I was impressed by this newsletter from a lifelong conservative who is among the growing number on the right who are standing up to Bush's abuses.
Although I consider myself a progressive, I have always believed in political dialogue — and in fact one of the most painful aspects of the present climate is that there's so little real
debate these days. I feel that with Bauman and other conservatives of his stripe, however passionately we might disagree, we could have a conversation and possibly even discover some hitherto unrecognized common ground. It's a far cry from the "talk to the hand" mentality of today's GOP supremos.
In any event, I wanted to share this with the kos community. I believe that a new, formal alliance between conservatives, libertarians and progressives on the issue of freedom from government intrusion could have a powerful impact on the mainstream debate, which thus far has been dominated by vagaries and weasel words.
I'm particularly struck by the discontent among certain conservatives with Bush's autocratic tendencies. Once a ruler becomes a despot, being in roughly the same philosophical camp isn't enough — he demands a loyalty so slavish that it must trump one's own deepest convictions. That doesn't always fly with folks who've stayed true to their convictions for decades. I think there's a lot to like in this letter, and I would hope that forward-looking defenders of liberty in this community can set aside certain ideological affiliations for a time and consider cultivating this common ground.
Thursday, January 26, 2006 - Vol. 8 No. 18
In Today's Letter:
Comment: Strange Bedfellows.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
There's an old saying that "politics make strange bedfellows." So old that it's attributed to The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, wherein the Bard wrote: "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." That line is spoken by a shipwrecked man who finds himself nervously seeking shelter beside a sleeping monster.
These days the saying has come to mean that political interests can bring together people who otherwise have little in common. I would add that when fundamental freedoms and liberties are threatened, far more than just politics, diverse peoples who understand those threats must act together.
Thus it is that I find myself, an avowed conservative and registered Republican for over a half century, a man who has not changed his basic views very much, in bed with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a gaggle of liberal Democrats, some sincere, others who appear to see political gain in attacking President Bush on the issue of warrantless wiretapping.
But principled US conservative leaders, including former US Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican and chairman of a group called "Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, agree that President Bush has gone too far." He is joined by established conservatives such as Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. All of us, as conservatives and Americans, share a great concern about the President's glib claim that he somehow has inherent power to ignore the law when he decides to do so "in the national interest."
In recent days I have commented negatively about a President who thinks he defiantly can wiretap Americans without the court approval the law requires; who signs a law forbidding the use of torture, followed by a statement that he will authorize torture if he so chooses; who jails people in solitary confinement for years without due process or right to counsel, without charges and without contact with their families; who now has launched a national propaganda campaign to impugn the loyalty and patriotism of those who dare to disagree with his highhanded, illegal and unconstitutional actions. (And I say that as a member of the bar for almost 50 years).
We have received many e-mails lately about our expressed concern over America's slide into a police state. Not just the PATRIOT Act, but the spying on every aspect of our lives, financial, personal, now political, as even the military sends undercover agents into public meetings. Many who wrote agree with us, but one reader named Jon, having read my diatribes, apparently assumed I am some sort of raving left-winger. He writes: "If I might be so bold as to ask, where do you receive your talking points from that mirror the Left (moveon.org, Air America) that you use in your newsletter? Or, do you just get up in the morning and rewrite what you read on these web sights? (sic) Just curious..."
Allow me to explain, Jon, just how amusing your presumptuous question is.
I was a founder and national chairman of Young Americans Freedom (YAF), the college group that spearheaded the nomination of Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. (I was a Goldwater delegate from Maryland myself). I was a founder and national chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU), formed with, among others, my friend William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I have known since 1955. I was the Reagan for President Maryland chairman in 1978. During my 8 years as a member of the US House of Representatives (1973-81) I was almost always rated by conservative, liberal and non-partisan groups as having the most conservative voting record of all 435 House members. And, yes, I voted twice for the incumbent in the White House, (although I would never do so again, had I the chance).
All of which raises the question of whether old political labels have become meaningless. I became a Republican because once upon a time the party of Lincoln championed individual civil rights and, in the US Congress, fought for smaller government, balanced budgets, reduced debt and keeping the peace. Now they are the party of Delay, Abramoff, billions in unneeded earmarked pork and abuse of power. In other words, they act like Democrats.
If we at the Sovereign Society are anything, call us libertarians. That means we advocate maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state. Now that you know that, Jon, maybe you can understand why we are deeply concerned about America's future.
Bedfellows of all persuasions, right, left and center, wake up! Unlike Shakespeare's The Tempest, the monster no longer sleeps.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
Strange bedfellows? Absolutely. But as stalwart a liberal as Jesse Jackson famously remarked that with all the talk about left wing and right wing, it takes two wings to fly. We all know what kinds of ungainly birds result when only one wing runs the show. If someone with Bauman's rightist credentials says the old labels are becoming meaningless, I think there is an opportunity for a pragmatic, though admittedly unusual, coalition. Stranger bedfellows have sprung up in parliamentary systems.
