The Demise of Democracy – and the Danger of Silence

Observing our government in action it seems frighteningly clear: We are watching the demise of democracy. The impending demise has been superbly crafted and accelerated in the past 5 years since G W Bush manipulated his way into the White House. Notice I do not use the word elected, for good reason, because he was not. We, in the United States, are witnessing severe changes in many areas of life, including the rapid escalation of the national debt which triggers other economic disasters. The disregard and disrespect for all who oppose the current regime is palpable and a warning that democracy, as we know it, is in the crosshairs.

If we choose to look, we cannot miss the obvious signs that point to our fading democratic life. Globally we have lost international support. Nationally we have lost our sense of security and our national electoral system is being brutally manipulated. As a nation of caring people we spent decades fighting for laws to protect our environment and preserve our individual civil rights and now we watch the demise of both. Individually we face the deepening hardship of planning for financial security in retirement when the nation has massive debt, pensions and health care are scrapped. This is a short list pointing to severe strain, if not the dying gasp, of our democracy.

What is being deconstructed is the image many of us have of the kind of country we live in. Some say things have gone so far down the wrong road that it seems doubtful that we can turn back. That is true in part, the future is frightening, but we cannot give up hope that with effort and diligence things could spin on a dime.

It is a time to ponder. What is our role as ordinary people? We recognize that history proceeds cyclically, that extremes are followed by a correction as the pendulum swings in the opposite direction. Shall we stand by while disintegration proceeds, espousing the long view that evolution happens with or without our input and so our involvement will not make any difference? I think not! Being conscious of the play of events is certainly very important; however, I think that just being aware of the wrong turn of events is not good enough. Rudolf Steiner [20th century spiritual leader] did not hesitate to try to influence the direction of his country, Germany, after WW I. He worked vigorously to direct the political and social structure toward a non-exploitive economy, a free cultural life, and legal equality. That his efforts did not prevail does not negate the effort.

Spiritual leaders Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both active in the social/political realm. The voice of a spiritually focused life is not inconsistent with political activism; in fact it speaks with the most integrity.

Why are we so reluctant to try to influence our nation’s history? It’s daunting, no doubt about that, and the time and energy commitment can be overwhelming. And where does one start when the major players are likely not even known to us? Nevertheless, to enter the political fray of our present alarming national situation and to try to influence its outcome would be a task worthy of all of us. This is a time when wrong comes up to meet us everywhere, to quote from Christopher Frye’s A Sleep of Prisoners. We cannot just watch objectively, pacifying ourselves with the notion that such large scale events are beyond our control. Are they? Or are we acquiescing to this belief not because we agree but because we are at a loss as to what to do about it. We need to engage, but how?

One thing can be done right at home. We all like to meet with others who can be supportive in our times of need. I suggest that the current political atmosphere is teetering on the edge of tragedy and we are players in a time of great need. What better reason to gather in small groups than to have a vital issue that brings us together? What better reason to pool our collective resources, our minds and our energy, than to work for change? What better reason to unite than to refuse to give up hope that things can improve? We can choose to work on issues with enthusiasm, something large and worthy, or small and local, and while we are at it, what better way to accomplish a little self development and some good for our children than to engage in the most far reaching issue to confront us in our life time?

The tasks and challenges are many and we will each have our own list, but three stand out for me that must be addressed first:
1)Downsize the military and drastically scale back the aggressive stance of our country.
2)Restore our human rights lost via the Patriot Act and other various pseudo-paternalistic government/industry/military actions, policies and attitudes
3)Rebirth our nation as the republic that it is meant to be so that government represents us, the people, not big business.

By engaging ourselves and achieving some degree of accomplishment in these issues, I believe other concerns, such as the earth’s destruction and our poor reputation everywhere [I am not necessarily equating these two] will begin to be affected in a positive manner. Let’s look at the three priorities.

Militarism Out of Control
We have been warned -
“Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
President George Washington, farewell address 9/17/1796.

‘This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience…The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, farewell address 1/17/1961.

