I never r e a l l y thought about the rule of law before. I took for granted that the law existed as a regulatory force in society. Something both to keep me in line and keep me safe. I had no idea how important the concept of a RULE of law would become to me.
Well, I had no idea until a little over eight years ago. . . until the dark years . . .
cross posted at dKos
Yeah. The dark years. The George W. Bush years. War years.
Foreign war. Cultural and religious war. War on public education, on science, the environment, on a free media, the Constitution, on the rule of law, and co-equal branches of government.
War on America’s middle class. Devastation of its lower classes.
Finally, this war on common sense, common decency, and the common good climaxed in a thunderous crash of financial markets, further destabilizing systems social, environmental, and political.
All-the-while, all kinds of people fought hard to build sanity back into the world. Some of those brought us the netroots. Some, in small cadres in small towns, fought local wars, eventually connecting to larger state-by-state strategy campaigns. People fought against the Wal-Marts and bad laws. They fought against torture and they marched on Washington to fight against foreign war.
And man, it got built. It was so well built that on November 4, 2008, we came . . . in record numbers. Yeah. We build it and now. . . well, now we have a Democrat in the White House. Dems in control of Congress. And opposition politicians are ranting more rabidly than ever.
The only thing is now I wonder just what it was we built. As so many of us clamor for health care, civil rights, environmental and financial regulations, I perceive that the dark days continue. And that the most important battle in this war is still being waged. It is the war against the rule of law.
So while some defend President Barack Obama or stand up on behalf of Democrats, I’m not inclined to do so. Nor am I inclined to curry the favor of lefties, liberals, progressives, centrists. No. I’m tired of the jammering and posturing and pandering and punditry.
I am weary of the idea that any man or woman or group of a few hundred people can or will pull the millions of us out this mess.
But I’m not tired of this idea: to focus one on thing: a full return of the rule of law. And without investigating the war years of George W. Bush, we are just not there. It’s always in the back of my mind: TORTURE and a war waged on lies and greed that continues to devastate and destabilize an entire region. Is there a statute of limitations on treason? Maybe we should go to Iran-Contra… or as far back as we need to.
Damned demand equity in the law. Demand that those in government fairly mediate and moderate the relationships among citizens, industry, environment/ecosystems/, other countries. All of us need an equity stake in our country and more, in this world of ours.
Yeah: we are rightly so the fourth branch of our government. Time to take back our school boards. Planning Boards. Town councils. Regional political committees. State houses. Make sure the ideologues are thrown out of our schools and out of our military. Dismantle treaties, ie NAFTA, that weaken sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. Stop fretting about Republicans or Democrats. Talk to your neighbors. Political block parties. Put aside the labels. Look at your children, take in the air we breath in common, drink water all of us need to live. Focus on the essential things. Work together.
The tide in this battle could turn on one thing: the willingness and/or the ability of Obama or anybody in Washington, with continual pressure from us, to revive the issue of those Congressional subpoenas. Enforcing the ones outstanding and the issuing of a whole lot more. Then, well, then maybe we push back at the darkness.
We’re looking for each other. After all of this, I still believe that. I’m still willing to defend my fellow citizen. Right or left. I leave the fringes to fight each other. I’m not interested in fighting against Rush Limbaugh or Glen(n) Beck.
My call is to fight for each other. Our kids. Drowing polar bears and disappearing frogs. To fight for being better. Demanding better. Finding some kind of fair play. Some fucking fairness.
I’m for fighting to establish a rule of law that provides equity stakes in our society. For all of us.
Oh. Btw. I’m for dogs too . . . i also think we oughta have more dog diaries on the netroots. After all, fair is fair.
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nice essay
i ♥ dogs
me too:
I too am sick of the fight that was won, it like a bad horror moveie where the same monsters never die even when defeated. I am also tired of the politically active people who refuse to demand their rights. They are not Obama’s to dispense as he see’s fit they are the freakin law. They call the crumbs they give away, entitlements like they are granting us huge favors we shouldn’t have when these are what we pay our taxes for. Removing the faux laws and policies that strips the citizens of rights and protection does not even keep us safe, so our liberties are taken away for nothing but more power to the entities that actually rule.
Kinda like Iran in away, their at the mercy’s of a Supreme leader,who really pulls the strings. Ours string pullers are the assholes who run the show whether it’s a D or a R. They say doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of stupid. I think that that’s whats going on, we seem unable to grasp that this is a political farce and unable to use the power we have as citizens.
I did not work to elect Obama I worked and voted because I felt the ‘fierce urgency of now’. I still feel it only the Now looms ahead forever, like Clinton’s inevitable, with no way to change this path we keep getting led down. Soon he will feel our pain, the last step in betrayal from our puppet kings.
…calling and writing our congress critters, asking for investigations, honoring of subpoenas, indictments, impeachments…
…one of the prevailing arguements was that we must not allow the precedent of Bush Administration lawlessness to stand because we feared that some future President would do the same thing.
…correctly, we feared another power grab by another President…
…We just didn’t think it would happen this quickly, nor that it would be Obama…
Alas!
but the basic structure in which our so called democracy fluttering on life support rests is rotted.
Wait until Obama actually tries to do smething we want him to do… like health care reform. He will be assaulted and attacked at every turn. The American people might want health care reforms but the corporate tyes and lobby grous don’t and they have persuaded the people to vote against their own interests before.
Obama can’t fix this shit even with the best of intentions.
We need a revolution and until we get one, we won’t get the change we all say we want. Call me simple if it pleases you.
has to be the next paradigm. How to “stay under the radar”. Either that or perhaps all of it goes down in flames, the end of empires as always happens in the history of man.
The New World Order quotes make far more sense of the world than the Glenn Becks and the Ariana Huffingtons. Left and right, both servants of the same Globo-corp.
I don’t see recovery, ever, so at my limited finances it’s enjoy these the last of days.
Just listen to how testy he gets when the interviewer pressed him about impeachment.
I heard this interview and voted for Obama despite it. I would have voted for Kucinich in my caucus but the only candidates with enough support to be considered “viable” were Obama and Hillary.
Good stuff.
Cheers