This article was originally published at americanchronicle.com and uncoverthenews.com on July 13th, 2008
In the year 2006, well before the new century was more than a decade old, the American people decided they´d had enough of the Republicans´ shenanigans. Specifically, they´d had enough of George W. Bush and his administration lying us into war, violating the constitution and doing its best to shred that fine document, the legacy of our founding fathers. Before the November election, there seemed to be an electricity in the air. People were fed up then and were ready to elect new faces, new ideas, into congress to force change in the direction of the old regime, something George Bush continuously refused to do. I was not so positive. In fact, and my writing suggested this, I was more or less certain we were going to get more of the same old, same old.
My friend and coworker Valentine was far more optimistic than I was. He told me he felt that once the Democrats were in power they would impeach the president. I told him I didn´t believe that. As much as I would have liked to believe and as much as I feel that if any president ever deserved impeachment, George Bush is that president, I didn´t think anything was going to be done about his reign of terror. I told Valentine as much. When he asked me why I felt as I did, I explained to him that not only were the Democrats and Republicans cut from the same cloth, two sides of the same coin, so to speak, but that Nancy Pelosi, that all powerful congresswoman from California, had said as much when she proclaimed that impeachment was off the table.
Valentine was quick to defend his new hope. He certainly didn´t want to give into pessimism as I had already done. He told me that she (Nancy Pelosi) was just playing politics and that once the Democrats took over the pressure would build, she´d change her tune, impeachment proceedings would begin, worries of a new war with Iran would subside, flowers would bloom, children would frolic and play, the world would be set to rights and all would be harmonious in the universe. "I hope you´re right," I told Valentine as I returned to my bench to work. It was all I could do at the time. I did hope he was right, but in my heart there wasn´t much hope. I understood that Valentine was a hopeless dreamer like I am, but he was putting his faith in politicians who had already proven themselves to be unreliable and corruptible at best and criminal at worst. I put my faith in the common man, which may not be much better, but at least the vast majority of common folk are honest, hard working people.
And so the Democrats became the majority in both the House and Senate and we waited for something to happen. We waited for change to come. It never did. Just like the Republicans before them, the Democrats kept the status quo. Just like the Republicans before them, the Democrats continued to disrespect, disregard and disobey the Constitution. And what did our magnificent "free press" and the mass media have to say about all this? Nothing of consequence. They may report the facts briefly so that they can claim they´re not being negligent in their duty to disseminate accurate information, but their commentary for the most part continues to sound like cheerleading for one team or the other and drastically fails to bring any sort of meaningful dialogue of the truly important issues to the forefront of American political discourse. This is as true today as it was in 2006 and long before. The mass media sold out the American electorate long ago and continues its betrayal to this day. The Democrats, having decided to go along with their unprincipled leadership, failed to follow through on the public´s mandates to end the war in Iraq, prosecute or at least indict those in the executive who so gravely abused their power, and restore constitutional restraints to a federal government gone amuck in their zeal to find boogiemen hiding in closets across this nation.
It´s been nearly two years now and still nothing has changed. Nothing has been accomplished. The government continues to grow. Our troops remain in harm´s way in a country we never should have attacked or at least should have left long ago after the defeat of its military. It should be obvious to most by now that the Democrats have once again betrayed us, as political parties have done time and time again. But, they had a chance to rectify at least some of that not too long ago. Just last week they had a chance to vote down a piece of legislation that would validate Bush´s actions and leave unaccountable those who would violate the rules of the Constitution. This bill, the new "FISA Amendments Act", should have easily been defeated since the Democrats have control of both the House and the Senate. But it was not. The House passed it a couple of weeks ago and last week the Senate passed it by a large margin. Many Democrats flocked to the Republicans´ side and once again betrayed those who voted them into office by passing this piece of legislation which completely disregards the fourth amendment. They have, in essence, told us that they think it´s okay for federal agents to spy on all of us without warrants, and it seems as if they´re trying to give their friend, President George W. Bush, and his cronies a pass on an unconstitutional, impeachable, unconscionable, and unnecessary offense which was committed long before any act of Congress was implemented. And so Democrats who were hoping for restoration of civil liberties are once again ignored and excluded by their own party.
Most surprising of all, or perhaps not so surprising, was the vote of one Barack Obama. Here is a man running for president that promises change. I have before wondered what kind of change he offers. Perhaps we can get a glimpse at that now. He voted for the "FISA Amendments Act." He voted to keep the powers to spy on Americans without warrant. He voted to continue a campaign which will chill the bones of those who disagree with government policy. His vote was perhaps the most important as so many of his fellow Democrats voted according to his leadership. This is not change. With this vote, Mr. Obama shows us his true nature. He cares not for the individual. He cares not for those who simply wish to live in freedom. He is a collectivist. He will abuse his power. He is no better than any other politician pretending to care while he attempts to force the common man, AKA the little folk, deeper into servitude. Mr. Obama, who in the past voted against a similar bill, has flip-flopped on this issue and so who knows on what other issues he may suddenly have a change of mind? Perhaps Mr. Obama believes he will almost certainly one day be president and he wishes to keep such an awesome power so that one day he too may punish his political adversaries.
Now the question becomes, "What will the mass media have to say about all this?" Apparently not much. They seem to have kept pretty quiet about all this and have decided to focus on other issues that maybe aren´t quite as important. I doubt very much that we´ll hear Kieth Oberman deride Mr. Obama as he so often and effectively does with Mr. Bush. When Mr. Bush violates the Constitution, it´s bad, but not so if Mr. Obama does. After all, Barack Obama is a Democrat and Kieth likes Democrats. They can do no wrong. They will set the world to rights. Once they get into office, harmony will be restored to the universe. If you believe that, well, I wouldn´t hold my breath if I were you. The betrayal is complete. We´re on our own. One can only hope that at some point there becomes an outcry so loud that those in power cannot ignore it. Until such a time, I wish the best of luck to you.
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