No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Too many Commanders in Chief and not enough Indians

Yesterday is five years since I started blogging non-nicely. I can't believe I've kept it up this long!

Thomas Jefferson is attributed with the adage that the highest form of patriotism is dissent. He may not actually have said it, but it is a sentiment I heartily agree with. In this spirit I now present my annual July 4th patriotic message.

My inspiration this year is recent remarks by Wesley Clark regarding John McCain. Clark has made it clear that he respects McCain's patriotism, and respects the fact that McCain served in combat and underwent years of hardship in enemy hands, but this is not in itself a qualification to be president. The extreme right is livid, baying for Clark's blood, and comparing these perfectly reasonable comments to the vile, filthy Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry four years ago. (Notwithstanding that McCain has collected $70,000 from the Swift Boat scumbags whom he called "dishonest and dishonorable" in 2004. In fact, McCain's ongoing violation of his own campaign finance law has become so flagrant that even the Wall Street Journal can't avoid mentioning it.)

It disgusts me how the Boy Chimperor has wallowed in the title of "Commander in Chief" over the last eight years, sending better men to their deaths in a pointless quagmire war based on greed and lies, especially when he himself was too cowardly even to serve a cushy sinecure in a champagne unit of the National Guard, and went AWOL to avoid a drug test. And I'm very concerned that among his putrid legacy will be a permanent displacement of the very word "President" from the public consciousness, in favor of the militaristic "Commander in Chief", emphasizing the warmongering powers of the office and downplaying its civic responsibilities.

First of all, since I am a civilian, the president is not my Commander in Chief. I, along with the rest of the US population, am collectively his Commander in Chief. I don't owe allegiance to him - he owes allegiance to me!

Secondly, as George Bush Junior has shown, any idiot can wage war. All it takes is a spineless Congress and a convenient terrorist incident to have the public lusting for blood. It's far harder to govern in such a way as to make war unnecessary. It takes diplomacy, tact, intelligence, willingness to compromise - all the qualities Junior miserably lacks. Despite his tainted victories and razor-thin official majorities in 2000 and 2004, Junior and his gang of corrupt criminal traitors have ruled like an absolute monarchy, totally shutting out all input from the Democrats and the few remaining sane and moderate Republicans. A real president would have recognized the obligation to hear all points of view instead of letting an extreme fringe rule by fiat. This is what genuine leadership is about, and the military with its command-and-control hierarchy does not prepare you for it.

The chimp God talks to has made the world an infinitely more dangerous place through his corrupt, hubristic and incompetent misrule. This makes it all the more vital that the 43rd legitimate president be a leader who can transcend mindless swaggering and chest-thumping about being a war president, a decider and what not. When you reflect that even his friends are afraid of McCain's explosive temper, say that he makes Dick Cheney look like Gandhi and confess that the thought of him in the Oval Office sends a chill down their spines, it's clear that John McCain is the very opposite of the leader we urgently need.

I'd like to think that the United States is not all about militarism and warmongering, a Christian fundamentalist reincarnation of ancient Sparta. I want to believe it can serve higher and nobler goals - democracy, equality, limited and accountable government, freedom of and from religion - and that it can once again be a beacon of hope to the persecuted in other countries, rather than the source of their persecution. It may take generations to undo the damage the extreme religious-corporatist right has wreaked, but the first step must be an overwhelming rejection of the continuation of their policies by John McCain.

That's all for now. Have a great July 4th weekend!