Let's talk about a few politicians that are showing some principle. Even some Republicans.
"I took an oath of office to the Constitution. I didn't take an oath of office to my party or to my president. ~Chuck Hagel"
It's time to honor those who have stood up for what's right. Immediately I think of Dean, Feingold, Conyers, Boxer and others now calling for impeachment.
But there are some 'good ones' on 'both sides of the aisle.' That's amazing, at a time when even some of our Democratic Senators haven't stood up to be counted yet...
"Maine Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans, strongly opposed the provision to open the Arctic refuge to development. They also were highly critical of the decision to add the issue to the must-pass defense spending bill." In another article "Maine Republican Olympia Snowe said Congress is "a coequal branch of government." She said it must "immediately and expeditiously review" the White House authorization of eavesdropping on Americans and others in the U.S. with suspected ties to terrorists." And some Republicans are mad about it.
UPDATE:Fineman in Newsweek:
Arguably the most interesting — and influential — Republicans in the Senate right now are the libertarians. They’re suspicious of the Patriot Act and, I am guessing, pivotal in any discussion of the NSA and others' spy efforts. Most are Westerners (Craig, Hagel, Murkowski) and the other is Sen. John Sununu. He is from New Hampshire, which, as anyone who has spent time there understands, is the Wild West of the East Coast. All you have to do is look at its license plate slogan: “Live Free or Die.” It’ll be interesting to see how other nominal small-government conservatives — Sen. George Allen of Virginia comes to mind — handle the issue.
UPDATE: Barrons, a conservative
Wall Street Journal publication, calls for congress to consider impeachment.
Ray McGovern writes that our Republican Senators have the power to intervene in this constitutional crisis...
Will Republican Senators Save the Republic?
So there it is. The George W. Bush administration contends that the president's power as commander in chief during wartime means that he is above the law. Small wonder that he bristled at a question from the press about "unchecked power." Whether authorizing torture or wiretaps, he reserves the right to act irrespective of domestic or international law.
The question is whether Congress and the courts will continue to roll over and play dead, or whether men and women of principle honor their oath to "defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic." Some hope can be seen in a recent remark by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who told reporters:
"I took an oath of office to the Constitution. I didn't take an oath of office to my party or to my president."
Will enough Republican senators honor that oath? Our system of checks and balances hangs in the balance, so to speak. The president has thrown down the gauntlet by declaring he will continue to authorize eavesdropping that, by law, requires a court order. Will senators pick up the gauntlet, or will they run away home to grandmother's house for Christmas?
If Chuck Hagel brings tears to your eyes, ring him up and let him know.
Ray McGovern ends his article by telling the story of Cicero:
From Republic to Empire
Let's hope history does not repeat itself. The constitution of ancient Rome was put in place in 510 BC, when the republicans overthrew the last of the Roman kings, Tarquin the Proud. As was the case 2300 years later in the newborn USA, the introduction of constitutional order meant the rule of law and not of kings, providing liberty under law for every Roman citizen. That experiment lasted almost five centuries, until the Roman senators fell down on the job.
Although Cicero warned, with pointed eloquence, of the dangers to the Republic, in the end his warnings proved no match for strongmen like Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompey. They wrapped themselves in republican virtue when it suited them, but they lacked any serious belief in the fundamental principles that had formed republican Rome. They and their followers believed in themselves, and in their own vision of what Rome should be, and in little else. Plutarch tells us that the increasingly glaring unequal distribution of wealth served to make the situation exceedingly volatile. Sound familiar?
And so the Republic died, and Cicero died with it, his severed head and hands nailed to the "rostra," the platform in the forum from which he had warned the Roman people. The vision of the strongmen led first to civil war and then to empire.
Republican senators, don't let it happen here.
Author: Ray McGovern works for Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. He was an analyst at the CIA for 27 years, and is on the Steering Group of VIPS.
Here's how Cicero would haved talked about Padilla.
But why talk of Padilla* as though it were Padilla on whom you were wreaking a private vengeance, instead of rather waging war against the very name and rights of American citizenship. You showed yourself an enemy, I say, not to the individual man, but to the common cause of liberty.
~ after Cicero...
It was this speech, originally about *Gavius and Rome, in 70 BC that started Cicero's climb to fame as an advocate.
Wikipedia says: Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BC - December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin orator...
What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious. ~~ Cicero
Missouri State says he is "An accomplished poet, philosopher, rhetorician, and humorist, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) was also the greatest forensic orator Rome ever produced. But to Cicero, service to the res publica (literally, "the public affair") was a Roman citizen's highest duty. [...] Late in life, he led the Senate's gallant but unsuccessful battle against Antony, for which he paid with his life on 7 December 43 BC."
A room without books is like a body without a soul. ~~~~ Cicero (106 - 43 BC)Young Cicero:
I beg you to take the time for the very readable Cicero, by Rev. W. Lucas Collins, a bit Christian-centric but a a fast-paced read and good preparation for reading Cicero in the original. And those of us who are parents, let's make sure our kids know who he was.
Freedom is participation in power. ~~~~ The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes by instinct. ~~~~ The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquillity, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death. ~~~~ Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion, or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute. ~~~~ The more laws, the less justice. ~~~~ Freedom is a possession of inestimable value. ~~~~ The people's good is the highest law. ~~~~ Law stands mute in the midst of arms. ~~~~ Endless money forms the sinews of war. ~~~~ There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment. ~~~~ Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC
Cicero is no saint. Here Rev. Lucas tells us of a moment when Cicero led the immediate summary executions of hidden traitors:
It was the hasty instinct of self-preservation, the act of a weak government uncertain of its very friends, under the influence of terror--a terror for which, no doubt, there were abundant grounds. ~~~~ Rev. W. Lucas Collins
Again, let's talk about politicians showing some principle. What are your representatives saying? If you don't know, why not ask them? Certainly we've made some progress since 43 BC:
We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race. ~~~~ The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth. ~~~~ Let arms give place to the robe, and the laurel of the warriors yield to the tongue of the orator. ~~~~ There is no being of any race who, if he finds the proper guide, cannot attain to virtue. ~~~~ By doubting we come at truth. ~~~~ No one sees what is before his feet: we all gaze at the stars. ~~~~ A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. ~~~~ Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? ~~~~ Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)