I know that a lot of Democrats in Washington read Dailykos, and it is to them I speak now. This is a plea from (1) a human being, (2) an American citizen, (3) a liberal and (4) a Democrat, in that order. But really, it's that first qualifier I want you to concentrate on. That's the one that really matters.
This was Constitution Week, and you can only imagine my astonishment when - presumably celebrating this week's honoring of one of the world's most precious pieces of paper (hemp, actually, but let's not split hairs) - Republicans, led by president Bush, decided to lend legitimacy to the act of torture - during this week, of all weeks! You can also double my astonishment, realizing that Democrats were saying nothing about it. That they were playing a strategy. A political strategy, yet.
Oh, and did I mention that torture - you know, physical coercion via extreme pain, whereupon a person will admit to anything under the sun - was the issue at hand here, during Constitution Week, also known as the week when Democrats fell politically silent? Yeah, I did. Right.
Now, it may not be obvious to you, but to me, millions like me, possibly billions like me, torture is not an issue you fall silent on. It's an issue you raise bloody hell over. It's an issue you dismember, if you will, on first utterance of attempted legitimacy. You don't equivocate on this one, in other words. Or did you know that? Maybe not. Well, you know now. Better late than never, I guess.
The point is, you let the country down this week, because you aided and abetted a psychotic, morals-free administration in enshrining as just-another-interrogation-method things like:
- Sleep deprivation
- Simulated drowning
- Forced standing
- Beatings that don't leave marks
and other bits of soulful squalor.
So Democrats, I tell you, right now you deserve not a second more in office. You have failed this country, and you know what? You've threatened us, by going along to get along. You've threatened me, my friend's two-year-old, the lot of us, because today's tortured terrorist is Muslim and from the Middle East, but do you really think I don't know that we who talk back regularly and energetically give the middle finger to the bastards in power won't be next? Do you think I'm that naive, that historically unschooled?
I don't see afterbirth on me; I didn't just come out of the womb. I know my history, and I know how authoritarian states evolve. I never would've thought America would be one of those states, until this week. And I sure never thought an opposition party that has nothing to lose would stand aside and let it happen.
So next week, come out swinging, okay? That's my plea. Please, please, please do the right thing next week. We're counting on you, Democrats. You're the last hope this country has.
Peace...you remember peace, right?