Now is the Moment for Leadership

Cross-posted from DailyKos

The Republicans are collapsing from the top down. Their ugly lies are in broad daylight, as hard to ignore as the smell of the toxic tide in New Orleans; what comes tomorrow is up to us. I’ve seen a few comments here and elsewhere expressing the belief that the Democrats should keep a low profile and wait for the end. I respectfully disagree; now is the moment to push for leadership, hard.

There is no reason that the trials of this corrupt clan can’t happen alongside legitimate government. It’s really difficult for me to say this, but I believe the best response is not getting out the popcorn and sitting back in smug glee at the long-awaited spectacle, but to call for two things: 1) reform legislation (because at this point, “reform” and “progressive” legislation are just about synonymous), and 2) making our so-called leaders get in front, while the memories are fresh, while the crimes are on full display. Below is a letter to my senators addressing their leadership on the decision to invade Iraq, and asking them to become leaders — now.

This diary is an email sent to my senators referencing an earlier email I sent them at the start of the Iraq war (included at the end in blockquote). I was completely blindsided by their quick acquiescence on the October 2002 Iraq resolution, the moral equivalent of handing a drunk the car keys. I went to protests before then, but that vote was what made me politically active. After three years, it still makes me furious, especially because the media and practically everyone but Robert Byrd refused to acknowledge the basic fact that it was unconstitutional. I am well aware this is the way wars have often been “declared” in America, but not a spectacular “preemptive” invasion based on unproven assertions.

Like it or not, that vote made Congress completely complicit with Bush for what has followed. Congress has absolutely no more important function than debating and declaring war, and they just rolled over on Bush’s unseen and unproven threats. When the inevitable Iraq War memorial with lists of the dead goes up, there also should be a plaque there with the name of every member of Congress who voted to shirk their constitutional duty. Yes, this issue pushes my button, and I won’t give Democrats a pass any more than Republicans.

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10/6/05

To:
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Hillary Clinton

Four years ago:
I was in Manhattan on 9/11, in the subway, and didn’t actually witness the WTC towers go down. But that afternoon I did see, up close with my own disbelieving eyes from the West Side highway, the gaping hole and twin columns of smoke we’ve since called Ground Zero. I did see the struggles of my fellow shocked New Yorkers. And I did see in the following days the countless absolutely heartbreaking flyers and makeshift memorials for New Yorkers. Like many other Americans, I remember feelings of initial rage and helplessness turn to resolve in the weeks after that day. We were united, and with the support of the world at our back, would find and punish the perpetrators of a hideous crime. When it became clear that al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were responsible, I supported, with misgivings, the invasion of Afghanistan.
That was the moment to find those criminals and hold them accountable.

Three years ago:
On October 11, 2002 you both abrogated your constitutional responsibility, along with most of Congress. The Constitution gives to Congress alone the power to declare war, and you broke your oath to the Constitution without debate or declaration of a state of war, allowing George Bush to invade another country under false pretenses. If nothing else, two former lawyers could have chosen to remember the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the real start of the Vietnam war. That was the moment I first realized my country was in grave trouble.
That was the moment to question the patent lies of what will be remembered as an utterly criminal administration.

Two-and-a-half years ago:
Three days before the start of the Iraq war, I sent you both an email with a list of predictions about what it would bring (full text attached at end). I predicted (and it was easy to predict) the Iraq war would:

1. Kill innocent Iraqi citizens.
2. Kill Americans, even if (optimistically) through only so-called “friendly fire.”
3. Force the United States to make a breathtakingly expensive long-term commitment to patrol and rebuild Iraq at a time when we had deep economic problems of our own, with no finish date and no eventual guarantee of stability.
4. Make the United States, and particularly its large urban areas vulnerable to terrorist/suicide attacks, and increase restrictions on our civil rights.
5. Do long-term damage to the United States’ reputation worldwide, not just with our enemies but more importantly, our allies.

That was the moment that was already far too late.

A month ago:
The world watched Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath utterly destroy a major American city.
That was the moment that was predicted repeatedly for many years.

Now:
Like every moment listed above, now is the moment for leadership. Now is always the moment for leadership.

Over five short years I have watched my country slide toward a one-party state that stresses loyalty and submission to so-called patriotism above common sense, where corporate interests of the extremely wealthy have trumped every reasonable policy, and where critical decisions have had no effective opposition. Not from the people, not from the media, not from the courts, and certainly not from you. The word that I keep stumbling across for this kind of governance is fascism. But no one likes that tricky word, so here is an exact synonym: apathy. The apathy of American voters allowed this situation, but you have been a perfect mirror to the electorate. Since September 11, 2001 at every important moment you have both counseled caution, restraint and withholding of judgment. By your delays and silence, you have helped enable an obvious gang of crooks and their cronies to profit at a horrible cost to our nation. History will not be kind to them, but it won’t be kind to the so-called Democratic leadership either.

