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TechnoratiWhen Democrats compete to adopt the phony "global war on terror" as their own, and promise they can do it "better" or "smarter" than Republicans, they erase what little difference remains between the parties. "Terror Democrats" have abandoned the politics of hope for the politics of fear, and turn the political process into one that threatens to elect the candidates who frighten us the most.
When a cowardly congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 last fall, many were quick say that in the House of Representatives at least, Democrats never had any realistic hope of stopping it. This anti-constitutional atrocity rolled the cause of human rights back some 800 years, legalizing secret imprisonment, torture, and evidence obtained by torture. It made possible life imprisonment with neither accusation nor trial, and absolved from prosecution all the recently active kidnappers and torturers on US government payrolls and contracts along with those who gave them orders.
But last fall's good news, supposedly, was that the Republican congress was certain to be replaced in a matter of weeks by clear Democratic majorities in the House and Senate who'd stand up to the president, end the war, indict even impeach some of the malefactors, and begin to undo some of the damage inflicted by the most lawless presidential administration in the nation's history. It hasn't happened that way.
Instead, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have ruled impeachment of Bush, Cheney or Gonzalez off the table. Congressional Democrats have increased the Pentagon's budget by $100 billion over Bush's request. They continued construction of an 80 acre embassy and the largest military bases in the world in Iraq. The end of 2007, a full year of Democratic control of the nation's purse will see more US forces and mercenaries in Iraq than at the beginning of the year. Only last week Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama declared himself ready to take up the "White Man's Burden" and invade Pakistan. Democrats are scrambling to re-brand the fictitious "global war on terror" as their own, and to outdo Republicans at threatening the peace abroad and scaring citizens at home.
Last week both houses of Congress, including dozens of Democrats approved legislation granting the feds the absolute power to intercept phone, fax and email traffic of anyone, anywhere in the world without the bother of explanations to any judge or competent authority whatsoever. House Democratic leaders denounced it, but didn't stop it. Senate Democratic leaders, including presidential candidates Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden if they mentioned it at all, decried the bill. But true to form, none stepped forward to lead a filibuster that might have stopped it.
With Congressional poll numbers nearly as low and the president's the gap between Democratic office holders and Democratic voters has never been wider. At the same time, corporate donations to Democratic candidates are higher than ever. These are two sides of the same coin. The Democratic establishment's uncritical embrace of the so-called "global war on terror" is exposing for all to see the widening fissure between the two Democratic parties --- the Democratic party of voters who are called out once every year or two, and the permanent Democratic party of consultants, pundits, lobbyists and wealthy campaign contributors. It is this gap between the expectations of voting Democrats and the will of donors and leading Democrats that prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate President Harry Reid to avoid last weekend's Yearly Kos, where they would have faced pointed questions on impeachment, war and peace, or domestic policy from an ordinarily tame crowd of Democratic bloggers, consultants, campaign staffers and wannabees. Pelosi and Reid know who their real base is.
Bush and Cheney have already declared that their "global war on terror" will be the foundation of America's domestic and foreign policy for the next twenty or thirty years. By following their lead, Democrats have doomed themselves to a cycle in which they will no longer compete with Republicans to offer a better vision of life for Americans and the rest of the planet, and have made the Republican politics of fear their own. Subsequent campaigns, including the 2008 presidential well underway will be contests to see who can scare us the most. And worse news still --- they're pretty good at it. Four out of seven Democratic presidential candidates declared their immediate readiness to undertake immediate US military action in Sudan, completely bypassing the African Union force option to which all the regional parties have agreed.
As former Alaska senator Mike Gravel remarked in more than one of this year's presidential forums, "...all these guys up here scare me...." He should know. Gravel is a man well acquainted with scary times, scary politicians and exposing the lies they tell the public. As a US Senator back in 1968 Gravel risked his own safety and his political career by revealing to the the massive decade-long campaigns of lies to the American public that made possible the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia and the war in Vietnam, which killed two to three million Vietnamese alone.
"You won't get change from any of these guys up here" said Gravel in Chicago last week. "For that you need a movement. You'll have to get together and make some of your own policy, your own laws. Change doesn't come from elections and political parties and politicians. It comes from movements"
We at BAR think this is uncommonly good advice coming from a presidential candidate. Our African American politicians are fond of describing themselves as sons, daughters and heirs of the Freedom Movement. It's time we began to untangle that mess, to consciously separate those claims from reality, and see whose followers, whose heirs they really are.
Bruce Dixon, Managing Editor of The Black Agenda Report, can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com
© 2007 The Black Agenda Report
35 Comments so far
Show Allsjc: "keep your opinions to yourself?" ????? How can we discuss issues here if you tell people to keep their opinions to themselves. I think you're very confused.
