Killing the Constitution (Irene Rheinwald)

    Impeachment is not enough. Our society is in need of a political and economic overhaul.

  By Irene Rheinwald -- Information Clearing House

  March 12, 2007 -- The Bush-Cheney imperialist, neo-liberal, neo-conservative government, is arguably the apex of American hubris, an apex of demagoguery.

  Of course, one cannot dismiss the pride and arrogance of past administrations. President McKinley stated the United States must “civilize and Christianize” the Philippines. Woodrow Wilson, much-admired president and unabashed white supremacist, architect of ‘Wilsonian idealism,’ occupied Haiti and the Dominican Republic, seized Vera Cruz, and sent American troops into European battlefields.

  During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, America claimed the inalienable right to guide, either subtly or by force, the destiny of sovereign nations.

  Behind the seductive, morally presumptuous language of freedom and democracy is the unmistakable odor of imperial self-interest and disdain for autonomy. Determined to advance her narrow economic interests, the United States has worked to overthrow legitimately elected governments around the world http://members.aol.com/bblum6/American_holocaust.htm. Most recently, we have the fiasco of an illegal invasion of Iraq.

What, in the American psyche, permits governments to engage in illegal activities, all the while proclaiming noble aspirations? The truth is much more sinister.

  One mantle of hypocrisy is religion, that much abused font of enlightenment and enslavement, a tool manipulated for either great good or great evil. In addition, we must ask how religion affects the interpretation and application of the Constitution.

  There is no question this administration espouses a “faith based” agenda. Yet what does that mean? Is such a philosophy in keeping with the vision of the Founding Fathers, who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Was the United States founded upon Christian principles and values? Or is the truth rather more complex? What are the ramifications of dogma on current foreign and domestic policy? What about the current administration?

  The United States boasts political democracy, if not economic: the Constitution, with its famous “checks and balances”, tacitly acknowledges the potential for good and evil that lies within every human being. http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/science_law/2006/08/fame_the_foundi.html. Inherent here is man’s free will and choice; no one branch of government can exercise undue influence. Such a perspective, in keeping with the Age of Reason, and opposed to earlier ages of religious based superstition, is quite at odds with the Bush administration’s simplistic and disastrous insistence upon the “we are good, they are evil” notion. Although many of the Founding Fathers were deeply Christian, they acknowledged Deism as a more encompassing and tolerant philosophy: choice, again. Thomas Jefferson lamented religious coercion makes half the population “hypocrites”, and the other half “fools” http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwedo/k12/psd/colony/tjnotes.htm.

  Even so, this much-vaunted approach has failings. The Founding Fathers were mostly wealthy, educated, land and slave owners, interested in keeping an economic upper hand. Despite Constitutional balances, actual power and economic control remained in the hands of an elite few, with little or no recourse for the average citizen. However, one must be cautious in ascribing a value judgement to the political dimension: with no history of popular social movements to effect change anywhere in the known world (related to minimal educational standards, economic factors, and lack of broad based communications), the Founding Fathers felt only a select few had the capacity to guide a nation. James Madison commented that only chosen capable, enlightened statesmen could “discern the true interests of their country” http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed10.htm. Even so, he lamented the possibility of corruption and less than altruistic motives; wisdom superseded by greed.

  Perhaps the “all men are created equal” indicates self-conscious compensation, given the Revolutionary War struggle against George III.

  Unfortunately, the entire history of the United States reflects the above. Government governs for the elite, not the people, despite protestations to the contrary. Only Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and the 1960s produced grassroots social movements that affected social policy. The 1960s protests, in particular, were remarkable for also changing the course of foreign policy -– the war in Vietnam. Sadly, these are anomalies, notwithstanding the very definition of democracy.

  Rather than a group of elite individuals, today’s government is beholden to vast and ruthless mega-corporations, particularly oil companies, obsessed with exploiting the world’s resources. The United States, as primary custodian of the world’s oil supply, can thus indirectly control other oil dependent countries.

  Americans operate under the presumption of real choice of political systems and elections: note the inability -– reluctance? –- of Democrats to curb George W. Bush’s increased aggression in Iraq, clearly against the will of the majority of Americans. The balance of power is still wholly under the jurisdiction of the executive branch; presidential vetoes make no difference.

  One must ask how Americans were so easily lured into this pointless, devastating, and illegal invasion of Iraq. In the absence of state induced physical coercion, mental and emotional manipulation work well: 9/11 provided an extraordinary opportunity to instil the intellect numbing straightjacket of terror and paranoia. Goya’s plate 43 of Los Caprichos eloquently states “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” http://www.ackland.org/art/exhibitions/reasonfantasy/lrundquist1.htm.

