Article: The Consent of the Governed

November 6, 2006

The republicans are getting so desperate that they have resorted to calling suspected democratic voters (by Spanish surnames) and telling them their polling place has changed in some states. In others, they are "robocalling"; a practice where they have a machine pretend to be calling for the local democratic candidate and when the recipient hangs up, the call is made again, over and over again, to try and annoy the voter into not voting democratic. This is the best plan Karl Rove has left after the lame attempt to have the Saddam verdict announced two days before the election. Unfortunately for Karl, that little ploy appears to have failed as miserably as the war everyone is sick of. They tried to claim the dems had no plan, but that failed. They tried to claim the GOP wanted to "win" while the dems wanted to "lose" and that failed. They tried to rally support by sentencing a tin-pot dictator to death by hanging and that failed. Now they are lying and cheating and breaking laws down the stretch but it will not work either. America is fed up with the GOP and the damage they continue to inflict upon us.

This is a final wake up call to a nation that has slept walked through the past five years hoping to wake up from the perpetual nightmare that is the Republican Party. It is a stark reminder to all; that those that would enjoy power in a democracy only enjoy the luxury at the consent of the governed. It is a call to conservatives who now realize that they were sold a bill of goods that were never delivered. It is a wake up call to real republicans, who have watched their party be hijacked by the vilest elements of the fringe of their party. It is a final wake up call to my fellow Christians, who were promised the world, and were sneered at behind their backs by a party that has no moral base from which to preach from anymore.

I have never advocated voting for one party or the other on a strict line basis. I try to measure each candidate based on what they say, but more importantly what they do. In my congressional race I have Vito Fossella sending out big colorful postcards with scary pictures of terrorists on them, saying his opponent somehow is on their side. No reason why I should vote for Fossella mind you, just booga-booga. Fossella is exactly the kind of empty-suit republican that needs to be sent home by voters this year. He sold out his district and his country with his horrific lock-step vote for impeachment so many years ago, and has followed that up with 5 years of bowing to whatever the president wants. It is enough for me to vote for the other guy, whoever he is.

And that is the sad state of affairs in latter-day America. Tomorrow every fair-minded American needs to walk into the voting booth and vote for any candidate who has a little "d" next to their name. In fact, I do not know how any citizen with a conscience can vote republican anymore until the true elements of the GOP reclaim their party from the rogue elements that now operate it. With the obscene debt being accumulated by this party; by handing billions back to the richest Americans while waging war on multiple fronts, I do not know how anyone who truly calls themselves conservative, can pull the lever for any republican tomorrow. It is that bad America. There are so many reasons for voting these people out of power, but the crux of all of them comes down to checks and balances and congressional oversight. I know, I am such a dreamer.

I dream of an America where when the President says he wants to torture people as national policy, Congress steps up and tells him NO - because that is not what America stands for. I dream of an America where when the President says Habeas Corpus needs to be eradicated, the Congress stands up and tells him NO - because it has been the underpinning of democratic societies since the 13th Century. I dream of an America where when the president tries to hand billions of dollars in taxpayer money to political cronies who are making profit off of the blood of our children, Congress stands up and says NO - America does not stand for that.

Make no mistake America, we are here today because the Republican Party has abdicated their job, the job you elected them to do, and has abandoned their sworn duty. Whatever the president has done, and he has done quite a lot, he can do nothing without Congress allowing him to. This Election Day is about more than the Iraq War; it is a referendum on demanding accountability in our government. It is about checks and balances. It is about congressional oversight. Ever since the horrific impeachment vote, this GOP has done whatever the leadership has told it to do, irregardless of morality, ethics, or what is truly in the best interest of Americans; who are supposed to be their employers. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and the last five years has brilliantly driven that point home.

Even more than that is the complete unbridled arrogance with which they have led this country so far astray. The bravado borne out of "bring it on" and "wanted dead or alive" has infected the members of the Republican Party to the point that they seem to think they can do whatever they please and face no repercussions from their constituents. They gleefully attached a minimum wage increase to a repeal of the Estate Tax. Then they proceeded to the floor of Congress and bragged about it to all who would hear. I want to make sure you all got this point. In order to provide a helping hand to the neediest in our society, they insisted that the absolute richest billionaires received millions of untold dollars; and then bragged about it.

Their arrogance continues to this day when you hear them say they would change NOTHING about what they have wrought. Never mind that Iraq never had those pesky weapons of mass destruction that Mr. Bush likes to joke about with his black-tie base. Never mind that the Downing Street Memos prove the decision was made to go to war regardless of the intelligence. Never mind that we were not greeted as liberators with flowers strewn at our feet. Never mind that the Iraqi oil revenues have not paid for the war. Never mind that over 3,000 American soldiers have come home in boxes. Never mind that over 300,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Never mind that the Taliban is back in control of Afghanistan. Never mind that we took the only secular Islamic nation in the Middle East and changed it into another dangerous radical theocracy. Never mind that the stories of Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman, and Lynndie England were all lies. Never mind that Abu Ghraib happened. Never mind that you go to war with the army you have not the one you want. Never mind the fake turkey and staged photo ops. Never mind the $45 a case of soda charged by Halliburton. Never mind the $100 per bag of laundry. Never mind that in the face of all of this and so so much more, the GOP would not change a thing. The arrogance of such a position is beyond staggering.