I am not offended. We discuss issues on here, not insult people. Maybe it is you that should "get a clue".
Not the two sides of the same coin... two slighly different strains of the same disease. A class of "citizens" that we can now fully see as "professional politicians." It is not about governing, or governance, it is about making a carreer in politics where you have better pay and benefits than most every other profession in this decaying country.
Of course there are a few good people in politics and they will always be marginalized and left mostly powerless, which is why Wellstone was killed and Kucinich is ignored.
sjc: you post on a public forum and then act offended when someone takes you to task? Get a clue.
In November '06 our long-serving U.S. Representative Ted Strickland (D)decided to run for Governor here in Ohio, leaving his seat open for a newcomer. Charlie Wilson, one of the new unscrupulous class of professional politicians realized that to get that seat in that election he had to be a Democrat. Very shrewd, and he said just enough during the campaign to make folks think that he would be part of this sure to be elected Democratic opposition.
As soon as he arrived in Washington he declared himself a "blue dog" cur and has voted the hard-core neocon agenda straight down the line. If he's a Democrat (as we voters are supposed to percieve him)then I'm Mother Theresa. So we traded an actual milk-toast liberal for a hard-core neocon in a phony blue suit. And so it goes.
Sometimes I think Karl Rove's minions pretend to be progressives and comment on CD. Democrats are nothing to write home about, but they are all that stands between us and total permanent fascism.
If Rove, Cheney, and their gang get their way, and they establish a totally dominant Republican government, there will be no open Internet to have discussions like this (if there are any apparently open discussions, they will be set up for entrapment), no free and fair elections, any Green Party or Democratic Party leader will have his/her communications monitored, most if not all of the Bill of Rights will become history, say bye-bye to Social Security and probably Medicare too, say hello to more wars and probably conscription for the children of non-elites, forget about a college education, say good-bye to any worker safety standards, minimum wages, and unions, don't even think about the EPA, and forget about protesting in the streets as you will at least be arrested and quite possibly shot down like a dog.
If Rove isn't sending anyone here any checks, maybe he should.
Wellstone wasn't a coward or a crook. I paid a visit to the crash site,(murder site) last Monday. The people in power will do anything to stay in control. This country is Too Big. Time for states to secede.
#
Paul from Texas August 10th, 2007 2:40 am
Are they cowards?
Or are they CROOKS?
#
The Same. They are both the same.
Are they cowards?
Or are they CROOKS?
Crisis is a solution?
Crisis is never a solution. It is crisis that puts and keeps the power elite in power! A bigger crisis is what they want. They even use the potential for a constitutional crisis to discipline their enablers. And the power elite have the arrogance to figure they can ride out whatever natural, ecosystem collapse they bring on!
Solutions?
We can start with making an inventory of what our world could look like, function, within a political economic system that is not predicated on oppression and exploitation.
What would be on your list?
The House can specifically not fund anything they want to stop. Simply fail to get a majority to pay for a program or a part of it.
It would be useful to talk about what this war on terror is that motivates the Congress to abandon the Constitution.
It is a pivotal propaganda victory in the Bush gang's war against the American people. It is the Big Lie that will destroy whatever is left of the Republic.
This is not politics as usual.
On 9/11/01, unknown agents using sophisticated controlled demolition techniques destroyed the twin towers of the WTC and a satellite building WTC7, and punched a hole in the Pentagon. This act of mass murder was blamed on 19 Arab hijackers and was not subsequently investigated in any serious way. The evidence at the scene of the disaster was quickly whisked away and our leaders immediately announced the beginning of the "war on terror".
If any of you brilliant political pundits have interested yourselves in the grass roots investigation of this seminal event in the preceeding six years, you know that the terms of the political debate were announced by GWB in his "axis of evil" speech. You know that you are either "for" the war against evil, or "against" fighting evil. You will recognize that this logic is a straight jacket very difficult to wriggle out of, and virtually impossible to defeat in political terms.
You may call the Democrats "spineless", but unless you yourselves have the courage and insight to acknowledge that this war on terror is a Big Lie, you've got nothing to sell but your outraged innocence, your naivite, your disappointed political ideals, and your anger that some one else won't do the job for you.
You won't be able to prove that evil Al Queda doesn't have access to a nuclear weapon or a bioweapon, or some WMD the Pentagon hasn't yet announced. You won't be able to prove that there are no sleeper cells of evil Islamic geniuses waiting to awaken with a call from Satan himself, Osama bin Laden. You can't prove shit because you don't know shit, to use the vernacular.
