The National Interest and 2008

There is something called the national interest. It is not an ideology. It is not the possession of a single cabal of self-appointed imperialists. It is not achieved by substituting consensus for principle. It is not "bipartisanship" for its own sake or in pursuit of bad policy. And it is not a euphemism for oil.

Our national interest is the product of more than two centuries of national history which constitutes an amalgam of colossal mistakes, most notably Iraq, and grand sacrifices and noble actions. It required a terrible civil war to establish that slavery was not in our national interest. It required a cold war to establish that alliance and collaboration was in our national interest.

Oil dependence, climate change, nuclear proliferation, concentrated wealth, fear of terrorism, theocracy, empire, corruption in government, an arrogant and ignorant executive, and violation of civil liberties are not in our national interest.

Equal rights for all, respect for our constitutional guarantees, including most notable habeas corpus, economic opportunity, regulation of market excess, our natural heritage and environment, fairness, justice, and checks and balanced government are all in our national interest.

The age of Roosevelt was replaced by the age of Reagan which itself is coming to an end. The age of Reagan was relieved only briefly by a rare period of peace and prosperity in the 1990s. The brief Clinton era pursued "centrism" at the cost of blurring the fundamental principles of the 20th century Democratic party -- a sense of national community (Roosevelt), citizen duty (Kennedy), and equality and justice for all (Johnson). Return to the age of Reagan, under the current administration, destroyed the security alliances established by Truman.

There will, presumably, always be a conservative party. But it must be retaken by pro-environment, anti-interventionist, fiscally responsible traditional Republicans. For its part, the Democratic Party must redefine itself for an American generation that does not know what it stands for or what its principles are.

The national interest cannot be achieved by settling old scores, vengeance for past wrongs, and demonization of those with whom we disagree. History operates its own court of justice and vengeance is the enemy of progress.

Together, the two new/old parties must recapture a sense of the national interest, above partisan victory and advantage, willing to achieve consensus for the good of the country as men and women of good will and leadership define it, operating in good faith and mutual respect, and most of all bound by constitutional guarantees and constraints.

I choose to be a Democrat. But I am able to do so because I am first an American.

Comments

[Bongborg]

Yeah, forgive & forget must sound pretty good to a politician who has screwed up a bit himself. Just one little thing wrong with it in this situation... people have died because these neocons have fucked up, lied, and circumvented international law. So, there's no pass this time.

[TrishR]

I'll start at the end - non-English speakers work here, and not all are immigrants. In Wisconsin & Pennsylvania, are American-born speakers of German; there are pockets of Italian-only speakers in NYC, and Spanish-only & Chinese-only speakers in many cities. English makes working easier, but is not a prerequisite for success in America.

There numerous indicators that economic distress of American families are caused by something larger than individual choices: wealth has been concentrated while the worker productivity has been increasing. In the late 1970s the top 1% of Americans owned 13% of America's wealth, by 1995, the top 1% owned 38%. [NY Times, June 26, 2003] How does that square with the Horatio-Al­ger-morali­ty-play image of America's economy? Obviously taxes, are not reducing the slice of America’s pie held by the wealthy.

Yes, by hard work alone, a few Americans escape poverty. Every year, a couple of young girls become famous starlets. But is it fair to create economic expectations based on the fortunate outcome of a few? Is an economy in which hard work doesn't guarantee a living income fair?

Should social services have morality and/or intelligence tests attached? How far back should we look for mistakes? Even if mommy created a financial crisis by making poor choices, should her children, elderly parents &/or disabled spouse also be deprived aid? 22% of American children live in poverty, while in Scandinavian countries, it's between 2.6 & 5.1% [Unicef Inocenti Report Card 2000] , Scandinavian per capita is $4000 to $11,000 more per year than Americans'.[2005, Finfacts Business & Financial Portal]. A child poverty rate 1/4th of that in the U.S., suggests their tax systems aren’t destroying middle-class families.


The U.S. mass transit systems I’ve used have are funded by fares and local taxes. I've lived in rural counties, where taxes paid for county roads & snow removal, sheriffs & fire services, not such services in nearby cities. I don't see how that relates to people with kids under age 5.

[tborg58]

I agree with you Gary, but until the majority
of Americans find out how obscenely wealthy
certain people in govt. and in the private sector (multinational corps.) are getting off
the war business and the mass privitization of
all state businesses (free market ideology )at
the expense of the rest of us nothing will
change....

