Democrats and other progressives have the upper moral hand on most issues. We oppose oppression, we support rule of law and human rights, we seek restraint on the use of military force, we value truthfulness in civic life. We have traditionally opposed the death penalty, supported the expansion of rights and liberties to all, and seek an end to perils of poverty. We are called “bleeding hearts” because of our love and concern for all. We’re champions of children – children’s rights, children’s schooling, children’s health care. We generally find war repulsive, and seek to restrict war only to when it is the only resort. Pain, death, killing, injustice are forces we seek to overcome. We are driven by our values. Progressive values are the values of ordinary Americans: trust, hard work, care for neighbors, equal opportunity, fairness and compassion.
Our political opposites have a less compelling moral agenda. Expediency before principle is an accepted logic of the right wing – the neoconservatives and their Republican allies. Care and compassion for the poor is often mocked. Goals are shrouded in rhetorical lies. Oppression and war are called freedom and peace. Income transfers from the poor to the rich are called fiscal responsibility. Fear and terrorism are exploited for political and economic gains. Torture is committed in the name of spreading democracy. Life is ended in the name of ideology. And all of these immoral and horrific acts are done in the name of liberty, freedom, democracy, justice and peace. Liberalism, the foundation of our republic and society, is openly scorned while democratic institutions of government are head-on attacked. Our political opponents exploit the moral good of the American people to carry out great acts of evil.
Wars of aggression are immoral. Torture is immoral. Lying is wrong, and is deeply immoral when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. Ordering the killing of hundreds of thousands of people for political and economic gain is immoral. Invoking God for evil is immoral. These are just some of the reasons why President Bush, Dr. Rice, Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney are deeply immoral persons – totally out of step with mainstream or traditional American values. As Bush leads a kind, loving and moral country into moral abyss there is no reason why the Democrats cede the moral highground.
The false morality of President Bush and his anti-republican cabal is deeply cynical and dangerous. For any person who is not a direct supporter of the neoconservative agenda to describe this agenda as anything other than radical, dangerous and immorall is totally irresponsible. To call an evil regime opposed to democracy, freedom, liberty, justice and human dignity something decent and moral makes the lines between good and evil meaningless. And to not look evil in the eye directly, calling it was it is and is not, is cowardly. Times like these call for strong defenders of American values and ideals. Cowards should be wrested from the lines of defense that protect our republic from domestic forces in its opposition. There is no room for cowards, as now is the time that nations call upon patriots to stand for what is right.
The forces that support President Bush and his administration are aligned in direct opposition to everything that the American republic has stood for since its inception. America has been a nation built on progress, on expanding of liberty, freedom and rights for the citizens from and by whom the power of the government is established. Each step forward was hard fought, but the institutions of power have ceded through the rule of law and vision of progress to end slavery, expand the vote, protect minority rights, develop a welfare state, start towards the end of poverty, provide opportunity for all through education and improve the happiness of all its citizens. Never before has a President stood in such direct opposition to this progress. Never before as the traditional liberalism that is America been so threatened from within. And never before has it mattered for American patriots to stand up for our republic.
Why the Democrats fail to assert the moral issues at stake with the Bush administration’s assault on the values that bind Americans at the foundation is beyond understanding. It is a staggering failure on the part of Democrats to not attack President Bush on moral grounds. Given that President Bush is responsible for crimes against the peace, wars of aggression, lies to the Congress, the UN and the American people, torture, and now attempts to dismantle the progressive era’s greatest accomplishments towards the end of poverty, it is a colossal failure on the part of all progressives that we do not hold the moral highground. We should be on the moral offensive, not the defensive. President Bush’s actions are not in the areas of moral relativism – as they are in total and direct opposition to our values as a republic.
The best example (or worst) of how we, progressives, have failed to take the moral high ground is how we have:
* Emphasized American deaths over Iraqi deaths
* Hid the true costs of the war by self-censoring the most painful photos of the war from our friends and other Americans
* Emphasized the logistical failures of the war over the moral failures of the war
* Generally refused to assert the right of moral refusal from participation in immoral war
* Failed to organize and participate in massive demonstrations and protests calling for an end to the American occupation of Iraq through multi-lateral measures
It is difficult to assert that a war is immoral as Americans actively fight for the war. The soldiers who are asked by their government to fight such a war have a right to freedom from such a request. The choice of participation is a complex. Soldiers are victims in war – who are being asked by the government to fight for an immoral, unjust and illegal war of aggression. We must place the moral blame on the politicians in power, as these are people most responsible for this war. By asserting that the politicians responsible for the war are immoral and unjust war criminals, we shift the discussion from how to best carry out war to how to best carry out American values and principles.