The people have no real information and no means to prove anything. That is the nature of a protection racket. The chump can never prove that those who promise to protect him are not also the ones who will destroy his life and perhaps kill him.
The war on terror is a grand protection racket. But you can never prove it or effectively argue against it without proving that 911 was an inside job.
Terrorism does exist, al Queda does exist, and so on, but the Bush war on terror is a Big Lie.
If this is understood, then the political process becomes more understandable.
It,s true that some of the Dem's are spineless,but many of them are members of the privilege class and will do nothing that will jepordize their economic standing. These people are truely different wings of the same bird.change will only happen when their comfort is put at risk,ie.aan election that could possibly remove them from office,arecession that would jepordize their corporate and/or economic base,or the loss of a war which they are supporting with less than 50% of the American population and esspecially the majority of the electorate.The masses of concerned citizens need to work at the neighborhood, precinct level and and make it clear to the polictical bosses that their candidates are not doing what they were sent there to do.Set up pickets outside these bosses places of employment bring attention to their lack of listening to their neighbors and fellow workers.
SJC - Maybe I missed something. I see one comment you made on this thread "...Dems are doing about right...". Not sure why folks are demanding your head here...unless they're as bloodthirsty as the ones they oppose.
I would say though, if it were any other "normal" time in history, with Dems and Repubs going thru the usual battles, I would agree with you that the Dems are doing the best they can. Unfortunately it's NOT a normal time. The sheer conformity of the Repubs, the complete lockstep they walk in, convinces me and others that something larger than politics is going on. Some folks are calling it Fascism. I tend to think it's that and a Bible. In which case, we need something more than "good politics" as the Dems are now practicing it.
Democrats have a small majority. Except, the rules of Congress, especially in the Senate say that you don't even need to have any majority to block something. Anyone else notice how the Republicans know exactly how to use the filibuster rules to block what they don't like, but the Dems act like they can't figure it out?
On the reckless expansion of warrantless spying that essentially legalizes Bush's illegal acts (so illegal that even John Ashcroft wouldn't go along), it didn't take any Democratic majority at all to STOP this expansion. Instead, it only would have taken 41 Senators with principles to filibuster and stop this whole bill dead in its tracks.
That's why I don't want to hear which Democrats cast a symbolic No vote on a bill they knew had to votes to pass. The Democratic Senators had an effective tool to stop this cold in the rules of the Senate and they refused to use it. Any Senator who voted No but who didn't filibuster effectively was saying they approved of this.
At least amongst almost all of the people who comment here, people seem to get this. The Democrats are as much of a part of the problem as Bush and the Republicans.
My suggestion is to follow up with the "movement" idea. Call it The Purple Party (The best of both -the rank and file of both parties have been deceived and betrayed) Something like The Democratic Capitalist Party. This is seeking to reach back to the core of the capitalistic principles of a open market based economy. Bush & Co. are not pro business, pro capitalist! The point is that a forward looking, humane, high tech, sustainable global economy can be constructed that is based on advancing human rights and dignity while eliminating poverty and expanding the quality of goods and services brought to market.
We can do this and that is the point, that is what is at stake here. So endorse a third party but not one that is defined in reaction to the hijackers of both the parties but one that is defined by the vast ground of share principles that the majority of Americans (the majority of the world population) have! We will bicker until we raise our eyes to the prize.
My two cents as to why impeachment is "off the table" is that the threat is that then the charade would be called off and full scale fascist martial law would be inflicted, until morale improved! Impeachment would only be the first step. Arrest and eventual trial for treason can be sobering reality to Bush & Co.
One plank I suggest in the Purple Party Platform is amnesty. The only way we are going to get this done will be with a frank amnesty granted to all those that have their hands in the cookie jar! Once we redirect our cultural growth toward fulfillment of the democratic principles that have made us great and beloved in the world community the worse punishment for those that would hijack America and the world toward fulfillment of their misanthropic apocalyptic vision would be to see democracy work.
"Instead, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have ruled impeachment of Bush, Cheney or Gonzalez off the table."
Well, it is hard to impeach them when their illegal activities are being legalized.
kivals August 9th, 2007 1:35 pm
"And that is why I find it disturbing that so many progressives think they could build a third party under Republican rule."
I'm no fan of the Republicans, either. The problem is that we are not offered the same choice in every election cycle. When we vote for the lesser of evils over and over again, we end up getting worse and worse choices in the future.
