As you can see - I have a problem. It constantly causes me to become disappointed, dismayed, distressed, disaffected, discontented, dissatisfied, disagreeable, discomfited, disgusted, disengaged, disjunctive, distempered, discombobulated and disheartened - well, mainly just damned dis’d. I feel dis’d from my receding hairline to my hemorrhoids - in other words, from an incessant loss to a burning pain. But I might not have that problem anymore; I might be cured. So - what’s the problem? Like many of you, I am hampered by my ideals and a trust that our Constitution will always be honored. There are certain ideals that I thought almost all Americans believe and want to protect. Regardless of how some people abused these ideals, ultimately, something in me trusted that because those ideals were shared they would somehow be protected. I am no longer deluded. This country is in trouble, deep trouble because
the desire to honor and protect the Constitution is simply not important to powerful groups and a substantial number of Americans. I know, I know, some of you have been saying this for some time, and even though I have said the same thing at times, deep down inside I just felt that it could not be true. I didn’t want to believe it; so, I didn’t. But now, I’ve seen the light; unfortunately, it might have been the muzzle flash from a gun. That flash might have been the warning that there was a bullet coming, but I just couldn’t believe it was on its way. I just hope it’s not too late for most of us to duck. The muzzle flash for me was found on a trip through Fox News web site.
While rummaging around the Evil Empire’s and the Heritage Foundation web sites (Don’t worry, I carried an airsickness bag and afterward, scrubbed thoroughly with a luffa soaked in a strong astringent.) checking information, I came across a July 1, 2008 transcript of the "Special Report with Brit Hume" show, 'Special Report' Panel on Trouble With the Iraqi Government's Political Situation and Iran's Nuclear Threat. It was the usual one sided diatribe about the success of the war. But ensconced (I’ve waited a long time to use that word.) in one of their sycophantic exchanges was a seemingly innocuous comment from Charles Krauthammer. As no surprise, it went unnoticed by the panel. At least none of the other flunkies responded to the slight to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
(To set the context I’ve provided a little more of the dialog. You can find the entire transcript at http://www.foxnews.com/...
MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Yes, and if it (the decrease in violence in Iraq) continues to, that will change people's opinions.
The majority of the American people still think the war was a mistake. What they're divided on is what to do now, and whether they think the progress is tenuous enough that we have to stay there to maintain it.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: I think you're right. I saw a media report that the number of reports on Iraq in the last year on network news is down by, I think, about 90 percent as the news has been improving.
The progress is absolutely undeniable on the military and political front, which is why the only people who are denying it are really on the fringes. But this obsession with the benchmarks is really quite remarkable. It's a Democratic obsession which reflects an American obsession on legalism, parchment and paper, and laws.
If you haven’t yet guessed what the "innocuous" comment was, focus on the last sentence, "It's a Democratic obsession which reflects an American obsession on legalism, parchment and paper, and laws." While the previous sentence refers to the benchmarks, the comment in question does not just refer to to benchmarks, it refers to our Constitution, laws, and legalism as "obsessions." On the positive side, Democrats should be honored to be obsessed with the Constitution - not so much with some of the laws which violate the Constitution that have been passed since the Republican neocons came into power, but certainly the Constitution. Krauthammer’s comment portrays a prevalent, frightening attitude of the far right neocon and even the not so far right. It’s an indication of the value that they place on Constitutional law and the rights of the people. To them our cherished Constitution and our rights are merely "parchment and paper." They see Democrats as naive children who have these quaint, silly notions that the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution are miraculous, sacrosanct, rare documents worth sacrificing ours lives to protect. Americans who honor the Declaration and Constitution are viewed as unsophisticated Lilliputians who are naively convinced that protecting the Constitution is essential to protecting our "unalienable" rights, and that the purpose of forming these United States of America was to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." What is even more disturbing about the Krauthammer comment is that it is not vaguely expressed or couched in innuendo. He says it without any fear that he will be seen as unpatriotic. There is no concern that he has said anything wrong. The absurdity is that anti-constitutionalists like Krauthammer have the audacity to point to missing lapel pins as unpatriotic while they relegate the Declaration and the Constitution to mere "parchment and paper." This is the level of patriotism of the neocon. Maybe if the Constitution was a financial document that, at the cost of American’s rights, encouraged unfettered greed, they’d be more enthusiastic.
For the Heritage Foundation the market place certainly is more important than human rights. After Jesse Helms death the Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner honored Helms with the following statement on July 4, 2008:
http://www.heritage.org/...
"Jesse Helms was one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century. Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people. The defeat of Soviet communism and the rise of Ronald Reagan would not have happened without his intrepid leadership at decisive times."
It is no mistake that "free market" precedes "free people," because in the minds of neocons greed is far more important than human rights. (I’m fairly certain that, in honor of Helms, Edwin Feulner really would like to have said "free white people.") The neocons would rather write a Constitution of Expedience that vacillates with financial opportunities and with every whim to restrict rights to protect their spoils. While, currently, they cannot actually get away with repealing our "quaint" Constitution and writing their own, by dismissing it’s importance and simply ignoring it, they have found another way to repeal it. To do this they needed someone who was so ruthless, unethical and, most importantly, stubborn that he would not be dissuaded from this task. In George W. Bush they had found a man willing to and capable of dismantling the Constitution - a man who would treat the Constitution as merely "parchment and paper." With the Constitution effectively out of the way, there will be no need to directly challenge it. All they need to do is to get enough complicit Congressmen to ignore what they are doing to it. Obviously they have found them. (It’s remarkable that the most illiterate, most unsophisticated President has been capable of nullifying one of the most intelligently written, sophisticated documents in history.)
Even before Bush, it had been a delicate balance maintaining the rights granted by the Constitution. It has relied on the integrity of the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial branches. Unfortunately, it has been a long time since Americans have insisted on each branch living up to the Constitutional legacy that was built by the generations that came before them. With The Patriot Act, the FISA fiasco and a myriad of other attacks on the Constitution, we have dishonored the sacrifices that previous generations have made. We are close to complete Constitutional failure, and if we do completely fail, there may, no - will, never be another chance. Some of us have only a relatively small window of opportunity left in which to educate our children and grandchildren about what is happening and how bad it really is. It is an awful burden to give them, but losing the rights that are protected by the Constitution would be a much greater burden to carry. The extremely difficult battle that they face to restore their rights will have happened on our watch. We weren’t vigilant enough. It slipped away in the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush I years and then fell into the abyss in the Bush II administration. We were too busy bargain hunting in the Nordstom racks, tripping in the RV, and after 9/11 cowering in fear and seeking revenge.
Anyway, grab a mackerel. Slap some snoozers around - couldn’t hurt. Might wake them up.