[MinerSam]

Dear Gary,

You are dreaming. The Radical Right Wing Republican Party is not going away and their most moderate leaders are leaving as EVEN THEIR CORRUPTION IS ABOUT TO CATCH UP WITH THEM!

And as the damage comes roost of their destructive ideology, for our country to catch oxygen (NEED NOT WANT) versus DROWNING, the way towards survival, (only hope), is for Democrats to take out Republican moderates and seats of Republicans abandoning their offices to become lobbyist.

Democrats believe in working for the Greater Good as a way of forming a More Perfect Union.

Republicans equate this with Communist Central Planning and their domestic policies consist of:

(1) Looted our Treasury w/tax cuts that 30% went to 130,000 people.

(2) Destroyed the Federal agencies Americans *PAY* to protect their interests: FEMA, USDA, EPA,Department of Education, Army Corp of Engineers, Consumer Product Safety etc. and turned them into Central Headquarters for the Republican Party.

(3) Privatizing Social Security, education, our military.

(4)W/corporate Media DECEIVED AND DIVIDED us into voting against our interests using deceptive advertising about their defective products. PR, dishonest "framing".

(5) Destroyed our rights so we will NOT BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT "FOR THE NEXT HUNDRED YEARS."

(6) Go after the fiscally conservative Democrats.

For heavens sake this is not the time to disempower the MOST **EFFECTIVE** Democratic
Statespeople....by equating them with Republicans.

PEOPLE THEY TRIED TO DESTROY IN THE 90S FOR IT.

As an informed person* who judges the character of a candidate by the honesty of their campaign I will be voting for Hillary Clinton.

* Have seen over 100 speeches. Every candidate, both sides, every debate.

I take issue implicationd that centrist Democrats are somehow harmful. QUITE THE CONTRARY.

Centrism (DO NOT MEAN THE REPUBLICAN DEFINITION ie. psycho Lieberman!!) Centrism require the ABILITY TO DO NUANCE AND TO MAKE WISE DECISIONS IN A COMPLEX WORLD, requiring an INFORMED ELECTORATE. The job of the Democrats AND NOT TO USING REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS AS OBAMA AND EDWARDS HAVE!

[getoffmedz]

Dear Gary Hart - thinking like yours is typical of the concepts that have shaped a sad broken promise which has angered and surprized many concerned Americans of late.

A strong and painful example must be set so these lying, war-mongering unAmerican criminals now in office will never try this crap, again.

There is a time to turn the other cheek and be politically correct. THIS IS NOT THAT TIME!

Thousands of innocent, loyal and trusting Americans have died, many here on our own soil and hundreds of thousands of people from many other countries have died directly as the result of the blatantly criminal leadership now infesting our White House and to some extent, our Congress.

Turning a blind eye and letting these criminals fade into history is simply not enough.

Many ordinary citizens are left to rot in our jails for far less than the crimes committed by the current vile pack of hyenas who infest our once great government.

National interest will be served when traitors are tried and punished to the full extent of our law. The national interest will be served when fellow-traveling incumbents get bounced from office in the next election.

May the New Year revitalize your courage?

[yooper2]

How True! How True! Dems need to show some backbone-no more caving in to "W"-in the national interest!!!

[tandrmcdonald]

We shouldn't need to be reminded of this; many of us don't need to be reminded of this, a lot of us seem to have forgotten this, and some of us not only never heard of this but can't comprehend what it really means. Thanks for a great post.
Gramma Rose

[993rick]

Gary, I normally agree with you but not on this. This sounds like the same old crap that Jerry Ford gave us about pardoning Nixon so we could focus on "healing". Well, that pardon directly gave us the Dick, Rove and Rummy. We needed to pursue equal justice for ALL and our constitution because that was what is most primary in our national interest. It is not vengeance but justice and rule of law!

[realpolitic]

One of the worst ideas to come out of the age of Reagan is that tax cuts create additional revenues which pay for themselves. Our historically high deficits have shown this approach does not work. If tried, tax cuts should be offset by spending cuts and not just targeted at the top 1%, as Bush has.

[blankmw]

Mr. Hart,

I hope that you are not implying that seeking impeachment and indictment and conviction of Cheney, Bush and the rest of the gang is an example of simple minded vengeance.

