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