A QUESTION OF LOYALTY
By Ernest Partridge
The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil
is for good men to do nothing.
Anon. (Attributed to Edmund Burke)
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Senator Lincoln Chafee, Republican from Rhode Island, has decided
not to vote for George Bush in November.
“I’ll vote Republican,” [Chafee] said,
explaining that he would choose a write-in candidate, perhaps
George Bush the elder, as a symbolic act of protest. Asked if he
wanted Senator John Kerry to be president, Mr. Chafee shook his
head sadly, as if to say he could not entertain the question.
“I’ve been disloyal enough,” he said. (New
York Times, October 4, 2004).
With all due respect for Senator Chafee, and that
respect is genuine, I submit that he has not been loyal
enough.
It all depends upon the what the Senator regards as the supreme
object of his loyalty. To Chafee, it is apparently the Republican
party.
But that party is not the entity to which he swore allegiance when
he took his oath of office. At that time he, and all his Senate
and House colleagues, swore allegiance to the United States of
America and its Constitution. And that allegiance requires much
more of Lincoln Chafee and others who claim loyalty to the
Republican party.
For today, institutions and moral principles cherished throughout
our history and held in common today by a majority of Americans --
Democrats, Republicans and Independents -- are being threatened,
not by a foreign invader, but by a radical faction that has seized
control of our government and our media. The shared prosperity of
the American people is being undone by a few greedy plutocrats who
now effectively control the Republican party. These individuals
have caused the honor and reputation of the American Republic in
the world community to sink to an all-time low.
We are at a crossroad in history, one road leads to disaster and
the other to restoration and renewal. Neither road is in any way
defined by the traditional political differences between
Republicans and Democrats.
We must now look down that dreadful road, before we travel on. For
there we find:
-
Federal bankruptcy, the end of public services
including Social Security and Medicare, and an impoverishment
of the public schools.
-
With the decline of our educational
institutions, an end of American leadership in science and
technology – both the well-springs of prosperity in an
industrial economy.
-
International isolation, as the United States
continues to become an international outlaw, initiating wars
at times of its choosing, and violating treaties at its
convenience.
-
A loss of media independence and diversity –
“the fourth estate,” recognized by our founders as
indispensable to a free society.
-
A loss of civil liberties and the
Constitutional guarantees of free press, speech, assembly and
religion. A violation of the rights of fair trial, access to
counsel, habeas corpus.
-
An endless “war on terrorism” legitimizing
the erosion of these liberties and the abrogation of the Bill
of Rights, and furthermore requiring a permanent draft.
-
Class warfare, as national wealth flows from
the producers of that wealth to the very few who own and
control the wealth.
-
The privatization of the technology and
tallying of voting – in effect, an end of the citizen
franchise and the “consent of the governed.”
-
Environmental devastation and economic
collapse, as petroleum reserves are exhausted with no national
provision made for transition to a post-petroleum energy
source. (See my “The
Oil Trap?").
This is our future unless, together and regardless
of our habitual party preferences, we unite and throw out of
national office, those individuals who, due to dogmatism,
ignorance or the myopia of greed, fail to recognize or feel
obliged to lead us away from these perils.
The challenge transcends party. The Republican Party of Lincoln
Chafee’s father, Senator John Chafee, is no more. It has been
succeeded by a gang of theocrats, oligarchs, and empire-builders
who retain, from the Republican Party of old, little more than the
name “Republican.” (See my “Letter
to a Republican Friend”).
The Republican Party of Dwight Eisenhower, Earl Warren and Nelson
Rockefeller stood for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets,
limited government, opportunity for small business entrepreneurs,
citizen autonomy, defense of the US Constitution and its Bill of
Rights, and international law and order. These principles have
been abandoned in practice by the Republican part of today.
Nonetheless, with the entire political spectrum having shifted
sharply to the right, there now exists a political organization
that upholds and defends these principles of moderate
republicanism. It is called the Democratic Party.
So what motivates a moderate Republican or an authentic
conservative to vote for George Bush and Dick Cheney? What, other
than habit and the names, "Republican" and
"conservative."
In a generation, the words "Republican" and
"conservative" ("liberal" too, for that
matter), once a guide to intelligent political discourse, have
become weapons in the hands of greedy and power-hungry
opportunists – a “Newspeak” devised by PR wizards who have
treated George Orwell’s 1984, not as a warning but as a
guidebook.
Thus we are now on a precipice of history, and if we are to draw
back and escape catastrophe, Americans of all religious creeds and
political persuasions must pause, contemplate the morally
legitimate objects of their loyalty, and then follow the demands
of that loyalty as they vote to protect their Constitution,
preserve the rights and liberties of all citizens, demand a just
distribution of the nation’s wealth, and restore the honor of
their country among the community of nations.
There are a few key individuals who could, by themselves, take a
principled stand and favorably change the course of history. Colin
Powell and John McCain come to mind. Unfortunately, it is very
unlikely that they will do so.
And so it is up to the rest of us to do so – powerless as
individuals, but together an irresistible force.
Several significant organizations and individuals have done so
already. Among them:
And many more, too numerous to mention.
And yet, the election contest remains close. If there is to be a
favorable outcome, the current of dissent and opposition must
become a flood.
Daniel Ellsberg, John Dean, Sibel Edmonds, Colleen Rowley, Karen
Kwiatkowski and other “whistleblowers” have demanded that
still more patriots, within and outside of the government, who are
in possession of crucial information, come forth and expose the
corruption and malfeasance of this most secretive Administration.
It is also past time for a few prominent journalists to rip open
the media curtain, and let the light of truth at last shine forth.
Many media celebrities have become independently wealthy through
their careers. Now it is payback time. Where are the I. F. Stones,
Ed Murrows and Walter Cronkites of our age? Will they be heard in
the month that remains?
The time is short. But with the example of Lincoln Chafee, and
other newly-dissenting Republicans such as Chuck Hagel, Richard
Lugar, Doug Bereuter, and former Republicans such as Arianna
Huffington, John Dean, Jim Jeffords and Kevin Phillips, the
demands of duty and loyalty become ever more compelling.
In a mere month, the current of dissent and defection must become
a flood, if the usurpers of our liberties, the thieves of our
national treasure, and the despoilers of our national honor are to
be swept from their ill-gotten offices.
For after November 2, it will be too late, for then we may all be
embarked upon the road to disaster from which there will be no
return in our lifetimes -- if ever.
Ernest Partridge Co-Editor, "The Crisis
Papers." Printing, posting and distribution of this article
is encouraged, provided author and source (www.crisispapers.org)
is acknowledged.
Copyright 2004, by Ernest Partridge
originally published on The Crisis Papers
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