A Russian friend of mine recently made the comment that after listening to John McCain he sounded just like the old Russian Apparatchiks. After observing what I can only consider the extremely bizarre behavior on the campaign trail it occurred to me that we are experiencing the rise of the “American Apparatchik Class”.
Once we lost our leaders, like Al Lowenstein, in the early 1980’s we as a Party and a country have moved ever closer to this American Apparatchik reality. We allow the misguided media and some of our elected officials both past and present to define our “reality” as a Party and a Country. Perhaps we need to listen to others who have experienced first hand and seen the inner workings of the old Soviet system to help us see the similarities of the old Soviet system and our own current reality as a Political Party and a Country. Yes I do challenge anyone to explain how the Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld war machine is significantly any different than the old Soviet, Kremlin war machine that invaded Afghanistan.
If we consult Wikipedia this in part is the meaning of ‘apparatchik’: “Today this term is also used in contexts other than the Soviet Union. For example, it is often used to describe people who cause bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations. It is also frequently used to describe individuals appointed to positions in any government on the basis of ideological or political loyalty rather than competence.”
Why does John McCain fit within my definition of an American Apparatchik? Before years before John began his recent string of “runs” on the White House most people associate McCain with the Vietnam POW issue and with the McCain/Feingold campaign finance bill. Both of these issues are very admirable issues, if one is making a series of “runs” on the White House. As we look at the background of John do we discover any unique qualifications that John possesses to allow him to be our President? John is actually an American Apparatchik and unqualified to be President of all Americans. John was in fact one of the “Keating 5”. We The People can never forget that John McCain was one of the Keating 5 and continues to put the interests of special interests above the real interests of We The People. John McCain continues to use his position to create “bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations”.
Allow me to shift my attention to Hillary Clinton. If I were willing to accept that Hillary has national security and foreign policy experience was somehow of greater value than Barack (a point I am not willing to concede by the way), let me tell you why I also think Hillary is a member of the American Apparatchik class.
We must never forget as a nation that when Hillary was gaining her national security and foreign policy experience she had a greater opportunity than most of us to influence American foreign policy toward Rwanda at the moment in time when it turns out over 800,000 people died in a genocide over just 100 days. Did Hillary, or John for that matter, ensure the security of any of those people? Did she raise the alarm at 3am or 10am or 3pm? As it turns out because of the status quo that both Hillary and John epitomize more than many of the US Senators we realize they both work hard to create bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations”. We need new directions and new possibilities to make us safe at home and create a better life for all of us in our world. We do not need another member of the American Apparatchik class to be our President.
The extreme failures of judgment in the areas of foreign policy and national security on the part of both Hillary and John will prohibit them both from acting in the best interests of We The People. Are we really willing to trust either of them to make different decisions when we as a nation have had to endure with George and Dick?
During the Bush years we have seen what benefit significant years of foreign and business experience will do to destroy the very fabric of America. To put it another way how much foreign policy experience did George Washington have before becoming our first President. Our Founding Fathers were very smart in many of the ways they set up our system of government to guard against the election of any American Royal or Apparatchik President. They realized early on that the President must listen to We The People if America were going to succeed as a country. One thing we have learned over the last 7 years is that if we do not elect a President who listens to We The People we will be less secure and our economy will fall apart.
Do we for a moment think any of our Presidents were prepared for the challenges of the Oval Office? Presidents only succeed if We The People are a part of the solutions.
Barack is the only candidate who has asked We The People in meaningful, believable ways to assist him to lead. We do not to continue the dynasty of an American Apparatchik Class that both Hillary and John exemplify. We The People need a People’s President and we must elect Barack Obama as our next President.