Crunch Time: Why Kerry Must Win
In the two months that I have been writing this blog, I have tried to talk about John Kerry's record in a positive way, in the process bringing to light much that is hardly ever mentioned in the media. The BCCI case, the Iran-Contra Affair, dedication to the environment, a courageous challenge to official complicity in narcotics trafficking -- these events hardly even scratch the surface of the Kerry Record. I have not even mentioned the extraordinary lengths to which Kerry went to search for surviving POWs in Vietnam, and the role he played in bringing about the normalization of US-Vietnamese relations. I hope that any reader of this blog will look into Kerry's record for him or herself. John Kerry's lifetime is one of virtually unique public service. Suffice to say, I believe with all my heart that we Democrats have not in my lifetime been presented with an opportunity to elect a more outstanding candidate for the Presidency, and we must not allow that opportunity to slip away.
As I have written these blogs, I have often asked myself, which is more important: electing John Kerry or defeating George Bush? Fortunately, I do not have to answer that question, as we cannot do one without of necessity doing the other. Yet, as Election Day draws ever nearer, I have forced myself to look out into the abyss, and contemplate the meaning of a Bush victory.
We Progressives have our own version of the "F" word: it is Fascism. We throw the word around too much, usually without justification and without meaning. I therefore approach what I am about to say with a great deal of trepidation.
I believe that what we have gotten during Bush's first term -- and may it also be his only term -- is a whiff of fascism. What do I mean by that? Democracy in America still exists, there is a rule of law, there is still a constitution. But it is beginning to look less like an edifice and more like a Hollywood set; the appearances are there, but the substance is mighty thin. But what is most important of all is the fact that there is no enthusiasm for the reality of Democracy in this administration; on the contrary, there is clear hostility to Democracy, which is consistently rising closer and closer to the surface. Consider some of the signs:
-- Who would have thought that they would ever hear a democratic American government mincing words about the use of torture as a matter of official policy? That's what we've gotten from this administration. The Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department wrote a casuistic memo trying to justify what went on at Abu Ghraib, and military and intelligence officials put that memo into effect at Abu Ghraib and probably elsewhere. It's looking more and more as though the little maggots who did the actual torture at Abu Ghraib are going to be justifiably punished, but the blame won't go any higher. More ominously, Seymour Hirsch has commented that he has received reliable reports that what has been going on at Guantanamo makes Abu Ghraib look like a nursery school. Do you think for a moment that anyone in the Bush Administration cares? Do you think that if Bush were re-elected, we would ever know?
-- The Bush Administration's condonation of torture is consistent with legal positions it has uniformly advanced in carrying out the so-called war on terror. The Bush Administration has attempted to justify in arguments before the Supreme Court the government's power to incarcerate both citizens and non-citizens alike indefinitely and without charge, without counsel, and without access to judicial relief, based solely on the Executive Branch's unreviewable designation of detainees as "enemy combatants." Could an administration that has the slightest appreciation of the concept of Due Process of Law possibly espouse such a position?
-- A story appeared in last week's New York Times -- almost entirely ignored in all other media -- that the IRS had begun an investigation of the NAACP challenging its tax exempt status. The openly-stated impetus for the IRS investigation is the fact that NAACP Chair Julian Bond has recently made statements sharply critical of many of the Bush Administration's policies. Apparently, the IRS believes that this means that the NAACP is a partisan organization that no longer qualifies for tax exempt status. Defending against this IRS investigation, regardless of its ultimate success, will be extremely costly to the NAACP. To my knowledge, the IRS has not opened up such an investigation of the Catholic Church, notwithstanding the fact that several bishops have stated that any Catholic who votes for Kerry will go directly to hell. Those who remember Watergate will recall that Nixon got into deep trouble merely because he attempted to look at the tax returns of political enemies. The Bush Administration makes no bones at all about its use of the IRS to wreak vengeance upon its opponents.