Holding criminals responsible for their behavior is not vengeance. It is a deterrent and a representation of justice being served. I think that it is HIGHLY, highly important for any members of an administration, especially those highest ranking officials, to be held accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors (and felonies and repetitive violations of our Constitution, too).

I wish that more CEOs and COOs and other corporate executives in this country as well as senior government officials were held accountable for their performance and crimes.

Unfortunately, they are members of the increasingly wealthy, increasingly powerful, members of our society where the vase majority of the wealth is held by a tiny single-digit minority of the population, and they manage to rake in millions of dollars and perpetrate crime after crime with impunity.

As much as I agree with what you said are clearly NOT within our national interest, I disagree that impeachment and indictment and conviction of a criminal element of this administration would be against the national interest, if that is what you are saying.

[wbnyc]

Accountability and justice are essential to restore and teach Democracy.

It's our duty to impeach and bring to justice all the criminals who have perverted and eviscerated our laws.

We're now paying the price for allowing many of the same players to rising again from previous administration crimes to once again use their hate for our freedoms to destroy the dream of America and the constitution we need to honor and protect.

[DaveNelson]

Senator Hart once said to me that "our enemies are the same ones we faced in the '80's" and went on to say I needed to take some time outside of the box of politics to gain insight into the real priorities of our nation. I now have a clear understanding of what he meant by that.

If we continue to operate as political operatives, rather than as dutiful citizens of a republic, we will continue to wage the same old battle against the same old enemies with the same outcome. We are fighting on the battlefield of their choosing and on which they possess all the advantages.

However, if we step outside it all, redefine civic duty and responsibility, accept some of the responsibility for what has transpired and focus on progress and not blame, we will establish new parameters. We need to rise above the caucophony of those who seek to distract us from our shared goals and use the energy and creativity at our disposal to create something better.

The founding fathers (and mothers) of this great nation waged a battle of ideals and values against incredible odds...and won. They won not because they sat around blaming the Crown for all the ills of the struggling colonies, but because they offered something different, radically different, a vision of where we could go as a nation. They captured the idealism and imagination by appealing to the values shared by a majority. They built on something greater than what already existed and exceeded the public's expectations on what could be...and contrary to what bloggers risk to TALK LOUD...they put their lives on the line to do so.

[batguano]

Your astonishing statement that "The national interest cannot be achieved by settling old scores, vengeance for past wrongs, and demonization of those with whom we disagree. History operates its own court of justice and vengeance is the enemy of progress." That is just plain claptrap and brings to mind the pronouncement by Nancy Pelosi that "impeachment is off the table"; another spineless give-away to the Bush criminals. Your statement amounts to an apology for what arguably has been TREASON by the Bush/Neocon cabal of ideologues, thieves and liars who have, with pre-meditation, brought the lives of so many MILLIONS to ruin.

The pursuit of JUSTICE demands a balance and holding those who have brought us to war for PROFIT, stolen and re-allocated vast wealth to the richest 1% of Americans, trashed our National Honor and emasculated our Constitution and Bill of Rights, tortured and imprisoned without trial or charges, despoiled our environment for crony's profit and in so many ways demeaned and savaged our NATION to ACCOUNT! That is NOT "retribution or vengeance"; neither was the Nurnberg Trials for those complicit in the Nazi horrors and crimes against humanity! It is simple JUSTICE and an impartial application of our laws!

The Bush/Neoco­n/PNAC/AEI crowd of liars MUST be brought to account for there to be a healing, IMO, and I do not understand your advocating giving these traitorous fascist bastards a free ride! For them to pay for their crimes and treason IS in our "National interest"!

[blankmw]

Could not have said it better myself.

Bravo!

"Oil dependence, climate change, nuclear proliferation, concentrated wealth, fear of terrorism, theocracy, empire, corruption in government, an arrogant and ignorant executive, and violation of civil liberties are not in our national interest."

[HearNoWeasel]

Mr. Hart, I agree with you up until you say "History operates its own court of justice and vengeance is the enemy of progress." If this was true, we would now not have illegal wiretapping, scandals as bad as Iran/Contra, or an administration that lies to Congress. We do have all that and more, because we did not hold our officials fully accountable in the past. History operates no court. The public memory is too short, history classes too ineffective. In any case, the only up-shot of history for those who bother to check is this: "They'll let you get away with it."

No more. Impeachment is the lawful response - not a bipartisan sigh of relief over having survived the worst administration ever. That would just guarantee that our children will get one that's even worse.