  Institutions of higher learning, radio, television (Fox News), newspapers, controlled by government sound bytes, lull the mind and seduce the heart with proclamations amounting to little more than racist rants by George W. Bush. We are incessantly reminded of nameless, faceless, “evildoers” who loathe us because of our “freedoms”. Add this to the puritanical, Christian fundamentalism permeating America, and we have a volatile mix, enough to keep the masses complacent and/or in perpetual fear. The Founding Fathers, in envisioning the separation of Church and State, were not far removed from centuries of religious wars in Europe; a secular republic, in which all worshipped freely, seemed the ideal compromise. Indeed, both politics and religion thrive when one is not constrained by the other. During the last half century, however, the Christian right has emerged as a force in politics, driving a brutal, hypocritical agenda of material wealth, blatant elitism, power, and disregard for domestic and international law. George W. Bush and his corporate cohorts, with flaming religious fervour and zero spirituality, have pushed faith-based principles onto Americans -– thereby successfully distracting from the real agenda. Here lies Jefferson’s hypocrisy half.

  Pro-life (anti-choice), no stem cell research on “moral” grounds, Intelligent Design and creationism vs. evolution, abstinence based sex education, a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and woman only, attacks on science in favour of religion, a male dominated society -– all serve as lightning rods for heated social debate. With values traced to Biblical origins, we tilt towards a theocracy. But in a world of outsourcing, a decrease in real income, increased housing prices, child poverty, a struggling educational system, reduced benefits, a fractured health care delivery system, global warming, Katrina, random violence, illegal wars, curtailing of civil liberties (Patriot Act, FISA violations), flouting the Geneva Conventions and international law -– why are “values” so important? Why have they disproportionately dominated the Bush administration?

  The answer is both simple and complex. Such distractions amuse the corporate elite. The wealthy become wealthier and the middle class become, well, poor. Despite a long history of free market, often cutthroat, capitalism, generations of Americans have expected and experienced standard of living increases. Not so anymore. If Americans are preoccupied with dissecting the godless horror of evolution, it is much easier to create a corporate structure that serves the wealthy. The Iraq War is a case in point: while we argue about who should marry, oil companies, desperate to secure that country’s natural reserves, receive no bid contracts. Subcontractors see a lucrative, if dangerous, market. This has led the United States to an official policy of global domination, exacted by military means: the infamous 1992 Defence Planning Guidance http://www.yale.edu/strattech/92dpg.html report (Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz, et al.), while rejected, foreshadowed the 2000 document Rebuilding America’s Defences: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf. Such documents reveal reality: rather than “liberating” the benighted Middle East from fundamentalism, the United States must exercise military control of strategic locations for security reasons and economic control. 9/11, of course, boosts popular support for these plans.

  Despite this, a sliver of hope is emerging. Last November’s election results, although ineffectual, nonetheless signalled a fierce desire for change. Bush’s brutality and indifference to the suffering of both Americans and Iraqis has finally worn thin; support is flagging.

  Impeachment of Bush and Cheney is, of course, necessary, but it is only a first step; it does not guarantee removal from office, unless followed by charges. Although politically difficult, there are more than enough legal grounds, particularly if one considers Clinton’s impeachment for lying about sex under oath. The Constitution defines treason and bribery, but also references the still argued “high crimes and misdemeanours” http://members.tripod.com/~GOPcapitalist/constitutionquotes.html.

  What about deliberately misleading Americans on Iraq’s WMD? Invading a sovereign nation on the specious grounds of a pre-emptive war? Outing Valerie Plame to punish Joe Wilson? Linking al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussein? The Patriot Act? Misleading Canadian authorities to deport Maher Arar to Syria? Abu Ghraib? Flouting the Geneva Conventions and international law? Concentrating power in the executive branch? What about simply telling the truth on topics vital to national and international interest?

  And why, when exposed as a liar, does George W. Bush simply not care? http://www.impeachpac.org/?q=articles.

  Impeachment is not enough. Our society is in need of a political and economic overhaul. We need to align civic duty with genuine compassion, the desire to make a better world. We need, by legal means, to hold our leaders accountable. We need the empowerment of grassroots movements, using tools such as civil disobedience, meetings, formal pressure on representatives. Alternate voices must be heard at local venues as well as Capitol Hill. We must demand more of the mainstream media -– truth in reporting, critical analysis without political bias, images of Iraqi and American dead -– in order to make informed decisions. Our entire society needs to shift from a materialistic, elitist theocracy living by outdated norms of colonialism to a truly progressive one, where the dignity of all, regardless of nationality, is honoured.

  Irene Rheinwald is a writer, artist, historian and former social worker residing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is a member of PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), has traveled extensively in the Middle East, and studied foreign relations.

LINK: Information Clearing House