I saw
1776 this weekend--the 1972 musical comedy that is, about what took place at the
Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia during the weeks preceeding the drafting, approval and signing of the Declaration of Independance. I highly recommend that everyone see it if they can for the historical context, and for the resemblance to our own current historic dilemma.
Howard de Silva was priceless as Benjamin Franklin, William Daniels as John Adams and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson were quite good (and Blythe Danner as Martha Jefferson reminds you of where Gwyneth Paltrow got both her looks and talent). The music was so-so, but the dialogue was quite snappy and very funny, and did a very impressive job of touching upon some of the more crucial issues and debates during that critical time in our republic's history. Many of which, I think, resemble some of the more crucial issues and debates that we face these days.
More--much, much more--below the fold:
For those of you who have forgotten or don't really know how our founding fathers decided to declare independance from mother England, the short version was that in the year following the first shots fired at
Lexington and Concord in 1775 that started the
Revolutionary War--which resulted from years of increasing, and increasingly harsher, British oppression--Massachussetts delegate (and future 2nd president, not to mention the man who gave us the saying "We are a Nation of Laws, not Men")
John Adams repeatedly proposed a resolution to declare the complete independance of the 13 colonies from the British Empire, and thus once and for all cut itself off from the source of its oppression.
And each and every time he proposed this resolution, it was roundly rejected by a majority of colonies--even ridiculed by some--as impractical, dangerous, premature, excessive, extreme, pointless, idiotic, insane, treasonous, etc. The musical makes fun of Adams' unpopularity as a reason for his resolution being rejected, but the real reasons were of course more complex, a combination of fear, lack of resolve, lack of vision, indecisiveness, diffidence, disunity, status quo thinking, inertia, apathy, and in some cases a shameful preference for comfortable if second class subservience to uncertain and possibly painful independance.
Does any of this sound at all familiar?
Eventually, a resolution was approved to at least draft a document of some sort laying out the reasons for declaring independance--a "declaration of independance", if you will--so that the country, and world, could know why such a drastic step, never before successfully carried out by a colony, was necessary, and thus have something to rally around, and in the case of foreign powers, perhaps support (France and Spain, then perpetually at war with England, were the primary targets of such an appeal).
After some discussion, a 33 year old junior delegate from Virgiana was drafted to compose this declaration, who would later go on to become governor of Virgina, ambassador to France, 1st Secretary of State, co-founder of what would become the modern Democratic party, and our 3rd and one of our greatest presidents (and ex-presidents), Thomas Jefferson. And, as we all know, he wrote a masterpiece, one of the finest and most important documents in the history of our country and world democracy, alongside the Magna Carta and US Constitution.
Here are some excerpts from the final document that he produced (after extensive revisions made to placate the various colonial delegations, including, most notoriously, the removal of a paragraph decrying the practice of slavery, under threat of "secession" by the South Carolina delegation and the other southern colonies--foreshadowing its actual first act of secession some four score and five years later), citing:
a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism.
and
a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
the following just causes for declaring independance, among others:
He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance...
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice...
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone ...
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
IN every Stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every Act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them, from Time to Time, of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us.
They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity.
Sound familiar?
Sound earily familiar?
And guess how that act of rebellion against an oppressive status quo and tyrant turned out?
Of course, we're now seeing the SAME EXACT combination of fear, lack of resolve, lack of vision, indecisiveness, diffidence, disunity, status quo thinking, inertia, apathy, and in some cases a shameful preference for comfortable if second class subservience to uncertain and possibly painful independance, on the part of our so-called Democratic leaders, in running away from if not openly condemning Russ Feingold's brave, necessary and brilliant Censure Resolution.
What they fail to realize is that, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures, and we absolutely live in very desperate times, and absolutely needed someone to do something desperate and "radical" to shake up the pathetic state of our political torpor. And Russ finally came through with this "desperate" political "stunt". And yet they either don't get it, or, more likely, REFUSE to get it, for fear of god knows what--success, perhaps, and the obligations of TRUE leadership?
So I would kindly suggest to all the "naysayers" on the right, center and left (well, not so much on the true left) who have roundly ignored, criticized and even condemned Russ Feingold and his Censure Resolution to re-read American history, and discover that EVERY SINGLE ONE of our major political, legal and social advancements--including our formative one--was initially ridiculed and rejected as too impractical, dangerous, premature, excessive, extreme, pointless, idiotic, insane, treasonous, etc. And EVERY SINGLE ONE of them, of course, eventually succeeded, and was viewed by posterity as not only GOOD, but NECESSARY--even, I dare say, INEVITABLE, in hindsight.
And I'm not just talking about independance, of course, but about ending slavery, giving women the vote, civil and minority rights advancements, dismantling monopolies, forming and legalizing labor laws and unions, social security and medicare, environmental regulations, consumer protection, legalizing birth control and abortion, etc.
And they were ALL first proposed by "radical" progressives who were initially laughed at, rejected and condemned as being too radical and extreme. E.g. John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Samuel Gompers, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Ralph Nader (yes, even HIM, back when he was one of the good guys), etc.
But guess who had the last laugh, over and over and over again? Yes, our nation's history in many ways resulted from the absolutely necessary words spoken and actions taken by these visionary, principled, determined and courageous leaders, sometimes in concert with others and as part of larger movements, and sometimes as lone and lonely individuals.
It is precisely these sorts of people, these TRUE LEADERS, who have continually fought to move our country forward in the face of widespead resistance, criticism and condemnation--often from people on their own side--and not help keep it frozen in an unacceptable status quo like many of our current Democratic "leaders" are doing, let alone drag it back to its oppressive and repressive past as Bush and today's GOP have been trying to do--and in many ways succeeding wonderfully at.
Like Adams, Feingold is a bit of a radical within his own party and not always the most popular of leaders. Yet they can ridicule, criticize and condemn him all they want to, but deep down, whether they're on the right, in the middle, on the "left", or in the punditocracy, they all know--or fear--that he's right, both principally and politically, and that he poses a serious threat to the until recently ossified yet now very volatile--and ours for the changing for the better--status quo. He's thrown a live grenade into the surreally quiet political arena, and they're all scared shitless of him and what he's done, which is why they've gone after him with such fury.
And really, when you think about it, what's so "radical" about a resolution to censure the worst, most evil, most dangerous, destructive, lawbreaking, incompetent and corrupt president in our nation's 230 year history? It's not radical AT ALL--it is the unacceptable status quo that is radical and needs to be changed.
In fact, it's the very LEAST we can do to hold him accountable for his "repeated Injuries, Abuses and Usurpations", and begin the slow, difficult and necessary process of restoring our republic to its rightful state of democracy and the rule of law--and not of small and evil men who have no one's interest in mind but their own and that of their corporate and fundamentalist friends.
Trust me, we've only seen the opening round of this political "stunt", which as it unfolds will have profound consequences for all. A major political explosion and upheaval is about to hit us, and we have Russ to thank for FINALLY getting it underway.
Thanks Russ, you came through when we most needed you.
And, I dare say, if I may be allowed to mix historical metaphors here, history will well note, and long remember, what you have said here, and it will never forget what you have done here.