Fighting on Three Fronts

[H2O Man]

{1} "A non-violent revolution is not a program of seizure of power. It is a program of transformation of relationships, ending in a peaceful transfer of power." -- Gandhi; quoted in "Gandhi on Non-Violence; Thomas Merton; New Directions; 1964; page 28.

There is an interesting divide on the Democratic Underground, which seems to find two groups disagreeing on a couple important issues: the idea of impeachment, and the funding of the Bush-Cheney aggression in Iraq. Though these groups are not well defined, there appears to be one general group that is opposed to any move towards impeachment, and that feels the democrats in congress have no choice but to provide funding for the war, because they can not override a Bush veto.

The second group tends to support the idea of impeachment; there are different opinions on if the first target should be Bush, Cheney, or perhaps Gonzales. This group also believes that the congress is betraying the will of the people when they provide the massive amounts of funding needed to pay for the administration’s increase in the US occupation of Iraq.

The first group talks about "political reality." They focus on what they sincerely believe is too few votes to get a conviction on an impeachment. They also view the presidential veto as a stumbling block that can keep democrats from reaching their goals.

The second group believes that it is important that we work to save our Constitutional democracy by exercising those rights defined in the Bill of Rights. They are convinced that the Constitutionally defined option of impeachment should apply to this administration more so than any in our nation’s history. And they are familiar enough with the Constitution to know the Congress is supposed to control the nation’s purse strings, and that this is not dependent upon their having enough votes to override a veto. They know that President Bush has made a request for funding, and the Congress decides the terms he can get the requested funds on.


{2} "Writer-poet Sonia Sanchez, then an activist with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), told of encountering Malcolm as he gave a speech in Harlem one afternoon and standing for hours, even after it began raining, to listen. When Malcolm finished, she went up to him to tell him how much she liked what he had to say, even though she didn’t agree with all of it. Malcolm’s bodyguards tried to push her away, but Malcolm restrained them, held her hand, and listened to her patiently. When she had finished, Malcolm said to her, with a gentle empathy that bound Sonia to him forever, ‘One day you will, sister, one day you will.’

"And then, Sonia said, ’He smiled’." – Malcolm X: Make it Plain; Cheryll Greene; Viking; 1994; page 74.

Most if not all DUers recognize that the Bush-Cheney administration lied about "the threat" that Iraq posed to the safety of the United States, in order to gain support for the invasion of that nation. The lies included, but were not limited to, stating that Saddam had a WMD program; that Iraq had ties to al Qaeda; and falsely implying that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks on this country.

Over the past couple of years, a number of the DUers in the second group have posted a significant amount of documentation that shows the administration intended to invade Iraq from January 2001; that they were aware that Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks; that they purposely lied about the Iraqi WMD programs and stockpiles; that they instituted a "shadow government" in the hours after the 9/11 attacks that Senator Robert Byrd describes as a threat to our Constitutional democracy; that the OVP/OSP/WHIG was engaged in an illegal operation to damage Joseph Wilson, and to expose his wife and her section of the CIA to danger because Wilson called the administration on its lies Bush told in a State of the Union address; and that at least one neoconservative who was in the OSP was engaged in an espionage campaign that involved passing military secrets about Iran to a foreign nation.

These issues are discussed in numerous books worth reading. Among them are: (a) Against All Enemies, by Richard Clarke; (b) Losing America, by Senator Robert Byrd; (c) The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind with Paul O’Neill; (d) Worse Than Watergate, by John Dean; and (e) A Pretext for War, by James Bamford.

As a member of the second group, I believe that it is important that VP Cheney is held accountable for his abuses of power. I think he needs to be impeached. I do not think that it will be possible to regain control of our government, and re-instate a Constitutional democracy, without confronting those things that VP Cheney controls through his office. I find it difficult to believe that bending under the threats of pressure by President Bush, and providing him with a huge amount of money that allows him to increase the level of US occupation in Iraq, and to further entrench our nation in another country’s civil war, is an avenue that leads to peace.


{3} " …. I have found out that all I have been doing in trying to correct this system in America has been in vain … I am trying to get to the roots of it to see just what ought to be done …. The whole thing will have to be done away with." – Martin Luther King, Jr.; November 11, 1967; quoted from "Malcolm X: Make It Plain"; page 164.

No one person is the "knower-of-all." And no group is right on everything. Weaknesses and strengths are in all of us, and so while one person/group may be weak in one area, it will be strong in another. Maybe it is good that there are two groups, with very different values when it comes to issues like impeachment and the way to end the war.

Perhaps we are like the right hand and the left hand. Minister Malcolm used to point out that it is important to use both hands in a boxing match. Plus, if we all thought just alike, and behaved in exactly the same manner, the democratic party would surely degenerate. We need to look no farther than the republican party for proof us this.

I will end this with a story I learned as a boy. It’s an Iroquois story, that elders teach to the younger generation. There was once an young Indian boy, who was supposed to follow a path. But he was busy. He had a lot of things he was busy thinking about. So he sat down near the path, and some times he would discuss his plans with his friends, and other times he would rest up, so he would have the energy to do everything he planned. And pretty soon, the path was grown over, and it was no longer possible for him to follow it.

As a member of the second group, I have explained why I do not think those who oppose impeaching VP Cheney and who think funding the Bush-Cheney madness in Iraq will help end it. Those are the wrong paths to take, in my opinion. I think our democracy is at risk, and our Constitution is being threatened. I am confident that one day soon, those from the first group will recognize this, too. I hope the path isn’t grown over.