Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Hello there! I hope all of you are enjoying this fine 5th of November. A holiday that we should all celebrate, for one reason or another. For those who wish to remember the plot itself, celebrate the defeat of extremists wishing to use horrific force to overthrow the English government. For those who wish to remember the motive of the plot, celebrate the unwillingness of citizens to stand by while their freedoms and dignity were abused by a monarchy that set them to the side for political reasons.
For those wondering, no this will not be another diary quoting extensively from the film or graphic novel V for Vendetta. Several excellent diaries have been done on that topic using its wonderful quotations; I want to get to the heart of what the 5th is really all about.
Short history lesson:
The gunpowder plot was an attempt by a small group of English Catholics to retaliate against government policies that disenfranchised Catholics from property ownership and voting rights. Basically the Protestant English monarchy had realized, along with English Catholics, that Spain (the most powerful Catholic country of the time) was too deep in debt and too busy elsewhere to help the English Catholics in their struggle for equality. Over time, Queen Elizabeth and her successor, James I and VI of Scotland, took away rights from English Catholics and treated them as second class citizens. Parliament went right along with this treatment, thus leading to the plot to blow up Parliament with the King inside. One of the plotters sent a letter to a member of Parliament, warning him of the plot, and Guy Fawkes was caught in the basement with 1800 pounds of gunpowder. King James then obtained permission from Parliament to torture Fawkes, who ultimately revealed the conspiracy after being tortured nearly to death.
There are several different ways to look at this. Clearly this was a "terrorist" act in the sense that it was designed to do massive destruction at little to no cost to the disenfranchised, it was designed to induce terror in the Protestant rulers, and it was designed to produce a political end using violent means. Looking backward, however, the Boston Tea Party could be viewed in a similar light. The Gunpowder Plot was also an act of desperate men who were tired of being relegated by their government to second class status. Because it was a monarchy and not a republican democracy, they had little recourse to stop the government's policies or vote for new leadership. Thus they chose to act in the way that all desperate creatures do when threatened -- they struck back. Were they terrorists? Freedom fighters? Maybe a little of both? It's tough to say, but life has a tendency to be complicated like that ... a lesson that our current government needs to learn quickly.
There are some real issues to chew on here, especially in the light of the coming election. I will attempt to do them justice.
First, the issue of relegation and subjugation. There is no doubt that the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries had a direct impact on the Founding Father's insistence on religious freedom in this country. As good Englishmen, they would have been intimately familiar with the details of the gunpowder plot and its outcome. The horrors of the religious wars fought in the 16th and 17th centuries were a direct result of subjugating and relegating minority groups to second class status. We can see the same issue threatening to boil over into full scale civil war in Iraq right now. For years the minority Sunni have had power over the majority Shi'ite, and now the tables are turned. The Sunni do not want to give up the power they have had in the past and the Shi'ite are tired of being relegated and subjugated. Had Bush and his coterie of warmongers done their homework, they would have known this was coming. They didn't, and furthermore failed to listen to those who had, and now we are where we are.
There is a further issue to deal with here. Although this country has made great progress in the 20th century towards ameliorating our own relegation and/or subjugation of minorities, we still have some distance to travel. The ballot initiatives on gay marriage are proof of that. A warning to conservatives on this: oppressed minorities only take so much of a beating before they act as all threatened creatures do -- they strike back. That is not a threat, simply a fact of existence. Thus far they are choosing to strike through the courts and the election box. That speaks well for their cause and their ultimate future. It also speaks volumes for the character of most of America.
But most of America is not what concerns me today. Most Americans, I think, are fine and decent people who want what all people want: to live in peace, to provide for their families physically and spiritually, to have the freedom to act, speak, and choose their own concept of the good, and to generally be free from government intrusion into their day to day lives. Unfortunately, the government that has been elected looks nothing like the people that elected them. The government that sits in Washington today is greedy, corrupt, and power mad. They have taken away the rights and freedoms of ordinary Americans in order to fight for "freedom" abroad. They have destroyed or are attempting to destroy government safety nets that have cared for the underpriveleged for years. They have dangerously mixed church activity and government money, leading to a mixing of religion and politics that is in clear violation of the 1st Amendment. Finally, they have engaged in a long and bloody struggle with people who were not our enemies and did not threaten us, and have utilized weapons and methods which the whole of civilized humanity has condemned as criminal.
Furthermore, this government has not contented itself with merely breaking the law, they have taken steps to crow about their breaking the law, with the Chief Executive proclaiming that treaties entered into by the United States, which have the full weight of US law, do not apply to him. They have openly given government contracts to their business partners, who have cheated the government and stolen from this country. When confronted with these facts, the current ruling party has done nothing to prosecute those who steal from the United States and stain her honor by representing us around the world.
The ruling party has further lost its right to govern by engaging in corruption of the most foul means, through the trading of campaign contributions for influence and votes. The scandal involving Jack Abramoff and several Republican members of Congress is a national disgrace. Further allegations of wrongdoing and corruption continue to haunt the careers of Tom DeLay and other Republicans who have taken money for votes schemes that would make Tammany Hall blush.
But the most treacherous, the most traitorous thing the Republican Party has done, is to show absolute contempt and disdain for the people they claim to represent and the traditions of this nation. They claim to support the right to free speech -- and they offer us a flag burning amendment. They claim to want government out of people's personal lives -- and offer up an anti-gay marriage amendment. They claim to represent all Americans -- and then marginalize and trivilialize anyone who has the audacity to question their policies. They claim to be compassionate conservatives -- and engage in smear tactics and character assassination of the worst kind. They claim to represent the Christians of America -- and then laugh at them and call them names behind their back. They claim to be supporters of the Constitution -- and then shred it through legislation and signing statements. They claim to not support torture -- and then publicly talk about the practices they do support, which every civilized nation in the world calls torture.
My friends, I know you have heard all this before. I know that for those reading this diary, these charges are nothing new or incendiary; many of us express our disgust for the current ruling party on a daily basis here. But many of our friends and neighbors, who might otherwise not vote or vote Republican, may not have seen all the charges put together in this way. We have reached a crisis point in our democracy: a shift one way and we move inexorably forward towards tyranny and facism, a shift the other and we begin backwards towards sanity and reason.
My friends, it is time to blow up Congress.
No, not in the explosive sense intended by my namesake, but in the democratic sense of replacing corrupt, power hungry officials with new leadership and a charge by the American people to represent us, We the People, better. It is time to remind those in power that We the People are the true power in this country. They work for US. They have failed in their responsibility to lead by example and to lead us wisely. They have led us into a quagmire in Iraq, a domestic policy mess, a stagnant economy and a looming health care crisis. They have marginilized their critics and even their friends when calls for change have been made. It is time to send a message that they can understand. And since power seems to be the only language they speak, let us send that message.
My friends, this election is not about one single individual issue. It is not about gay marriage, or abortion, or even the war. It's about making a change from the failed policies and practices of the current leadership and making a change to those who will actually try to represent us. Not only in our issues, but in our character. I may not agree with every single Democratic Party plank. But I understand that this election is too important to not vote Democrat. The Republican leadership has failed this country in too many ways. We have to make a change and it has to be now. There is only one issue this November that really matters: will you continue to accept a party in power that has shown itself to be hopelessly corrupt, avaricious to a fault, and contemptuous of even their allies, or will you choose to change leadership and send a message that the We the People still rule in this country?
On November 7, join me in helping to blow up Congress. Meet me at the ballot box. And bring a friend.