Bobbi Dykema Katsanis August 9th, 2007 5:37 pm
"Not all Dems are created equal. And some are capable of improvement.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=654"
There are some Democrats who are capable of being pushed in the right direction, but I think that the author is overreaching in calling every Democrat who voted against eviscerating FISA a "reliable progressive vote". Ben Nelson casts good votes every now and then, but that doesn't make him a progressive.
Deran August 9th, 2007 1:31 pm
"And thus the idea of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney running for president next year as an independent peace and justice candidate (like Cindy Sheehan is going to do in her run for congress), or as the nominee of the Green Party."
She should run as a Green. Unless you're a billionare, it's much harder to get on the ballot as an independent.
SJC:
While you certainly "own" your opinions and it is incorrect for anybody else to attempt to speak for you, you should make at least some effort to support your opinions with facts, documentation, evidence -- or at least rational arguments.
To say something is true simply because you say it is true and/or you believe it to be so, is not enough. It is illogical -- and even insulting -- to expect people to take your opinions seriously if they are not based on a shred of evidence or logic.
Having the right to say anything you want, does not mean that you should say anything you want out loud in a public forum. There is a difference between freedom and license.
Also, as pointed out above, repeating a lie or myth does not make it true...no matter what Goebbels, Rove (or other proponents of lying to control thought and action) say.
Great article Bruce. Now they're managing to keep Senator Gravel from the debates. Too dangerous to the status quo, I guess:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA
Not all Dems are created equal. And some are capable of improvement.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=654
sjc is entitled to her/his opinion, to be sure. However, I would still accuse sjc of being an "enabler."
Americans would like to believe that their country is the best in the world. Some Americans already believe this despite evidence to the contrary. One would think that a country with such lofty aspirations would do a better job taking care of itself, but one would be WRONG when it comes to America.
People before profits.
Peace to you and yours.
COMarc, you said it. try to bust up their game and you'll find out damn quick how powerful they are.
when on foreign policy/national security the dems give dumbya everything he wants, why do you elect them? and let's not even get started on NCLB, taxes, pharma stuff for medicare, etc. where are the dems on katrina? on anything?
"they only have a small majority..." fine. if i try to keep from throwing up and give the Dems a supermajority in congress and the white house in the next election, and we then invade pakistan and nuke iran, are still torturing/rendering people, spying on everything, etc., etc., will you still be sputtering your lame justifications then?
"but, but, but...they increased minimum wage and insured 2million more children! but, but, but the republicans will filibuster if we don't put a scalia cloan on SCOTUS..." (did filibuster suddenly drop out of the dem vocabulary? explain that you dem panderers please)
just b/c the MSM always gives the Dems the out that they were cowed by dumbya and his phoney war on terror doesn't mean you have to buy it.
DEMOCRAT = REPUBLICAN
GOVERNMENT = CORPORATION
WAR = CRIME
There is absolutely NO difference between a democrat and a republican.
If you're a republican and against abortion, what did your vote get you? You had the White House, the Congress and the courts. Are we still having abortions? Feel cheated? (Welll, good, because CHOICE = LIBERTY)
(NOTE: I used the abortion issue as it ranks near the top with republican voters.)
If you're a democrat you're completely used to getting nothing from government save platitudes. The environment? Ruined. Healthcare? Absent. Education? As profitable as ever. War? Try warS.
American bridges falling down, falling down, falling down....
We circle the bowl hoping that a big screen tv will float by as we drown.
Peace to you and yours.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you do not run this web site. So keep your opinions about what I should do or not do to yourself.
sjc_1 repeating the same lie every day doesn't make it true, your excuses for the Democrats are execrable, spare us. They have the power to stop the war today if they choose to. They have no interest in doing what the American people elected them to.
As for this article, yet another 'spineless' Democrats piece that misses the point entirely. Democrats are not spineless, they're in fact incredibly bold to pretend being an opposition party while enabling Bush crimes against the Constitution on a daily basis.
And I've said before that Democrats and Republicans are 2 sides of the same coin and coin is the operative word.
They work for who pays them. Who doesn't?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Calling the Democrats 'spineless' or 'cowards' for supporting this is a misrepresentation so bad as to be bordering on a bald face lie.
The Democrats are not spineless. The Democrats are not cowards. By comparison, see how spineless or cowardly the Democrats are when the issue is say Ralph Nader getting on a ballot somewhere.
And there's a five year history (at least) of the Democrats continuously and consistently supporting this type of legislation. Consistently, going back to at least the Patriot Act, these bills are passed with Democratic support. The way congress critters play games with votes, its hard to tell with exactly how much support. One thing for sure there are always enough Democratic votes to pass these bills. How the other Dems vote once enough votes are there for passage is hard to tell. Once the leadership has enough sure votes for passage, they will often turn loose the other congress critters to vote no if they want.