“Of all enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.” James Madison, an author of the Constitution and President:, quoted by Ralph Raico in American Foreign Policy – The Turning Point 1898-1919]

But we have not heeded these warnings.

I rely on Chalmers Johnson’s The Sorrows of Empire for my understanding of our current military situation. This book has provided the information I use in this section.

Our country has about 1700 military bases, approximately 700 of them in 100 foreign countries. There are 38 separate bases on Okinawa alone. This is certainly over-kill in terms of defense, though if we continue at our present national aggressive rate, there may well be over 100 countries that want to attack us. Many of these foreign bases no doubt are due to the complications of high tech modern warfare with its stealth bombers, cluster bombs, unmanned robot surveillance, etc. Some of the bases protect business investments overseas. This is the kind of aggressive warfare and aggressive commercial interest that we, as a peace loving people who espouse freedom for all, should not be engaged in.

Just as there is a revolving door between the Federal Drug Administration and the drug companies it is supposed to regulate, so there is a revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors. Peter Teets, former Chief Operating Officer of Lockheed Martin, was appointed by Bush as undersecretary of the air force. He stated in 2002 that “the U.S. can control the world through a planned domination of space and that it intends to ensure that domination.” He opposes cooperation with NATO or the U.N. or other forms of ‘burden-sharing’. Controlling the world is not ‘bringing freedom and democracy’ to anyone, rather the antithesis.

Quoting from Johnson: “The Space Command’s policy statement .. argues that ‘the globalization of the world economy will continue with a widening gulf between haves and have-nots’, and that the Pentagon’s mission is therefore to ‘dominate the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investments’ [emphasis added] in an increasingly dangerous and implicitly anti-American world. One crucial goal of policy should be ‘denying other countries access to space.’’” An alarming goal. Is this aggressive stance the will of the American people?

Johnson goes on to state: “Such an aggressive attempt to ensure unilateral military hegemony requires that this country abandon all arms control agreements and constraints, including the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which placed limits on the militarization of space …”

World domination is clearly the policy, and on the ground the ammunition of choice is depleted uranium [DU], a waste product of nuclear power generation, with the potential for severe health effects, including birth defects. “In 1991, American forces fired a staggering 944,000 DU rounds in Kuwait and Iraq….The Pentagon admits that it left behind .. 320 metric tons of DU on the battlefield.”

320 tons of DU deposited on the landscape is an abstraction for most of us who have not faced that kind of scenario. Our government wages war in our name while most of us have no real understanding of what war means to people and landscapes which are the target and who are mentally and physically injured, maimed, killed, and have their land contaminated for generations.

The Bush administration has been the aggressor in taking the U.S. to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not the first time the U.S. has chosen this role, but it is shocking to realize how utterly focused our country and the current administration is on world domination. It should not be shocking, but it is, to realize how we have so willingly sacrificed our democratic way of life for the chimera of security. The question is, has not the quest for security tipped the balance and put us at more risk? We have seen this played out on the ground in Iraq especially. Our presence there is not wanted; it is resented just as the early New World settlers resented the English authority. Has the war in Iraq and our 700 bases around the world made us more secure? I would feel more secure if my country were not so intent on dominating every inch of world real estate and the space overhead. I do not want my country to be the world’s bully, especially for the primary purpose of protecting overseas investments. A dictator bullies; a democratic administration leads with the best interest of the people at the heart of its decisions.

Human rights abused
Illegal search and seizure
An American Muslim army chaplain at Guantanamo was accused of espionage, arrested, held in solitary confinement for 76 days, threatened with death, while his wife was bullied by government agents looking for evidence. In the end all charges were dropped; the government had no case. According to author and Chaplain James Lee*, no charges were made at the time of his arrest, no attorney provided, no communication allowed, no information given to frantic relatives, his personal property seized and still held a year later. At the end of his ordeal, even though he was completely cleared of any wrong doing, his reputation and career were ruined, his family life unbearably stressed, and all this was set in motion by fear. Our government tried to save face by concocting a bogus misdemeanor charge against Lee [which he appealed and won], and making it abundantly clear that a Muslim chaplain was not welcome in the army. Lee knows of others similarly falsely accused. Can we keep our silence? What if this terrifying experience happened to you, or to your relative? Don’t assume it isn’t possible. Even though it sounds like something that would happen under a dictatorship, it happens in the U.S. *See James Lee, For God & Country, Faith and Patriotism Under Fire.

