Paul Hackett and Senator Russ Feingold did the unthinkable this last week, they dared to say what is true, something that is horribly unfashionable these days. In doing so, they laid bare some ugly truths about the Democratic Party.
In his announcement that he was dropping out of the Ohio Senatorial race, Hackett minced no words in explaining the pressure that was brought to bear by the party powerful, who somehow felt that it was theirs to decide who could run and whose voices should be heard. Their omnipotent power play wasn’t about who could win in November, it was about the powers that be pooping in their pants at the prospect of new blood that might not kiss their asses. After all, if newcomers are allowed to step up and speak the truth, there is a serious danger that the party faithful might finally figure out that a bunch of butt-naked old donkeys are running the show.
The Dems really are a sorry lot. During the Alito hearings Senator Diane Feinstein mumbled on about how she didn’t feel that a difference of opinion was sufficient reason to vote against Alito. Earth to Senator Feinstein: Concerns about separation of powers, civil rights and upholding the Constitution are more than ample reasons. And this last week, Senator Russ Feingold’s stood alone in his eloquent opposition to the renewal of the Patriot Act.
The list of nominations for the “If I Only Had A Spine Award” are endless. How many chest beatings have we heard from those who claim they were misled by faulty intelligence about the Iraq war? With all due respect, how is it that myself and millions of people all over the world could grasp that it was a crock of brown stuff and we didn’t even have access to any ‘intelligence’ besides the brains that we were born with. And then there are the House Dems, including Nancy Pelosi, who knew about the domestic spying program several years ago and chose not to blow the whistle. Like I said, it really is a long list.
The party faithful are fond of telling me that you have to be practical, pick your battles, compromise, yada yada. But there is no excuse for not standing up for truth and doing what is right. As Audre Lorde pointed out many years ago, silence does not protect you. Or us. Or Democracy.
The bottom line is that the Dems voted for this conceptual war without end and they keep voting to fund it. Earlier this year in a bizarre act of pretzel logic, a delegation of Congressional Democrats, including media darling Barack Obama, solemnly warned Iraqi leaders that the U.S. commitment to Iraq is dependent on Iraqis getting their act together. That would be the same act our elected officials have consistently voted to destroy. They didn’t filibuster the nomination of John Roberts or Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and it is all but assured they will vote to extend the Patriot Act. And not once but twice, they just shrugged when our elections were stolen. Since when is selling out a substitute for patriotism, democracy or moral character?
We should all be very grateful to Mr. Hackett for being straight about just how the deal went down. Perversely it is his understandable decision to get out of the race that makes him precisely the sort of person we desperately need in politics, a point that is clearly lost on the Democratic Party. We need to quit clinging to the notion that if we could just get the Dems back in power… If we want to reclaim our country, if we truly believe in democracy, it is time to take a good hard look at our own complicity and take a stand outside the two party system. If we don’t, we have only ourselves to blame.
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Lucinda Marshall is a feminist artist, writer and activist. She is the Founder of the Feminist Peace Network, www.feministpeacenetwork.org. Her work has been published in numerous publications in the U.S. and abroad including, Awakened Woman, Alternet, Dissident Voice, Off Our Backs, The Progressive, Rain and Thunder, Z Magazine , Common Dreams and Information Clearinghouse.