But there are two consistent and true facts. If Democratic votes are needed for passage or to provide a aura of bipartisanship, then those votes are guaranteed to be there. And you will never see a Democratic minority use a filibuster or other procedural tactics to stop such a bill. 41 Democratic Senators could have banded together and stopped this. That a lot of Democrats voted no, but then didn't take the effective action available them to stop the bill reveals their NO votes as being merely symbolic and done only to fool the voters back home.
Face it, the leadership of the Democratic Party has consistently supported bill after bill that allows the President to take away the rights of Americans. Its obviously the policy of the party. Please stop trying to bs me into believing they are 'spineless' or 'cowards'. If you believe that then you believe the Democrats really opposed the bill but are too cowardly to cast a vote that says so. That's just BS at this point. It belies a 5 year (or longer) track record of constant Democratic support for bills like this.
Face it. The Democrats support this policy. If you don't, stop voting Democrat.
Seems to me that the Democrats in congress have come to the realisation that the Rovian Neocons have already fixed the 2008 election, and are all falling all over themselves to gain good Courtier-Bootlicker positions in the court of the Imperial Bush Dictatorship.
Court Jesters one and all.
NOW, can we get a distaff second for a landslide? Maybe switch to Kucinich!
Seems to me that the Democrats in congress have come to the realisation that the Rovian Neocons have already fixed the 2008 election, and are all falling all over themselves to gain good Courtier-Bootlicker positions in the court of the Imperial Bush Dictatorship.
The Democrats are under the misguided notion that by becoming the Republicans, they can defeat them. They are rushing to the right faster than Ronald Regan at a Joe McCarthy hearing.
Now why would anyone who supportsthe Republican party neocon policies, vote for "Republican Light" Democrats?
And why would anyone who supports traditional Democratic policy, vote for these current Dem-ass-ocrats, period?
I think that the Democrats are doing things about right from a political perspective. They did not get a huge majority, so you can not overplay the mandate to end the war idea.
They are keeping steady pressure on and doing the things that they know they can do with what they have. I know there are those that say the two parties are the same, but I do not agree.
The irony is that the Democrats' greatest weakness as candidates and as a Congress with a Republican President could also be their greatest strength -- the propensity to be risk averse.
The Democrats believe in and support corporate capitalism as much as the Republicans do (I do not, by the way), but the Democrats try to make it at least somewhat utilitarian because they are risk averse. They do not want a revolution at home or an insurgency abroad when they promote corporate interests.
The Republicans, on the other hand, believe only weaklings and losers are risk averse (and that appears to be true at least with regard to political campaigns). They go for full plunder and domination and use disinformation, police power, military power, and fear, and now even vote-counting shenanigans, to keep subjugated populations under control. They do not let the constitution or human decency get in the way when they plan to prevent or destroy any attempts at revolution or insurgency at home or abroad. They are willing even to risk worldwide thermonuclear war and human extinction in their quest to maximize their plunder.
And that is why I find it disturbing that so many progressives think they could build a third party under Republican rule.
YES! I've been screaming for someone to organize a General Strike!
GS are effective. If you check out recent success stories of how GS have brought oppressive governments to their knees and they had to listen to the people you too would wonder why we haven't been using this tactic earlier.
Our phone calls, letters, emails, marches, protests and our votes are NOT being listened to! If enough non-essential people stay home from work to bring this country to a standstill and do not purchase anything for that one day we'd be heard.
What have we got to loss? Nothing else is working.
We can't wait till the 09' for the change.
We can't wait for prolonged investigations that are being stonewalled to get justice.
We can't wait for impeachment to be put "back on the table".
We can't wait period! Too much time has been wasted already!
Take the day off for PEACE!
Out of Iraq/Impeach NOW! SEPT. 11th GENERAL STRIKE!
http://liberalpro.blogspot.com/2007/08/general-strike-91107.html
And thus the idea of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney running for president next year as an independent peace and justice candidate (like Cindy Sheehan is going to do in her run for congress), or as the nominee of the Green Party.
http://myspace.com/draftmckinney2008
Read today's "news." Already the Democrats are lining up to back Bush's policies in Iraq. By the time the convention rolls around, I suspect the party to endorse it as part of its platform. And the killing will go on . . . and we will continue to pay for it.
And yet when I was saying these things three years ago, I was an alarmist. Now I guess everybody is an alarmist.
The only thing that will wake these people up is crisis; bigger than 9/11, bigger than a bridge collapsing, bigger than Katrina. Unfortunately most of us will probably be killed by a crisis that big.
Too bad... I kinda liked this planet.