Loss of privacy
Chalmers Johnson states in his book: “Today the federal government can tap into and listen to all citizens’ phone calls, faxes, and email transmissions if it chooses to. It has begun to incarcerate native-born and naturalized citizens as well as immigrants and travelers in military prisons without bringing charges against them.” Military prisons operate outside the realm of constitutional and civil justice safeguards. New York Times reporter Bill Saffire revealed recently that his phone had been wire-tapped for 6 months, as well as that of a reporter with whom he was in contact.

Protections missing
How is it that we could rush military personnel to Pakistan to assist in the earthquake there but could not rush help to our own people caught in the Katrina disaster? In many circumstances, the current administration clearly displays a cavalier attitude toward the well being of people at home, perhaps because it is focused so intently on world dominion. Disaster relief is not mandated by the Constitution, but we have come to expect some federal oversight of natural disasters as befitting ‘general welfare’.

Freedom of speech, assembly
Many of our hard won civil and environmental rights are falling victim to the war on terror. The gravest terror is really right here at home and is spreading silently, secretly.
•Bush political events are largely stage managed, limiting speech and assembly.
•The Clean Air act of 1970 and the Clean Water act of 1972 are set aside and weakened. Some large industries are exempted wholesale from clean air and water compliance, meaning that the air we breathe and the water we drink are not protected for the common good.
•Bankruptcy laws have been restructured for the benefit of banks.
•Peaceful demonstrations are met with police in riot gear. ‘If you’re not with us, you are against us’ implies that protesters are part of the ‘axis of evil’.
•Elections are manipulated, the campaign process subverted by outrageous lies and illegal use of campaign funding.
•News is controlled and manipulated

Too many legislative acts are formulated to benefit corporations, not people, though the wording is often ambiguously phrased to hide the true purpose.

Our republic under attack
Ethical slippage and voodoo vocabulary Daily we are reminded of the lack of ethics in high places. We know of election rigging and the fraudulent reasons given for going to war in Iraq. Equally depraved is the scurrilous, mystifying use of language … words like compassion, democracy, freedom, liberty, national security, prosperity, opportunity, peace, support for our brave men and women fighting in Iraq, tax relief for the American people, conserving our environment, fiscal responsibility, a policy of life - all mean the opposite in current-politico-speak. This is voodoo vocabulary, but it lulls many into believing the president is doing the right thing. Add use of torture at will, disregard of the Geneva Convention against torture, lack of regard for any framework that doesn’t serve the hidden purpose of world domination … does this sound like democracy at work?

Extra Constitutional powers assumed
After 9/11/01, George W. Bush persuaded Congress to give him the power to decide if and when to send the military to Iraq. Essentially the Congress, which has Constitutional responsibility to declare war, handed it to the president, thus abdicating important legislative power and adding to that of the executive. Democracy at work? Recently we have learned of ‘signing statements’. This is a backdoor veto, with the president essentially saying that he will decide whether to accept or ignore the legislation he is putting into law. Bush has used such statements more than one hundred times.

Financial secrecy
N.D. Senator Kent Conrad spoke on 10/20/05 and many times since on the Senate floor re what he terms our approaching financial train wreck. With charts based on Congressional Budget Office and Dept of Treasury figures, he illustrates the point that the Bush administration budget double speak is wildly out of sync with reality. See website http://Conrad@senate.gov. The so-called deficit ‘reduction’ in spending of $35 billion (later raised to $40 billion) for Medicaid, student loans, agriculture, and all entitlement programs, said Conrad, is off-set by more than that amount in up-coming tax cuts that will benefit the wealthiest, thus giving no deficit reduction at all, rather an increase. Due to heavy public lobbying which resulted in House passage by only 2 votes, it is unclear at this moment whether House/Senate reconciliation on the budget bill will achieve the common good or support White House chicanery in reducing support for needed social programs while declaring murkily that the deficit is being reduced. Often, we the people are unsure what our tax dollars are doing.