And what of at home? Whatever happened to the No Child Left Behind Act? Well, besides demanding that schools provide contact information for all children to the military, it has been a huge failure, as our children have indeed been left far behind. What of the economy; which only the truly delusional continue to insist is strong? The rest of us out here in a place I like to call reality know the truth. This economy is a disaster. It has changed the caste system in this country from the Upper, Middle and lower classes, to the haves, the have mores, and the have nothings. The middle class is being eradicated as efficiently as Habeas Corpus. At a campaign stop George Bush referred to a woman working four jobs as "uniquely American", as he chuckled at her. Only in the mind and vision of the Republican Party, is someone having to work four jobs to survive considered "uniquely American." Wages are down; families living in poverty are up, children without healthcare is up, and overall the situation is bleaker than it has been since the fist Bush recession in the early 1990s. They claim unemployment is at 4%, when it is really near 12%. It is easy to have a fudged number when you stop counting someone as unemployed when their six months of benefits run out. The market is good, but once again, that does not help the average person. The rich and the super rich have done extremely well, but for the rest of us, it is simply what falls from the would-be-king's table. Trickle down economics at its best. Gas is through the roof as the pals of the GOP are making a killing, posting 10 billion in profit per quarter. Sure it is a bit lower now that it is election season, but that is only a ploy. Higher education has all but become unreachable for most in America, as tuition goes up while aid goes down. Who cares about the infrastructure of America when you can be blowing up the infrastructure of Iraq and then giving your pals billions of dollars to rebuild it? Who cares about a ravaged Gulf Coast when there are billions to hand out in Iraq?

As for my Christian friends; I just do not see how any of us can truly vote for this party anymore. They promised us morality and gave us Mark Foley and Tom Delay. When caught red handed they try and minimize it by calling the sexual advances of a republican congressman toward a 16 year old boy, "naughty emails." They promised us a return to family values and gave us Scooter Libby, Duke Cunningham and Karl Rove. Their own person on faith based initiatives has revealed that they routinely laughed at their Christian base. Christians signed on for a return to moral values and in return was sold war without end, the deaths of untold thousands, and the impoverishing of a nation. There are over 2,300 verses in the Bible about taking care of the poor, yet somehow it became a secondary issue for the past five years. We have been led astray for too long by the Haggards of the world who preach hate, while leading hypocritical lives before God. He recently admitted to what he has been, a deceiver and a liar. Now it is time to get rid of the rest of the deceivers and liars in Washington as well. A complete purge of those that would dare use Jesus Christ as some kind of a shield, while they practice the most un-Christian of values.

I am sorry but when you look back at the past five years, I just do not see how anyone in good conscience can pull a lever for any republican candidate. I do not see how anyone can support what has happened to this country for five years now. When you really take into consideration the republican resume, you are left with:

The Downing Street memos and lying to Congress to start a war.

Cherry picking intelligence to fit the policy of war.

Creating the Office of Special Plans to create intelligence that fits the decision for war.

Outing Valerie Plame for political spite, despite the fact that she was actually working on WMD.

Lying about the WMD.

Joking about not finding the WMD.

Trying to scare America into submission with visions of mushroom clouds.

The Patriot Act, any unpatriotic version of this horrific act.

Eradicating Habeas Corpus.

Hurricane Katrina.

Hiring Michael Brown to head Fema.

3,000 dead American soldiers.

Over 300,000 dead Iraqi civilians.

Abu Ghraib

Gitmo

The lies that were Jessica Lynch, Lynndie England and Pat Tillman.

Saying the Geneva Conventions, which has protected our soldiers for 50 years, was "quaint."

Torture as national policy.

Water boarding, which we once prosecuted, now acceptable.

Inducing hypothermia, which we once prosecuted, now acceptable.

Illegally wiretapping American citizens.

Tying a minimum wage increase to an Estate Tax repeal.

The bankruptcy reform act, paid for by billions of dollars from the credit card lobby.

Energy policy written by the energy companies.

All children left behind.

Demanding public schools provide contact information of children to the military.

Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and Scooter Libby.

Mark Foley and his "naughty emails."

Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Dennis Hastert.

I could go on and on and on. I am not saying that the Democratic Party is the panacea, they could be, but within the failed two-party system I doubt it. When looking at the democrats though, at least they are not the people who have nearly destroyed this country, laughing all the way. They are not the people who have sent 3,000 Americans to die for lies, and then arrogantly claim they would change nothing. They are not the party of Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, and Tom Delay. They are not the party that stole the last two elections. They are not the party of torture, water boarding and renditions. They are not the party that supports the elimination of Habeas Corpus. They are not the party that wraps itself up in a bloody American flag and dares to call anyone who simply disagrees with them unpatriotic.

What they are not this election season is quite simple, they are not the republicans. That is a good enough for me. Those that would ascribe to be powerful in a democracy exist solely at the consent of the governed. Tomorrow America goes collectively to the polls to revoke that consent.