Real leaders do more than make gestures in the right direction. During critical moments, they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the common good. A real leader is prepared to take a bullet for the truth: that is what it means to be a leader, in war and in peace. If even one senator had sacrificed their own interest, and spoken truth to power at the right time, and forced the right questions, we needn’t have come to this miserable, utterly predictable mess. Cindy Sheehan demonstrated more leadership in one month than the collective Democratic minority did in five years.

Your Iraq war votes first opened my eyes to what was happening in my government. You turned away from true debate. You refused to demand real evidence. More than that: you refused to accept your responsibility for declaring a preemptive war, and that was unconstitutional. You should have fought like hell for evidence, simply because that was your prerogative and constitutional mandate, and because a real debate would have determined the veracity of the Bush administration’s claims. You have no greater responsibility, not only to your voters but to every American citizen. Instead, you duplicated the folly of the Tonkin resolution. After Vietnam you have no excuses for not guessing the predictable outcome of your vote. If even I could guess what might happen, you certainly had to know. Now that your inaction at that time has been shown to be painfully wrong, you continue to publicly support the meaningless deaths of Americans and Iraqis, and tacitly allow those who schemed for this war to continue enriching themselves. Perhaps you are waiting for some better time to set the mistake aside, but that better time was years ago and will not come tomorrow.

I believe in Democratic values, but that doesn’t make me a Democrat. It may not mean much to you, but if you don’t start acting like true leaders of the Democratic party now, in addition to activism against the Bush regime I will now start to actively oppose you. Many people might view that as a fool’s errand, since your political positions are secure. I don’t care. I will make noise. I will force anyone and everyone I can to listen to a list of your irresolute behavior, starting with your war votes. I will work to tear down the DLC, which has sapped all vigor out of the party. I will force you to answer for your inaction in any way I can. I will be happy to give you as much heat as you already get from your putative opposition. Because on my balance sheet, whatever other good you have done is washed aside by your lack of real opposition to the Bush administration’s agenda, starting first and foremost with a false war. Where is your apology for your misjudgment?

This is the moment for you to start leading. This is the moment for you to remember and start defending the critical historical values of your party — or step aside. And this is the moment I will defend my values. Against the entire Bush agenda and, if need be, against you.

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Previous correspondence:

3/17/03

To:
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Hillary Clinton

I have never felt the need to write directly to any politician, but the events of the last six months have led to new experiences for all of us. On October 11, 2002 — only weeks before a general election — both of you voted to authorize George W. Bush to take military action against Iraq, untied to any United Nations resolution.

That was a vote I knew I would have reason to remember, because it bypassed a long, long tradition of argument about the resolve to go to war. At the very moment that our ambiguously chosen leader’s path should have been loudly debated, the Senate went mute. Sole exception, of course, being Senator Byrd — perhaps you didn’t notice what he had to say about the powers of Congress and the powers of the Presidency? Your silence, in the face of the executive branch’s cavalier arrogance, is deafening.

The coming war will:

1. Kill innocent Iraqi citizens. No one can say how many, but given Hussein’s history, “plenty” is a safe bet.
2. Kill Americans, even if (optimistically) this massive mobilization only results in so-called “friendly fire” or “collateral damage”.
3. Force the United States to make a breathtakingly expensive long-term commitment to patrol and rebuild Iraq at a time when we have deep economic problems of our own, with no finish date and no eventual guarantee of stability.
4. Make the United States, and particularly its large urban areas (you have one, by the way), vulnerable to terrorist/suicide attacks, and doubtless increase restrictions on our civil rights.
5. Do long-term damage to the United States’ reputation worldwide, not just with our enemies but more importantly, our friends — who rightly see this as a move away from being a superpower to becoming an imperial power. There is no plausible counter-argument to this naked power grab, and the countries with the most experience of invasion are the most opposed. They know full well the danger of such rationalizations as we have given.

What bothers me most about the above litany is that you already knew all of this on October 11. It is not for me to guess why, in the presence of so much evidence to the contrary, you voted to support the Iraq resolution. Your stated reason, that Hussein is a vicious tyrant (true) who is a real threat, remains unproven and is fundamentally weak, given there are so many others of the same color and the magnitude of the consequences to come.

What happens if we can’t find any evidence of his massive programs of destruction? How much proof will be enough for the international community in the face of what we’ve done? If they exist or existed, how will we show that he would have unleashed those weapons if we hadn’t attacked? The world will look at North Korea as well as other countries (name your own), and then back at Iraq and cry hypocrisy, and we will have no answer.

I stood behind the Gulf War and Afghanistan, but also know there is no such thing as a “just” war. There are only wars that have to be fought and wars that don’t. This is one of the latter, and its consequences arise not only out of George W. Bush’s inept and/or insane foreign policy, but also your spineless response to it on October 11, which could only have been due to political expediency.

I wish I had written this before that date, in the vanishingly small chance that it might have played into either of your votes, or at least cleared my conscience. But I don’t think I will have regrets alone, and none of us will have clear consciences in the days to come.

I have always considered myself a moderate; an independent who has by necessity voted with the Democrats. I want to say to both of you: don’t count on my vote in any future election.