Finally, when we fail to assert our moral case for what this war is wrong, we cede the moral discussion to President Bush and other neoconservative Republicans. Since they know that moral values are what appeal to the American people, they hide their deeply immoral and troubling agenda in a mask of morality. As progressives argue that it can’t be done, the neoconservatives argue that it must be done. And they alone speak of the moral reasons behind the war. We fail to counter the lies and the evilness behind these lies – as we limit our talk to logistical nonsense. If the neoconservatives alone speak of morality, then the Americans will have little reason to doubt claims that the invasion of Iraq on false pretenses, in violation of US and international law are moral and just. The deaths of over 101,500 Americans and Iraqis will seem like moral sacrifices, the torture as for a good cause and the death of American democracy as God’s calling. We must, therefore, wake up to the fact that we are the one’s who are just, moral and the patriots on whom the defense of the republic itself rests.
Pragmatism, of course, has its price, like anything else, but it is one US voters have consistently demonstrated they are more than willing to pay.
If Washington said tomorrow that 200 billion tax dollars would be used for a program of mandatory nude exotic dance classes for all girls 12-17, what would the public reaction be?
If that sounds a little over the top, how about if they said 200 billion for housing, medical treatment and education for low income single moms and their kids?
What do you think your Washington webcam would look like within a matter of hours?
Without the intention of diminishing the sincerity of the fringe minority who strongly opppose torture, I have every confidence that the day that the US govt does something that is truly at odds with the cultural norms and moral values of the majority of taxpayers, the people will exercise their constitutional right to change their government.
good points. thanks.
made the case that the Iraq war was justified by her citizens gaining the right to vote. By whose valuation? I’d love to hear someone ask Iraqis who are not being paid by our government to decide. The Lancet study that identified over 100,000 dead purposely omitted estimates for Fallujah. With that devastated area included, the total dead was at least 194,000. That number is only through last September, too. I wonder what it would be now?
I agree with your points, as usual, TK. The second paragraph took my breath away–so well written and sadly, horrifyingly true. This diary sounds like a mission statement for the Democrats to adopt. Now.
thanks
I know a little about how one Iraqi feels about the elections and Iraq in general. I have written quite a bit about my Iraqi pen pal living in Bagdad, on my blog as linked on the bottom here and in comments made all over the blogosphere. Here is one comment I made last night. I have some more info on her on my blog.
“”As far as the Iraq situation goes I have a particular interest in that due to the fact I have an Iraqi penpal and friend, which I acquired in October, 2004.
She is a 26 year old educated women living with her mother as the rest of her family was killed in an house gas explosion before the war. She was living in Basra at the time.
Anyway we have had some interesting conversations regarding this subject such as she has stated to me that while she is very happy that Bush took out Sadaam, (she is anti-Bush however, and pro American,) she is disappointed at the way things have been handled there by occupation forces, etc.
I am sure you know all the mistakes and misteps. Well to her they have caused a great deal of problems in her daily life, such as traveling, even to work, no electricity, except for a few staggered hours per day, water goes on and off, undependable, etc.
She thinks that a lot of the problems over there now are due to the mishandling at the beginning, such as not securing sites, etc.
There are aditional problems there with religious groups imposing restrictions on women such as wearing headscarfs, long dresses, that did not exist there pre war.
The whole depleted Uranium issue is another things, which apparently is in the air all over the country, due to the explosions.
BTW she has told me that you could make that country a heaven on earth and she would still not want to live there. She is trying to get out and it is very hard, right now applying for a Fullbright, to futher her education here. She has a BS degree and wants a PHD.””
I disagree with your assertion that progressives are consciously hiding the gruesome photos of the war and ignoring Iraqi deaths. These topics have been the centerpiece of many a diary at DKos and many a post and article elsewhere.
Every time anyone around here mentions the 1500 Americans that have been killed, it has become standard procedure to mention the 150,000 Iraqis, too. Whatever gruesome photos have surfaced have been posted all over the place for people to see (if you remember the Iraqi family who was fired upon at a checkpoint a few weeks ago, those pictures were circulated constantly). Another problem we have is that these photos are simply not available. BushCo has instituted a pretty strict policy about what reporters can do in Iraq, so unless progressives want to pool together their resources to hire a reporter to go over to Iraq, we have to make do with what we have access to.
I agree with your point about not organizing marches, but don’t tell me that an Iraqi life is worth less to me than an American life. It’s simply untrue.
since we have each taken a different version of reality. I assert that liberals tend to talk more about the logistics, the dead and injured US soldiers than we do about Iraqi civilian deaths. I also assert that we are less likely to base an entire campaign on the death and suffering of Iraqis. Yes, in the places that you listed there are discussions and photos of Iraqis. But even there, a photo of a US soldier will get more response than a photo of an Iraqi. Additionally, the front page posters have pretty much ceased posting photos of soldiers or civilians on the front page.
As for your final point: don’t tell me that an Iraqi life is worth less to me than an American life. It’s simply untrue. I hope that I didn’t say that to you. If I did, or if I even implied it, I apologize.
Then we better figure out why.
As far as I can see, and this isn’t much more than a guess, the Democrats don’t do this because the Democrat party is run by the same group of corporate interests and elites that run the Republican party. The rank and file might not think that way (many appear to) but they get the idea that to be taken “seriously” by the party they have to not criticise the Republican hypocrisy or the American mythology which supports America’s genocidal foreign policy.
In short they don’t say what you say becayse they don’t want what you want.
But don’t let it happen to often. =)