The words of the Awakened Fringe are generally ignored by America's complacent and complicit body politic. But there is one person whose voice that could break through that wall. And here's how he could --and should-- proceed.

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In discussing the failure of the various components of the American body politic --except for a fringe-- to respond to the rise of a lawless, tyrannical presidency in the way our Founders intended, I further lamented that in America today, the words of the Awakened Fringe tend to be heard only by those who are already outraged and mobilized. Meanwhile, the people at large and the mainstream press and the people in Congress who have been passive or complicit in this assault on our system tune us out. How do we get beyond "preaching to the choir"?

In the piece below --in the form of an open letter-- I propose one quite feasible and plausible way for the vital message about the truth of our historical moment in America to be delivered in a way that will command the attention, however begrudging and resistant, of those major components of America that need to stand up and fight for the soul of our country.

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NOW IS THE TIME TO COME TO THE AID OF YOUR COUNTRY

I understand, Al Gore, there could be plenty of reasons why you wouldn't want to run for president. But your country needs you. It needs for you to use your present stature and moral authority to save us from our present downward course.

 You don't have to run for president to do it.

I understand that you've made climate change your number one priority. But that's a long-term mission, and in the short-term there's nothing that you could do to bolster our civilization's ability to respond appropriately to the challenge of climate change than to help repair our grievously injured constitutional democracy. It will do no good for the world if its leading nation --and dominant economy-- is still being dominated by the forces unleashed upon us by this Bush administration.

So if you are not going to run for the presidency, the alternative is for you to provide America --now, before that election-- with the kind of moral leadership that transcends partisan politics.

The first step toward doing that is to make that Shermanesque statement you've thus far refrained from doing: Go beyond "I have no plans to run" to "I will not run for president in 2008; if elected I will not serve."

This will take you a large step upwards out of partisan fray. So also will your willingness to note that the Democrats in Congress are among those components of the American body politic that have failed thus far to play the role our Founders intended in the face of a lawless presidency like the one now in power.

When these steps are combined with the moral authority you've gained through your recent work and recent honors, you will have elevated your voice to a level that will command America's attention.

We sorely need it. And as perhaps no one else in America is in a position to speak about these things with such authority, it might fairly be said that you have an obligation to provide it.

How can you not speak out, Al, with the nation so seriously imperiled? How can you hold yourself back, Al, with the people still insufficently awake to the danger, with the media not trumpeting this huge story of the assault not just on reason but on the cherished idea of "the rule of law," and with the political system acting as if these were normal times? How can you not don the mantle and speak the bold truth to the country when you are uniquely qualified to command the attention and respect the role requires?

If you're willing to do this --for your country, out of your sense of duty, as a patriot-- here are some thoughts about what it is that needs doing and how to go about it.

GUT CHECK AND PREPARATIONS

First, the essence of the job is to tell the country what it needs to hear about this regime, and what they and the forces behind them are doing to our country and its revered system of government. You've already said important things on this subject, for example in your book THE ASSAULT ON REASON.

But it is not only a matter of analyzing the issues. What's called for is that you raise your voice to FIGHT over these issues, FIGHT to protect and defend the Constitution as you so often in your earlier life took an oath to do. Not just observing, but drawing your sword upon, the Bushite power.

So an important preliminary question is: are you ready to go into battle for us? Are you ready to speak with a moral passion, a righteous anger about what these Bushites are doing to the America you love?

It seems that combat is not what you're most eager to engage in. I can understand that. But America right now needs someone of your stature --and who else is there on that list-- to be a moral warrior on its behalf against these undemocratic forces. Are you willing?

If so, then --as you doubtless know well-- it is important that you go into battle well-prepared. You are fighting forces that have shown themselves --virtually day in and day out-- dishonest and unscrupulous in dealing with any opposition.

For that reason, one part of being well-prepared is to have close to you some advisors who have shown a knack for effectively turning the lying and twisted rhetoric of the Bushites back on them. Arianna Huffington and Glenn Greenwald have proven themselves adept in such battles. Doubtless there are others. But the important thing is to understand that the outcome of the fight will be determined, as much as by anything, by the quality of your counter-punching.

You need to be ready to turn every attempt to Swiftboat you into a new opportunity to expose the moral bankruptcy of the Bushite regime.

And the other important part of being well-prepared is to be fully versed on the evidence and argument by which the American people can be helped to see clearly just the pattern of crimes and lies --the abuse of power and the betrayal of trust-- of this administration and all those forces that have been behind them and remain ready to distort and pollute our once-proud constitutional democracy.

A WAY OF PROCEEDING

Getting ready shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks. Then, when you begin, start slow. Make a couple of speeches a few weeks apart that are strong enough for the media to notice, and for attention to be directed at you. But they should be mild enough that they are not too abrupt and shocking. Indeed, it might be good to allow these speeches to prompt a buzz in the media speculating about whether these are omens that you're going to run for the presidency. Then your Shermanesque renunciation of such a run can be combined with an escalation in your rhetoric.

You will, of course, be accused of partisanship. Your reply could be: "Of course I'm a partisan. But it is not as a partisan that I am now speaking. On that I give you my word. I am speaking as a patriotic American." You have enough credibility with most of the American people that they'll believe you. And the fact that the Democrats are among those who come in for your criticism will help confirm what you say.

Your overall message will be to tell America how our Founders would want us to respond to this lawless presidency.

America must repudiate this regime with its contempt for the rule of law and its pervasive lying and degradation of our democratic process. It must strip these leaders of their moral authority, and no longer extend to them the respect that we Americans customarily extend to the presidency. We cannot allow this era to become a precedent for America's willingness to tolerate the intolerable. We must reaffirm the values and principles and structures bequeathed us by our Founders.

That would be the overall message. But there would be specific messages directed to each of the components of the American body politic that has thus far failed to meet this challenge: to the people, to the press, to the Democratic opposition in Congress, and to the Republicans.

The people must be told what's at stake for us and our children in preserving and defending our Constitution, and how our Founders would want for them to react to a presidency with such a pattern of misconduct by using the "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The press should be chided for its failure to cover this profoundly important story, this unprecedented assault on our Constitution and the rule of law-- precisely the kind of danger that made our Founders regard "freedom of the press" so important they enshrined it in the heart of the document that defines our country.

Call on Republicans to repent and rebuild their honor. Call upon them to recapture the noble tradition of their party and to reject this Bushite abomination. This is not what a man of integrity, like Barry Goldwater, believed in. All these lies! Imagine what he’d say, or what Lincoln would say, or Teddy Roosevelt or Eisenhower, if confronted with this Bushite regime.

And call upon the Democrats to cease their fearful and shallow political calculations and boldly confront the lawlessness of this regime. Exhort them to show the same kind of courage and determination that --in protection of these same democratic values and principles-- an earlier generation demonstrated in taking the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima.

And call upon all the candidates for the presidency in 2008 --Democratic and Republican-- to repudiate the usurpatious claims to unchecked power made by this presidency, and to tell the American people what they will do to repair the systematic damage this presidency has done to our laws and to our democratic political culture.

Authors Bio:
Andy Schmookler, an award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Virginia's 6th District. His new book -- written to have an impact on the central political battle of our time -- is WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST. His previous books include The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution, for which he was awarded the Erik H. Erikson prize by the International Society for Political Psychology.