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.
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"The national interest cannot be achieved by settling old scores, vengeance for past wrongs, and demonization of those with whom we disagree."
********
George Washington wrote:
1) "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have as little political connection as possible..
and,
2) "There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation."
Very thought-provoking, Gary. I would like to expand on your post, if I may?
Globally speaking, your quote above is spot on, and imo, justice is not vengeance. The national interest requires Americans to agree that we are a community, first, equally bound by rules and laws, ethics and norms, in order to coexist with one another. Remember The Rule of Law?
Another equally important component of national interest, is the ideal that We the People are sovereign, not those who are chosen to represent us. The total bastardization of this truth will continue to cause us untold miseries.
We seek "leadership" and cry when said "leaders" are found to be men and women with clay feet, unscrupulous, unethical, self-serving, usually extremely wealthy people who argue that We the Sovereign picked them to make all the decisions for us. This is not only incorrect, it is unconstitutional.
I do not seek a leader. I seek someone willing to serve, a follower of the will of We the People, one who reflects the People's will like a mirror image, not of their own.
A wonderful post, and I thank you Mr. Hart.
Our leaders have done a supreme job of directing Democrats to revile Conservatives and Evangelicals. They have also done a similiarly good job of getting Conservatives to revile Liberals especially Left Wing Radicals. All the while the ones who are really running the show are laughing at all of us and going ahead almost unnoticed in their plans to reduce all of us, Conservative alike, to essentially cattle.
The Democrats want to raise taxes in order to provide more social programs. The Republicans want to hold the line on taxes or reduce them.This keeps us all occupied while the real international power brokers go ahead unhindered moving us toward a One World Government which will be as bad or worse than George Orwell's 1984.
If a Democratic Administration is able to raise taxes( The Rich should be paying their fair share) the real wealth holders, non profits such as the Ford Foundation and others, will not be affected at all. Also, these are the real international power brokers. Anyone who thinks that who is elected next November is going to make a significant long term difference in thid country simply has not been paying attention. It will not really matter whether a Democrat or Republical is elected, he or she will continue to move us toward a One World Government.
When this subject is brought up the immediate cry is " Conspiricy Theorist." Time Magazine recently published an article denying the approaching North American Union. The whole thing is clearly laid out on a Canadian Government web site. If you doubt what I say then do some research about the Bilderbugers and the North American Union.Our days as a free country are rapidly coming to an end unless we stop fighting among ourselves and unite for the good of our nation. This is our true National Interest.
http://www
'nuff said.
PS - vive la guillotine!
Mr. Hart:
By your reasoning we should open the doors of the prisons in America and free the inmates. But it is all about the elite nature of the criminals to whom you refer.
Since when has the blatant contempt for the constitution, the rule of law and human decency become a thing to move past without accountability? The answer is Watergate when Nixon was pardoned allowing some of the very same criminals to take over our government.
There is no excuse that president Bush squandered American's position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America's image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our nation and our democracy in worst times than these. The world's anger and alienation simmers as does the population in the United States.
No, sir ! These wrongs will not go unredressed. You and your supporters of this failed foreign policy will not be able to "heal" to fraud and cruelty, the wiretapping, the spying on critics, and the warrantless invasion of our communications.
The imperial fantasies of Vice President Cheney were to be fulfilled by the arrogation of power his lawyers tried to justify by the attacks of 9-11. President Bush set up kangaroo courts and instituted torture and lied and lied and lied.
We full well intend to ferret out all the wrongs and right them as our sacred duty to the country we love for which many of our ancestors died for. Integrity, principle, decency and honor will never be returned to the office of president until and unless these men are punished as war criminals.
No second-rate draft dodgers should ever place their war-profiteering above human rights and the Geneva Conventions. They do so at their own peril. We should and will, hunt these men down and bring them to justice, just as they did to the Germans after WW II.
Shame on you, Mr. Hart! The chief executive office is reserved for men of principle, not bi-partisan hacks, neocons or other war criminals.
Gary, I do not want to hear what you have to say. You had my full support and you threw it away for a fling. You let America down. I fully beleive you would have been president if not for some "Monkey Business". Please go away, you are irrrelevant.
The GOP has vanished before. Let's get rid of the whole conservative fascist agenda forever this time.
Where was this "bipartisanship" when Republicans stole two presidential elections and wrecked the reputations of honest to God war heroes? Where was it when Bush and his lackies were calling Democrats traitors? Where was this bipartisanship when the Bush administration and its flunkies led us into war with Iraq, a war they REFUSE to end, despite its marked lack of success? Where was this bipartisanship when Bush ignored the Constitution and the law to engage in warrantless wiretaps and illegal searches and seizures and signing statements? Where was this bipartisanship when the Congress abdicated its oversight responsibility and put itself into the pockets of lobbyists? I could go on and on and ON, but my point should be clear. "Bipartisan" is just Republicans and their enablers trying to maintain a hold on power and avoid punishment for their wrongdoing. As soon as the Republicans have the upper hand again, it's back to calling Democrats traitors, while "bipartisanship" is forgotten.