[After this was written, the Senate deadlocked on passage of the conference bill and Dick Cheney, who had been rushed back overnight from the Middle East, was whisked into the president’s chair in the Senate chamber to break the tie. Democrats managed to temporarily stall implementation by raising several points of order. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton D/NY, speaking on the Senate floor and referring to the handouts oil and drug companies received in the bill, stated: ‘Never has so much been done for so few who need it so little.’ She could have added: And never has so much been taken from so many who need it so greatly.]

A business controlled government
Congress is controlled by corporate business, not by the electorate, and this is the hallmark of a power structure inimical to a republic. Franklin Roosevelt warned that “the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism.” [Quoted by Robert F Kennedy, Jr. in Crimes Against Nature.] In a republic, the people control government. In fascism, business and government have a very close and symbiotic relationship.

On any given day, hundreds of lobbyists are busy in Washington, D.C. and state governments calling on legislative staff, pushing agendas for clients who are big contributors to party coffers of both sides. The money spent by business on lobbyists and contributions is staggering, but it pays off in industry-friendly legislation and lucrative contracts. Democracy at work?

Corporate interest to the forefront
N.C. public officials, bought out by the mega hog confinement operations in that state, allowed those companies, Smithfield primarily, to pollute the eastern shore of N.C., loading waterways with many toxic products such as pfiesteria which is deadly to fish and devastating to human health. Whole communities have been left uninhabitable. With payoffs and favors, the political muscle could not be found to stop the pollution and protect farmers, fishermen, and residents. The self-interest of a major business entity was over-riding [‘Waterkeeper’, Fall ‘05]. There is currently a moratorium on new mega hog operations, but massive pollution by existing operations continues

And the blame award goes to –
I write in sharp criticism of the Bush administration, its control of Congress, news media, and the judiciary, but I want to make it quite clear that both political parties are failing us. Politicians of all persuasions are embedded in corporate and military imperialism, with the difference that at home some have a degree of social conscience as well. Neither party is four square behind people oriented values such as national and international cooperation rather than competition and policies that support living wage jobs and good health for people over profits for corporations.

Both political parties need to get the message that we want less military deployment [especially egregious when done to enable U.S. corporations to exploit cheap labor elsewhere]; more respect for civil rights at home; more environmental leadership that will reduce America’s share of global pollution; and reform of lobbying and election financing that now enables corporate control over legislation.

At the moment our vote verges on being a chimera because neither party has true human values at its core. But the Bush regime is more blatant and at the same time more deceitful in pursuing world domination ... deceitful in concocting the excuse that its global ambitions are somehow protecting us from terrorism. It does this hypocritically, all the while supporting ‘life’ while ignoring the fact that we are the world’s leading terrorist. Three thousand died in lower Manhattan’s Twin Towers. We have killed by Pentagon admission over 30,000 mainly civilian Iraqis in Bush’s war of terrorism. The real figure could be closer to 100,000.

For the most part, TV and periodical media are not telling us what is really going on. In many cases, media owners are celebrating all the way to the bank as they profit from military spending, lax environmental enforcement, and a corporate-friendly regulatory climate.

And so to the bottom line
While Bush confuses the American public with his jargon and deceit, his clear intent is undeniable. Those that choose to see through the smoke screen can no longer deny that the single goal of the Bush administration and the neo-conservative coalition is world domination, a goal to be reached by a global military presence. When we awaken to this reality, things begin to make sense.

Democracy in the U.S. [and anywhere else it gets in the way] is collateral damage on the way to building empire. In like manner, the environment, human rights, America’s good will abroad, needed social programs at home are all collateral damage. We are watching the planned and orchestrated demise of a republican form of government and the rapid acceleration of imperialist power. Many U.S. citizens, lulled by poor diet, poor health, economic stress, misplaced belief in government, will be blind-sided. Those who do wake up in time will be appalled at the vast scope of the military/industrial/neo-conservative agenda. To those I say, ‘How can we stand silently by and watch this horror unfold?”

