On Fighting Decay

[H2O Man]

"In early 1972, a young radio reporter in Miami stood outside a supermarket trying to get people to sign a copy of the Bill of Rights. Seventy-five percent refused, many saying it was ‘Communist propaganda’."
--Individual Statement by Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.; The Senate Watergate Report; 1974; page 643.

Last night, my older son and I watched MSNBC’s "Countdown." My son, who is a college student, said that it was shocking how the puppets of large corporations, such as Rep. Joe Wilson, are able to purposely mislead a segment of ignorant citizens. He asked me if it has always been this way, or is it a recent decay of intellect? I immediately thought of this paragraph of Senator Weicker’s Watergate Statement, from his introductory section titled "A Stillness." When I read it to him, his first response was, "That’s eerie."

In the stillness that followed my reading of that paragraph, while my son sat stunned, simply shaking his head while considering its implications, I thought of how far away from being a Constitutional democracy our nation has become. It didn’t start with Nixon, of course, but that period served as a wake-up call to those who were unaware of the decay in Washington, DC.

It had to do with what Senator Ted Kennedy wrote about in his final letter to President Obama – the character of our nation. When people of good will become disengaged from the daily struggle that defines a healthy Constitutional democracy, that vacuum will soon become filled with the unhealthy, including ignorance, fear, and hatred. And the enemies of our Constitutional democracy will seek to capitalize on the situation, and to cause the decay of the foundations of our nation.

When 75% of people are unable to recognize the Bill of Rights, it is indeed "eerie." When many mistakenly identify the Bill of Rights as "Communist propaganda," it is the decay of character that allows for the series of crimes known collectively as "Watergate." And it is that very decay which is required in order for a group of right-wing lemures to mistake proposed health care reform for a sinister plot, requiring tea-bag protestations and town-hall theatrics as immunization from the evil effects of the foreign-born, Islamic atheist President Barack Obama.

I told my son that, although it was not mentioned in the corporate media’s reviews of Senator Kennedy’s life (and is not found in those terrible, liberal text books he is exposed to in college), Ted Kennedy recognized "Watergate" as a cancer on our Constitutional democracy, and was among the earliest and most forceful advocates of impeachment in Congress at the time. As I explained to him, I can say – without any possibility of error – that when Senator Kennedy urged his friends and associates in the House to begin the impeachment process, and they told him that there was not the support required to impeach Nixon, he responded that it was absolutely necessary to try, to protect the Constitution from further decay.

Senator Weicker also recognized the urgency of members of both houses of Congress doing exactly what sources from Woodrow Wilson to the US Supreme Court referred to as "the informative function of Congress." That involves not only the ability of Congress to investigate corruption in the federal government ("decay"), but their duty to inform and educate the public. (It is worth noting that even some people on DU have argued this point with me in the past. One can assume that they are as unfamiliar with Wilson’s book "Congressional Government," and the USSC case Watkins v. United States, and United States v. Rumely, as some Florida shoppers were with the Bill of Rights. I find both to be unacceptable lack of familiarity with the proper role of government.)

In his statement, Senator Weicker provided a basic civics lesson. The US Constitution’s seven Articles and (then) 26 Amendments can be broken down into two general groups: the substantive and the procedural divisions. He noted that the "substantive sections lay out rights, powers, and duties," while the procedural areas covers "more technical and administrative matters." He then showed that in the substantive part alone, the Nixon administration had committed more than 80 separate high crimes and misdemeanors that combined to create a huge threat to our form of government.

There were, as I told my son, differences between Senator Weicker and Senator Kennedy on what the primary focus of the Congress should be in regard to Watergate. Senator Weicker believed the primary focus had to be on making systematic changes to insure that such decay could never happen again in the future. Senator Kennedy put more emphasis on the need to prosecute those who committed the high crimes and misdemeanors, in order to decrease the likelihood of similar offenses in the future. I believe that both approaches were essential.

As Senator Kennedy noted in his letter to President Obama, and President Obama explained in his speech to both houses of Congress, the current debate on health care reform defines our nation’s character. In my opinion, our approach to issues such as the need to prosecute the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush-Cheney administration, to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to deal with environmental, economic and social justice, also define our national character.

In 2008, liberal and progressive democrats worked to elect a President and Congress to begin to transform the system, and to cut out the decay and rot in Washington. After the November elections, far too many people at the grass roots level assumed that our mission had been accomplished. In fact, we had won an important round in a long struggle. But that fight has to be fought daily. The elected representatives do not have the character to do the right thing on their own, out of the goodness of their hearts. When the grass roots decreased their efforts, it created a vacuum that was instantly filled by viruses and parasites such as Rep. Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck, which feed upon the ignorance and stupidity of those who mistake the Bill of Rights for Communist propaganda. The financial investments in decay were unmistakable in the months of July and August.

Just as the Constitution in no way addresses the "rights" of corporations – though the US Supreme Court will no doubt continue to rule otherwise in the next few years – it does demand an informed, active citizenry. And that means you and I. To borrow from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s powerful 1967 speech ("A Time to Break Silence," aka "Beyond Vietnam"), "The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment in human history." What we do today and tomorrow will define our nation’s character.