Gary:
I love you like a brother but you still don't get it. With Republicans, reaching out your hand in a peaceful gesture will get it bit off. Republicans have proven themselves over and over again to be thugs. They have brought us to the verge of a fascist state because they don't give a wit about We The People. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance the wise man once said. Dealing with Republicans requires such vigilance. They have no interests other than their own so I won't look to working to a consensus with them. The Dems have tried it and we were rolled by Bush and the Republicans. No sir. We The People must take back our government and banish the Republicans into a forty year wandering in the political desert. This is just and necessary.
The Civil War is the quintessence of an unnecessary war; slavery was recognized as uneconomic by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and it had died a natural death in many states over the decades preceeding the war.
The war was largely caused by Northern fanatical abolitionists, whose self-righteous rreligious fervor inflicted the greatest catastrophe on the United States in its history.
Gary Hart is absolutely correct to say that "bi-partisanship" as a cover story for helping the BBush administration to continue its insane eeffort to refashion Iraq into a stable ally of IIsrael, at the cost of umpteen hundreds of bbillions of dollars, is directly contrary to tthe national interest.
We are at the very edge of Dictatorship. Bush
is following all the steps:
Creation of a World market
Centralization of banking and lending
Class of Capitolists, Bourgeois class
Internal/External threats
Facist shift
Paramilitary
Serveilence and technologiy to do it
Restrict the press, deny information
Expand definition of terrorist, traitor
Very scary how far this has come in 7 years.
Gary,
I still remember how delightful you and Lee were, when you judged the BBQ recipe contest at Five Points in 1980. The recipe your chose contained "beet" juice and was amazingly succulent! Thank you both.
Again, you chose wisely. Your suggestion of a concilliatory direction for both parties is one of many elixirs needed to bring this country into a state of health.
Another I'd like to add, is "Do no harm to thy neighbor." The revolution of "good manners" has begun in many states. Those folks exercising such are easy to recognize: They have a sweet healthy glow, as they use words like, "Thank you, I sure appreciate your helping me, I'm sorry, Pardon me, Here...let me help you. They're the kind of folks who would cradle a cap of love around a Brittany Spears, scoop her up and gently tend to her until she heals. Never, would they gather with the croud who shouts "Jump Brittany. We're entertainment starved!"
Cognizance of exercising civility, thoughtfulness, shunning toxic hate, toning down the coarse language, seeking fair solutions, embrace accountability for actions, expect fact and truth driven debates as compared to today's emotion driven ugly hitting below the belt, and obeying traffic laws are actions we can actually..
There is hope. Thank you for adding to that.
Gary Hart said,
"""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."""
I agree, therefore however it is important that we recognize the progress as well as the mistakes we as a Nation have made in the past. We must turn away fromthe mistakes and continue to evolve towars greater progress.
It is indeed time to stop "blurring the fundamental principles of equality and justice for all" and to re-connect with the Democratic principle of Political, Social and Economic Justice.
To start we must turn back all the privatization efforts that were implemented since the Reagan era. We must also repeal all the tax breaks given to the Rich and the Corporations, retroactively and restore the bankrupcy laws to favor people insted of corporations. We must also bring to justice all the Criminals in the Bush Administration who supported Torture, Rendition, Illegal wiretapping, Lied to start the Pre-emptive war in Iraq , Overstepping of Executive powers in violation of our Constitution, etc.
Once we do this ,then perhaps we can once again claim that we are a Democratic Nation.
Noble sounding thoughts. But just what is the nation but a hodgepodge of individuals with different experiences, needs, and views? I agree with William Godwin who wrote that government has only two legitimate duties: to provide for the common defense and secure justice for the citizens. But I am afraid the myriad of opinions as to the details necessary to achieve such simple sounding results will always make politics look like a dog fight. It always has.
Your words are wise indeed. Our leaders have lost their direction. Speaking as a Democrat who agrees totally with your assessment about our party, that is exactly why I am supporting John Edwards. Rather than being a career politician, John Edwards simply wants to serve his country -- as an American -- whose very clear call is a return to the values of the Democratic Party that we saw in Truman and Kennedy. The harm that has been done to our great land must be corrected. Jefferson understood that there are times demanding extreme change that is painful. John Edwards understands this as no other candidate. We need a leader with the strength, the will, and yes, the wisdom to lead -- lead -- and put us again on the right path. And that leader is John Edwards.
I agree with those who want to bring this administration to justice and to finally hold them accountable for their actions. Under the current two party system this is not likely to happen and hoping for "bi-partisanship" does not sound realistic. In my opinion bi-partisanship was a pipe dream handed to Democrats who bought it hook, line and sinker like fried ice-cream. In order to break the strangle hold these two parties hold on our Congress we need to elect new representatives who will be accountable to the people and who will listen to the will of the people and not their corporate bosses. In times past the press would be leading the charge for impeachment and accountability but as it stands now they too have been bought out by the same group that controls our government so that only leaves the people, us, to continue to the pressure until someone listens and takes action.
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Posted December 31, 2007 | 05:42 PM (EST)