Historically, empire building eventually fails. It becomes top heavy with fraud, greed, secrecy, depravity, and it collapses as a result of its own corruption. Witness Rome, Spain, Great Britain, Holland, Japan and other empire building nations of the 19th and early 20th century. More recently recall the fall of the Soviet Union. With our ‘en current’ global awareness, one would think that empire had seen its day and could fade into the past. Surely we should have learned the lessons by now and be able to graduate to some type of national ambition that is more humanistic, more sustainable, and more respectful of the rest of the lives on our planet. Some countries may have learned, but some are just entering into the process, or at least are trying desperately to protect themselves from us. The current political craziness that aims to dominate earth and weaponize space may be the last gasp of empire. If so, it will be a big gasp, and the fall will be catastrophic. What is our role?

Our role is huge, and it is urgent. If we are to avoid further collapse, chaos, and the tendency toward fascism, we must be engaged in any way we can devise. We must find ways to become informed, to alert others to what we see, and then to stay engaged. Our actions can be customized to align our diverse talents with any of the many diverse areas of our political life in need of action.

A RECIPE FOR ACTION USING HEART, HEAD, AND HANDS
•Pick an issue that fires your heart
•Learn the facts that relate to the issue
•Use your skills to educate others by writing a pamphlet, giving a talk, making a video, joining or creating a grass roots campaign, writing letters to your politicians and your hometown paper.

The voice of the people is heard in Congress when enough of us speak. When the USDA came out with the first draft of a National Organic Program that included irradiation, genetically modified organisms, and use of sewage sludge, processes that were absolutely anathema to organic methods, 250,000 of us protested and we were heard. USDA capitulated and the rule was changed to eliminate the ‘bad three’. Success is not always so immediate. When efforts are stonewalled, we can negotiate, and offer to help move the process along. Falling back to a smaller agenda is still a way forward. In some cases, a com-promise is better than no promise at all.
The most important principle in reaching any goal is to take the first step. No matter how outlandish the goal, no matter how small the step, acknowledge the goal and take the step. It can be a test of will not to be daunted by the overwhelming nature of the task but to strap on our boots and step forth. Rosa Parks took her step by keeping her seat; by this action she sparked the civil rights movement. Do we need a better show of courage? Our united voices can change our nation’s destiny and get us back on track for putting people first.

But let us not go into this thinking we know absolutely what is right, that we, too, always have truth on our side. We must constantly re-visit and re-evaluate our plans to see if they are taking us, in our best judgment, in the direction of truth, freedom, equality, economic fairness. We want to resurrect these values, and we will need to re-check our guidance from time to time in whatever way we each choose.

Little by little, step by small step, I believe one, two, three or more people can change the course of events, but we have to start now.

A FEW SMALL BUT PRACTICAL STEPS
•As consumers, we can refuse to buy items that come from countries with known low wages.
•We can avoid the siren song of cheap food and purchase organic items that bring those farmers a slightly better income.
•We can protest unjust treatment of workers, and bullying wherever it occurs.
•Many cases of pollution go unnoticed; notice them and speak out.
•Falsehoods coming from power are so common that we hardly pay attention; start paying attention and challenge falsehood.
•Join other groups who are protesting war, social security ‘restructuring’, our loss of privacy rights and clean environment.
•Support others who are willing to work toward change with financial contributions.
•Get on the list serve for MoveOn.org and People For the American Way.
•Subscribe to publications that are free of corporate ownership
•Keep informed and let Congress know where you stand…i.e., Patriot II, reduction in social ‘safety nets’, profligate spending for empire building, roll-back of environmental regulations.

And most important, never believe that there is nothing you can do. That’s what the controlling powers want you to believe. There is always something. Don’t ever give up. Silence practically shouts consent, and we do not want our silence to give tacit support to an empire building government unresponsive to a majority of its common people. Democracy isn’t in its grave yet; but its heartbeat is faltering and in need of life support. What is your silence saying?
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© 2005