Monday, August 19, 2002

Feeling Powerless in America The glorifiction of freedom in America--both in political rhetoric and in  cultural mythology, seems to be in direct proportion to the actual powerlessness of citizens. Freedom is not simply the choice to buy a Sunbeam or Cuisinart appliance--even though that is held up as the benevolent goal of U.S. hegemony around the world. Freedom is also the power to act. That freedom is being eroded in America.  The latest indication is an interesting article from Asia Times that was picked up on Blah3.com.  Marc Erikson argues that the war in Iraq has already begun.  He cites figures to show that U.S. and British troop buildups in the area have gone from 50,000 last winter to over 100,000 today.  He also says that several thousand Turkish troops are already in Northern Iraq and have taken over the airbase at Mosul.  He also cites Israeli intelligence sources who say U.S. Army engineers are working around the clock to build six to eight air strips in other parts of Kurdish Iraq.  In short, the decision has been made. Bush and his team have a contempt for ordinary Americans as great as any political leadership since Richard Nixon, and even Nixon, with Watergate and his enemies list, was more respectful of the legal and constitutional framework than is Pres. Bush. So what is freedom when a small group of people can comandeer the power of the U.S. government to act unilaterally in their own interest.  I have never been one of those who cried "coup" following the Republican supreme court awarding the Presidency to George Bush.  But what is going on here--when everywhere you look democratic institutions and our system of constitutional government is being attacked as never before, and ordinary Americans seem powerless to stop it.   On August 3, 1914, Sir Edward Gray, British Foreign Secretary, watched the lamps going out for the first trial blackout in London.  He then said his famous quote: The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again during our lifetime. Think about this as you watch the latest CNN footage of poison gas from Al Qaeda or todays report of the U.S. launching a possible strike on a crude site in northern Iraq.  I have no doubt that when a "hot" war starts, we will be manipulated to the fullest extent imaginable. 10:57:44 PM   comment []    "A time has come when silence is betrayal. That time is now." Martin Luther King Jr. Not much time to write tonight, as I have been working late.  There continues to be a flood of war stories, leaks, counter leaks, and a lot of posing about Iraq.  But for me, the question is what to do.  No Jew who grew up in our post world war II generation has failed to ponder how he or she would have reacted if we lived in Nazi Germany.  When I think about this, the question that comes up again and again is that people were too afraid to make trouble, to speak out.  Would I have temporized, thinking that things were bad, but they could not get much worse.  Would I have tried to avoid bringing attention on myself.  Would I have tried to pass for Christian?  Could I trust my neighbors and friends that much?  There is never a satisfactory answer.  Today in America, we don't face anything close to the repression that existed in Germany after Hitler came to power.  But the simlarity of the silence is eerie.  Many people in this country know Bush's plan for war with Iraq is wrong, futile, and dangerous and against our laws and constitution.  But so few speak out. I think that unlike the days of the Vietnam anti-war movement when we communicated by hitchhiking or driving around the country, or though what SDS used to call "travelers",  the Internet today could make our movement more connected, visible, and possibly united much sooner.  The fall political campaign provides a possible opening.  My dream is that all around the country, anti-war protesters will show up at hundreds of Congressional rallies, not to attack our representatives (virtually all of whom will get reelected anyway), but to demand that they stand up for the Constitutional right of congress to decide on war.  If the war on Iraq became a true issue in the campaign, it would raise the stakes for the warmongers in the Republican party.  Today they have nothing to lose because the "war on terror" has given them a huge club to frighten the public.   Tomorrow, they have everything to lose, if we can hold them accountable for their conduct.       1:43:23 AM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:29:43 PM.