
the Democratic candidate here calls "cut and run".
The Democratic candidate
in this part of Pennsylvania isn't even as "antiwar" as Ned
Lamont. Mr. Lamont of course is not exactly what I would call "antiwar".
He immediately donned his cheerleading uniform and delivered a series
of "rah, rah, rahs" as soon as Israel began committing unspeakable
atrocities on Lebanon.
No, my little Democrat here
in the 16th District of Pennsylvania has made it quite clear that our
troops cannot come home from Iraq until we have created a government
whereby the Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds all feel equally represented,
our national interests have been secured, the area is no longer destabilized
and the world community comes to our aid. This Democrat called my plan
to leave Iraq immediately "cut and run". Why would I be surprised
in 2006 to find a Democrat quoting Karl Rove?
VICTIMS OF THE DARKNESS
So the Democrats had me arrested
and then wouldn't let me even advertise in the antiwar newspaper. I
no sooner picked myself, dusted myself off when towards the end of the
week I was told by the Rotary Club in Lancaster that there would be
a debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates and that I
would not be invited. There’ll be no fun at that party you can
bet; unless you’re into pulling the legs off insects and enjoy
the sound of fingernails scraping across a blackboard.
Although I have been endorsed
by two county-level Green Parties, two county-level Libertarian Parties,
the Reform Party and the new American Independent Party, the Rotary
Club sees no reason to invite an independent candidate. Although I have
been endorsed by some of the most well-known people in the country like
Ralph Nader, the prominent MIT scholar Noam Chomsky and the world-renowned
historian, World War II veteran and antiwar activist Howard Zinn, the
Lancaster County Rotary Club has decided to promote the candidates from
the two corporate financed parties.
Of course this is the same
as making a huge contribution to the Democrats and Republicans and telling
38% of the people that no opinions other than the Democrat and Republican
are considered meaningful by the Rotarians of Lancaster County (38%
of Americans are registered as "not affiliated" or in one
of the newer parties).
The Rotary club told me they
would decide who they would and would not invite and I would not be
invited. According to the Rotary International manual one of their mottos
is: "They profit most who serve best". Until two years ago
it was: "He profits most who serves the best". In 2004 they
finally recognized the existence of women and took out the gender specific
language.
Some of the better-known
Rotarians include the prominent film star and well-known racist Mel
Gibson; Prescott Bush who helped finance the Nazis and spawned two generations
of Republican presidents who have brought nearly apocalyptic disaster
to our nation; Tom DeLay whose crimes are too numerous to list and the
ever popular Jesse Helms who told us that Martin Luther King was associated
with the Communists and who took special joy in singing "Dixie"
to the African-American Senator Carol Moseley-Braun. Is it any wonder
that the most outspoken critics of the Rotary club were some of the
20th century's most critical thinkers including: Dorothy Parker, George
Bernard Shaw, Sinclair Lewis, Clarence Darrow, H. L. Mencken, and G.
K. Chesterton?
The web site of the Rotary
Club tells us that it is an organization of business and professional
leaders that help "build goodwill and peace in the world".
The web site of the Republican Party might very well tell us the same
thing. So much for free and open debates in a free and open democratic
society brought to us by the Rotary Club whose goal is building goodwill
and peace by sponsoring a debate between two candidates who are both
on record as supporting the "Bush Doctrine". It was the "Bush
Doctrine", stating that an entire nation may be held accountable
for a terrorist act committed by one of its citizens, which led to the
bipartisan supported, brutal invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq.
When the Democrats had me
arrested two weeks ago for disorderly conduct I guess it kind of all
snuck up on me. It is good to recall the warning of Justice William
O. Douglas: "As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does
oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains
seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be
most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting
victims of the darkness."
Whether it rides the symbol
of the Democratic Party or displays the symbol of the Rotary Club the
specter of tyranny is most frightening when it comes in the guise of
a protector pretending to exercise its tyranny for the good of its victims.
John Murphy
is the independent candidate for House of Representatives in the 16th
Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He has been endorsed by Michael
Berg, Peter Camejo, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader and Howard Zinn. He has
been endorsed by two county level Green Parties, two county level Libertarian
Parties, the Pennsylvania Reform Party, the New American Independent
Party of Pennsylvania and the GDI among others. He is also one of the
founding members of the Pennsylvanian Ballot Access Coalition, working
to change ballot access laws in Pennsylvania. His web site is www.johnmurphyforcongress.org
He can be reached at: [email protected].