Peace,
H2O Man

[Frosty1]

1. Excellant

:yourock:
:applause: :woohoo:

[H2O Man]

6. Thanks.

Much appreciated.

[Me.]

2. Strength

In the OP and the Constitution. Both are needed. I think there is something of a shock to the nervous system of the country happening here. You are right when you say many of us thought after the election that we were on the road to correction. I don't think many could forsee the degree to which things would disintegrate.

There was a discussion here, last night, about the hatred and hysteria we currently see. This time was likened to the McCarthy era where the hysteria kept ballooning to the day when, finally, it was popped. How far will things have to go before sanity reigns again. This has been going on, full throttle since * forced his ugliness into the WH and it won't stop until we make them.

[H2O Man]

8. We are seeing

the synergism of the hatred, paranoia, and manipulative greed of the right-wing. And when there is a force that is more powerful than what we perceive to be it's individual attributes, it sometimes creates confusion -- even here on DU, as hard as that might be to believe. And that is why, in other discussions (not the one you mentioned), we see people arguing about "it isn't racism" vs "yes it is," and other similar things. What we are seeing is indeed the same virus that we call McCarthyism .... which demons such as Ann Coulter call "good" ..... and it is always a force created by individuals but that takes on the attributes of a mob.

It is worth noting that when its bubble "pops," it can easily become more dangerous than before. The individuals feel the compulsion to contribute to its force, to keep the ball rolling. And mobs are always more immoral than individuals in these circumstances. Synergism electrifies the fringe elements.

That is exactly why we must become active. Each of us. We create synergism, too. Those who have been lied to by life, who have become convinced that their contribution to social justice is small and of no consequence, must come to see that their's is part of the larger whole. It counts. Indeed, it is essential. We saw the beginnings of that last year, in the election season. Every vote counted. Each individual vote created the force that brought about the democratic victories in the Congress and the Presidency. But the individual men and women in Washington are smaller than the whole; they are not the force of democracy or social justice. We are.

[grantcart]

3. And we know the name of the bacteria that causes this decay

It is fear.

It is the reason that people cling to ther religion (instead of having their God challenge them) and their guns (and buy massive amounts of ammunition for no good reason).

Excellent essay, lucky son.

[Gregorian]

4. We're living in an "arificial" society.

What a lucky son. At 53, I had a conversation with my mother two days ago that had me realizing that I've been in the dark about some significant aspects of my own family, until now. Had I had a father who spent time and was honest with me, I may have been far more productive over the last few decades. Good for you.

I say artificial, meaning that due to our own inventiveness and creativity, we are essentially all allowed to live with the power of hundreds of slaves. We essentially live like kings. We suffer in ways that many are unconscious about. Were we living in times of absolute oppression, most would have urgently signed that bill of rights. But today people are afraid of losing the comfort they have. Just mention anything regarding automobiles, and you'll find immediate hostility. Not to mention lack of curiosity.

I would bet money that people with dark skin would have signed that bill of rights without hesitation back then. But I doubt that experiment included many of them.

The generosity of the Kennedy's is what makes them so special, under the circumstances of having wealth.

Foresight is so important. I wish this nation had more vision. It may be too late. Furthermore, I don't see corporations as just buildings and contracts. I see employees. It's almost as though it's a part of our own selves. Maybe like a good cancer. Something we decided would be beneficial, but then got out of hand. So in some respect there is a fear that people have that they need these big companies. But the reality is they're killing us. I guess we're all alcoholics now.

[azul]

5. "the informative function of congress"

Who wins when citizens are ignorant and divided?

Rec

[rosesaylavee]

7. We need to remember we are key players in all this too...

We need to be talking to our neighbors and friends in addition to our congress people. Our work in getting this President elected last fall was just the beginning. If we want a democracy or any of the freedoms in our Bill of Rights, we need to continue to speak up and demand them. Our voices need to be heard loud and clear so they will be taken into account... our kids' futures are riding on this. We need to stay engaged in the process.

I love that quote by Dr. King. He knew what community action could do. I don't think all is lost but I can see where it could happen and that scares me.

[PATRICK]

9. Extra comment

I would say that it is not the apathy of the winner phenomenon creating a vacuum. The Corporate pravda machine alone scoops out the heart of American discourse and fills it with pure poison in an ever more unified front to simply destroy the democratic and Democratic chance at governing. If there is NO vacuum they create it with extreme prejudice. It is not a simple case of the weakness of the good and the blithe optimism of faith in weak answers.

It is the weariness of constant fighting or rather under constant barrage from high ramparts yet untaken with a highly gamed and compromised, bent from purpose party leadership. A New Democrat chicken(not Obama! the leadership as a whole as it has devolved) arrived with a progressive egg. There is no mother hen but plenty of punks wanting very much to splatter that egg against the pretentious chick that clucks like a hen but does nothing for the future.

The only blame to be incurred by the just is the general one of being human and not ruthless to assert dominance. The system, as we noted in the sixties, rather vaguely, very detailed now, is very much against America, the future, humanity and truth much less the political goals the likes of AP trash 24/7.