-- Consider the manner in which the Bush-Cheney campaign has been conducted. I previously wrote a blog about Susan Niederer, who attempted to ask Laura Bush why her son had been killed in Iraq and why Jenna and Barbara had not volunteered for duty, and found herself not only without an answer, but placed under arrest for her troubles. This is only the tip of the iceberg of what the Bush-Cheney campaign has been doing. The Bush campaign's use of loyalty oaths to screen attendees at rallies has been widely documented. An excellent description of some of these campaign atrocities is contained in the TRB column in the October 25, 2004 issue of The New Republic. (I have been put off by the rightward tilt of TNR in recent years, but it has been a rock in its opposition to Bush in this year's campaign; this confirms my view that no one bearing a sound mind and any semblance of integrity could possibly support Bush). For example, Nicole Rank, an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, attempted to attend a Bush rally in Charleston, West Virginia with her husband while wearing a t-shirt reading, "Regime Change Starts At Home." Bush staffers approached her and told her that she had to remove the t-shirt or leave the rally. When she refused, Ms. Rank and her husband were handcuffed by the local police and taken to prison. A few days later, she was told that she was dismissed from her position at FEMA. Notably, Bush gave a speech at the rally in which he touted his administration's devotion to freedom and democracy and proclaimed, "Free thought and free expression, that's what we believe." As documented by TNR, Ms. Rank's experience is by no means unique.
-- It is self-evident that the right to vote is the sine qua non of democracy. Yet, the Bush campaign has made no secret of the fact that it intends to use every manner of obstructionist tactic, legal or illegal, to suppress voting in districts likely to favor the Democrats (it goes without saying that these tactics will be targeted primarily against African-Americans and other minority groups).
-- Those of us who live in New York City will never forget this year's Republican Convention. Huge nets were used literally to scoop protesters off the streets so that they could be taken to jail (these indiscriminate nets also scooped up plenty of innocent bystanders who were not even involved in any protests). Arrested protesters were taken to a detention facility near the Hudson River, and held for up to 72 hours without any access to the courts, a blatantly illegal practice that has subjected the City of New York to huge contempt fines. The scene was frighteningly reminiscent of the movie Missing, in which opponents of General Pinochet's coup in Chile were rounded up and housed in a soccer stadium, frequently never to be heard of again.
If you think that I'm trying to scare people by talking like this, you're right. I'm plenty scared when I think about what the Bush Administration would try to do in a second term. But as scared as I am, I am also heartened. Democracy is tough stuff. I will never stop believing that the will of the people will triumph over the wilfulness of small men like George Bush. In this year's election, we have seen the beginning of an uprising of real democracy in this country. This weekend, I participated in a volunteer get out the vote effort organized by moveon in Philadelphia; similar volunteer activities have been going on all around the country. Democracy is on the move. It will not be stopped. John Kerry must be elected.
As I have written these blogs, I have often asked myself, which is more important: electing John Kerry or defeating George Bush? Fortunately, I do not have to answer that question, as we cannot do one without of necessity doing the other. Yet, as Election Day draws ever nearer, I have forced myself to look out into the abyss, and contemplate the meaning of a Bush victory.
We Progressives have our own version of the "F" word: it is Fascism. We throw the word around too much, usually without justification and without meaning. I therefore approach what I am about to say with a great deal of trepidation.
I believe that what we have gotten during Bush's first term -- and may it also be his only term -- is a whiff of fascism. What do I mean by that? Democracy in America still exists, there is a rule of law, there is still a constitution. But it is beginning to look less like an edifice and more like a Hollywood set; the appearances are there, but the substance is mighty thin. But what is most important of all is the fact that there is no enthusiasm for the reality of Democracy in this administration; on the contrary, there is clear hostility to Democracy, which is consistently rising closer and closer to the surface. Consider some of the signs:
-- Who would have thought that they would ever hear a democratic American government mincing words about the use of torture as a matter of official policy? That's what we've gotten from this administration. The Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department wrote a casuistic memo trying to justify what went on at Abu Ghraib, and military and intelligence officials put that memo into effect at Abu Ghraib and probably elsewhere. It's looking more and more as though the little maggots who did the actual torture at Abu Ghraib are going to be justifiably punished, but the blame won't go any higher. More ominously, Seymour Hirsch has commented that he has received reliable reports that what has been going on at Guantanamo makes Abu Ghraib look like a nursery school. Do you think for a moment that anyone in the Bush Administration cares? Do you think that if Bush were re-elected, we would ever know?
