#86 Mar/Apr 2007
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
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TOP STORIES

Military Shipments Halted in Olympia
Anti-war group now turns focus to the Port of Tacoma
from OlyPMR

Wireless Radiation: The Hidden Hazard
by Evelyn Savarin

The Benefits of Being Near
If you can't find the answer in yourself, you can probably find it in the neighborhood
by Doug Collins
cartoon by George Jartos

REGULARS

NORTHWEST & BEYOND
Watada case, Spokane abuse, Gates Foundation, Jailed journalists, Mumia, etc.
compiled by Sharlynn Cobaugh

READER MAIL
Home inspectors; Real ID; Bush criminal gang
with cartoons by Ham Khan and David Logan

DO SOMETHING! CALENDAR

WAR

Dozens Arrested at Port of Tacoma Anti-War Protests
by Mark Jensen & Linda Frank
photos by Carrie Lybecker

Killing for a Second Chance
ex-convicts & the military
opinion by Jesse Lancaster

MEDIA BEAT
The Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse
The Pragmatism of Prolonged War
two articles by Norman Solomon
cartoon by David Logan

POLITICS

America's Increasing Democracy Deficit
by Steven Hill
cartoon by David Logan

Real ID Becoming a Real Nightmare
opinion from the ACLU
cartoon by Andrew Wahl

WORKPLACE

Guest Workers Fired After Protesting Slavelike Conditions
By David Bacon

REAL LABOR
Fired for Volunteer Overtime
anonymous

"Five years at MIT, for this?"
cartoon by George Jartos

HEALTH

Weird Flu Deaths in King County
Instead of vaccination rhetoric, a thorough look is needed from public health officials
opinion by Doug Collins

Cheaper, Better Healthcare for the US
Americans are getting much less life for the money, according to a recent international comparison
opinion by Domenico Maceri
cartoon by John Jonik

MISC. NEWS AND IDEAS

University of Washington on Probation
by Mike McCormick, Labwatch

GOOD IDEAS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Romania and Morocco
by Joel Hanson

BOOK REVIEW
America's National Park Roads and Parkways
review by Robert Pavlik

RIGHT BRAIN

'Tanks' for the Memories
photos of memorable water tanks, by Robert Pavlik

THE WANDERINGS & THOUGHTS OF KIP KELLOGG, #9
by Vincent Spada

PUMPKIN EDDIE'S LIGHTNING POEMS
by Vincent Spada

A Night Out
poem by Bob Markey

Controlled Chaos
poem by Jesse Lancaster
cartoon by David Logan

Ode to the Democratic Party Leaders
poem by Bruce K. Gagnon
cartoon by Andrew Wahl

TOON-O-PHOBIA
Assorted cartoons
(see main page, left column)

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Doug Collins, coordinating editor

America's Increasing Democracy Deficit

by Steven Hill

 


In the post-World War II period, America was seen by many as the "City on the Hill," an imperfect yet nonetheless shining beacon of government of, by and for the people. Yet President George W. Bush's harsh criticisms of the New York Times and other media outlets over their reportage of covert and potentially illegal spying programs underscores once again the degree to which a major crack has appeared in America's democratic edifice.

The Bush administration's reasoning is founded on a twisted form of Catch-22 logic. The rules of that logic go something like this:

 

1. This war on terrorism is our new Cold War... it will last a generation or two.

2. Because we are at war it is necessary to engage in certain behaviors--renditions, torture, domestic surveillance, secret prisons.

3. We cannot tell you what we are doing because it will compromise national security during a time of war.

4. The courts cannot review what we are doing because it will compromise national security during a time of war.

5. Any newspaper reporter or news outlet that reports a leak of these programs can be put under oath and forced to reveal sources, under threat of going to jail for contempt.

6. Only select members of Congress can know. But they cannot tell anyone because it will compromise national security.

7. When Congress passes laws, the president has the right to ignore them if he believes they infringe upon his war powers or his role as Commander in Chief.

8. The courts cannot review the president's decision in Rule no. 7 because it would compromise national security.

 

Taken in their totality, these eight rules amount to an end run around the United States Constitution. By the time one reaches the final rule, you realize how fragile American democracy has become. President George W. Bush has yet to exercise a single veto, the only president in modern history never to do so, because he doesn't need to. He simply ignores any congressional laws he doesn't like.

It leaves Congress as mostly an advisory body to the president. It leaves the courts as a peripheral institution without its historical oversight role. And it leaves civil liberties--and Americans who are used to enjoying them--in a very precarious position.

America used to call this by another name: autocracy.

American history has been marked by periodic political struggles, with deep philosophical roots, about the nature of U.S. democracy and the role of government. On one side of this struggle have been those who see representative democracy as a vehicle for self-government and popular endowment, a strong current in the American stream propelled forward by the likes of Jefferson, Madison, Susan B. Anthony, Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King.

On the other side are those who believe in an elite democracy that requires only occasional popular input and ratification. President Richard Nixon crudely expressed this attitude when, oddly enough, he wiretapped himself in the Oval Office saying "blacks, whites, Mexicans and the rest shouldn't have anything to say about government mainly because they don't have the brains to know."

But Nixon's attitude is the 200-years-later version of the one stated by first Chief Justice of the United States John Jay and other founders when Jay said that the upper classes "were the better kind of people" and that "the people who own the country ought to govern it." Truth be told, many of the founders were suspicious of "we the people."

As tempting as may be the vision of a democracy that runs on aristocratic autopilot, the reality is that an elite, trickle-down political system eventually dead-ends in arrogance, secretiveness, and abuse of power. History is filled with examples of this bitter lesson, from the Roman Republic's prototype democracy imploding into Caesar's dictatorship, to Germany's Weimar Republic transmogrifying into the brutality of Hitler's Third Reich.

What will be the fate of the American Republic? The final pages of this chapter are being written with each passing week.

The United States used to stand for something around the world, but now most of the world is shaking its head. Any respect given to the U.S. is more out of fear of our military weapons than respect for core American values and principles. But with the U.S. bogged down in Iraq, unable to achieve victory there, even our military seems not so mighty anymore. The loss of America's global leadership role is just one of the many casualties of current administrative policies.

The new motto of this form of Catch-22 democracy is "trust us, we know what we are doing." But as Ronald Reagan used to say, "Trust, but verify," because Reagan knew that secrecy is the modus operandi of autocratic government.

 

Steven Hill is author of the recently published "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" (http://www.10Steps.net)
and director of the New America Foundation's political reform program.


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