Keeping Furled for Now the Liberal Banner
The heart of my earlier argument was that on the issue of protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States, there is no liberal position and no conservative position, there is only an American position.
That's of essential importance in the political environment in America today because a generation of right-wing propaganda has poisoned the minds of too many Americans on anything that can be labeled as "liberal." While liberals largely stood passively by, the likes of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh used the tools of propaganda to teach millions of our countrymen that liberalism is a dirty thing, a defective thing, a disreputable thing, a sinful and godless thing.
Thus, while most Americans have great reservations about the war in Iraq, that by no means assures that liberals can succeed with a "bring the troops home now" message. Too many Americans have bought the propagandistic line that liberals are wimps, unable to protect us in a dangerous world. And worse, still, too many Americans have been driven by Bushite propaganda deep into fear, and have bought the phony image of the Great Leader with his swagger and his resolute determination to "fight the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them at home."
The more the Bushites can be discredited and weakened by being shown for having betrayed their solemn oath to the American people, the easier it will be to move public opinion on this ill-conceived and misguided war.
When the spell of these Bushites with their false righteousness has been broken by the exposure of their deceit and lawlessness, it will become more possible for Americans to have a sensible discussion on what to do about such hot-button issues of private choices and public policy.
And thus, while most Americans are suspicious of the big corporate interests, and their corrupting influence on government at the expense of the common person, the Bushites and their media minions always seem to be able to sell all too many Americans on the idea that those who raise objections to the plundering of the nation by the plutocrats are engaging in "class warfare."
The more we can use the fundamental American issue of defending the Constitution to awaken Americans to the true pernicious nature of this ruling clique, the more ripe will the American political culture become for reversing the real "class warfare" that these Bushite forces have been shamelessly pursuing for years.
But for now, while the future of our democracy itself is in serious jeopardy, we cannot afford to march into battle under the liberal banner. This is the price we liberals pay for our inattention, our naivete', our passivity in the face of almost a generation of systematic, unanswered propaganda which has rendered so many of our countrymen unable to hear clearly, to think rationally, about practically any of the issues that Karl Rove can represent in terms of liberal vs. conservative.
We need to get the great majority of the American people up in arms about this attempted Bushite coup d'etat, an issue that transcends party and ideology. Once we succeed in awakening our countrymen to the truth about this criminal regime, the climate will improve for advancing all the other issues dear to liberals and important to the American people.
"But Who Cares About the Constitution?"
Just as the substantive issues of concern to liberals will be easier to advance once this regime is discredited and weakened, so also is the converse true. That is, if we fail to stop this brazen usurpation of power, and allow our constitutional system to be dismantled by unilateral presidential fiat, we might as well forget about all those other issues.
It is not clear how far this country has already gone down the road toward a fascist dictatorship. But it seems pretty clear that America is now further down that road than at any time in our history.
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