-- The Bush Administration's condonation of torture is consistent with legal positions it has uniformly advanced in carrying out the so-called war on terror. The Bush Administration has attempted to justify in arguments before the Supreme Court the government's power to incarcerate both citizens and non-citizens alike indefinitely and without charge, without counsel, and without access to judicial relief, based solely on the Executive Branch's unreviewable designation of detainees as "enemy combatants." Could an administration that has the slightest appreciation of the concept of Due Process of Law possibly espouse such a position?
-- A story appeared in last week's New York Times -- almost entirely ignored in all other media -- that the IRS had begun an investigation of the NAACP challenging its tax exempt status. The openly-stated impetus for the IRS investigation is the fact that NAACP Chair Julian Bond has recently made statements sharply critical of many of the Bush Administration's policies. Apparently, the IRS believes that this means that the NAACP is a partisan organization that no longer qualifies for tax exempt status. Defending against this IRS investigation, regardless of its ultimate success, will be extremely costly to the NAACP. To my knowledge, the IRS has not opened up such an investigation of the Catholic Church, notwithstanding the fact that several bishops have stated that any Catholic who votes for Kerry will go directly to hell. Those who remember Watergate will recall that Nixon got into deep trouble merely because he attempted to look at the tax returns of political enemies. The Bush Administration makes no bones at all about its use of the IRS to wreak vengeance upon its opponents.
-- Consider the manner in which the Bush-Cheney campaign has been conducted. I previously wrote a blog about Susan Niederer, who attempted to ask Laura Bush why her son had been killed in Iraq and why Jenna and Barbara had not volunteered for duty, and found herself not only without an answer, but placed under arrest for her troubles. This is only the tip of the iceberg of what the Bush-Cheney campaign has been doing. The Bush campaign's use of loyalty oaths to screen attendees at rallies has been widely documented. An excellent description of some of these campaign atrocities is contained in the TRB column in the October 25, 2004 issue of The New Republic. (I have been put off by the rightward tilt of TNR in recent years, but it has been a rock in its opposition to Bush in this year's campaign; this confirms my view that no one bearing a sound mind and any semblance of integrity could possibly support Bush). For example, Nicole Rank, an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, attempted to attend a Bush rally in Charleston, West Virginia with her husband while wearing a t-shirt reading, "Regime Change Starts At Home." Bush staffers approached her and told her that she had to remove the t-shirt or leave the rally. When she refused, Ms. Rank and her husband were handcuffed by the local police and taken to prison. A few days later, she was told that she was dismissed from her position at FEMA. Notably, Bush gave a speech at the rally in which he touted his administration's devotion to freedom and democracy and proclaimed, "Free thought and free expression, that's what we believe." As documented by TNR, Ms. Rank's experience is by no means unique.
-- It is self-evident that the right to vote is the sine qua non of democracy. Yet, the Bush campaign has made no secret of the fact that it intends to use every manner of obstructionist tactic, legal or illegal, to suppress voting in districts likely to favor the Democrats (it goes without saying that these tactics will be targeted primarily against African-Americans and other minority groups).
-- Those of us who live in New York City will never forget this year's Republican Convention. Huge nets were used literally to scoop protesters off the streets so that they could be taken to jail (these indiscriminate nets also scooped up plenty of innocent bystanders who were not even involved in any protests). Arrested protesters were taken to a detention facility near the Hudson River, and held for up to 72 hours without any access to the courts, a blatantly illegal practice that has subjected the City of New York to huge contempt fines. The scene was frighteningly reminiscent of the movie Missing, in which opponents of General Pinochet's coup in Chile were rounded up and housed in a soccer stadium, frequently never to be heard of again.
If you think that I'm trying to scare people by talking like this, you're right. I'm plenty scared when I think about what the Bush Administration would try to do in a second term. But as scared as I am, I am also heartened. Democracy is tough stuff. I will never stop believing that the will of the people will triumph over the wilfulness of small men like George Bush. In this year's election, we have seen the beginning of an uprising of real democracy in this country. This weekend, I participated in a volunteer get out the vote effort organized by moveon in Philadelphia; similar volunteer activities have been going on all around the country. Democracy is on the move. It will not be stopped. John Kerry must be elected.
posted by democratic core at 10:04 PM
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