Yesterday, my husband, daughter and I attended the Book Festival in downtown Decatur, the third year of this wonderful event hosted by the town of Decatur, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and DeKalb Medical Center. The festival began Friday evening with a keynote speech from poet Billy Collins and continued into the weekend with poetry readings, music, workshops, displays of local writers and organizations, and presentations of national writers and celebrities. We scheduled Sunday afternoon for our participation in events because on Saturday we were planning an evening party for our daughter's 16th birthday.
Although all the events we attended were good, the most compelling one was the joint appearance of John Dean, former White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, and Robert Scheer, journalist and host of "Left, Right, and Center" on Public Radio International.
Both Dean and Scheer are critics of the present Republican administration, though their criticisms of government precede this particular administration, as well. In a city whose citizens are more liberal or progressive than conservative, they had, by and large, a friendly audience. However, Dean's opening remarks revealed the truth of what others in the blogosphere are advising the Obama campaign: Don't condescendingly attack Sarah Palin herself. When John Dean opened up the panel with negative comments about John McCain's choice of running mate, the capacity audience in the sanctuary of Decatur Presbyterian Church was with him. John Dean said that he was "baffled" by McCain's choice and that Palin was woefully unprepared to be Commander in Chief should McCain become president and then have medical problems or die. Then he said: "The good thing about Sarah Palin, however, is that she doesn't know anything about neo-conservatism." The audience laughed. He added: "In fact, I don't even know if she can spell it." There was dead silence in the church.
Condescension like this just doesn't work publicly--even with people who agree with the sentiment. It invariably blows back on the speaker.
Despite this one faux pas, however, Dean's comments were well-received, as were Robert Scheer's. Both men were thoughtful, serious, insightful, and knowledgeable. I could have listened to them for a couple of more hours than just the forty-five minutes they were allotted.
One of the points that Dean and Scheer touched on together, as they shared the microphone in what was sometimes a monologue and and at other times a dialogue, is that the Republican Party now represents a majority of people with authoritarian personalities. The right-wing of the party is highly submissive to authority, denies the patriotism of anyone who questions that authority, and demonizes the opposition.
Scheer commented that in those years in which this nation was being formed, the difference between the Old World and the New World was the difference between Empire and Republic. The Founding Fathers were quite concerned about the pitfalls of Empire, and the Constitution reflects the fears of the lure of Empire. The bulwark against empire and the foundation of democracy is an informed citizenry. However, in a government in which information is highly classified, in which the Supreme Court does not act as an independent agency, and in which the president accrues more and more power to the executive branch, information is withheld and democracy is undermined.
Today in government, Scheer said, "lies dominate." And he asked the question: Are we to be an empire of the world or a republic?
Robert Scheer strongly encouraged the audience to read George Washington's "Farewell Address," and he read a section of it to us, emphasizing Washington's warnings "against the postures of pretended patriotism" and "those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to Liberty and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty." Scheer reminded us that the United States' military industrial complex now spends more on military than all of the other countries combined. "We have weakened this country on every level since 9/11," he and Dean agreed.
A question from the audience elicited the comment from Scheer that "lying is not a Republican trait or a Democratic trait," that it is a trait of imperialism.
When asked by one audience member why books being released about what's going on behind the scenes in this administration haven't received more public traction, Dean responded that the whistle-blowing was more the equivalent of dog whistles than police whistles. He used Scott McCullough and David Frum as examples of insiders who really haven't revealed much in their publications. "The Bush White House," he said, "has learned well by Watergate--you will die if you breach the code of silence."
Another questioner brought up the responsibility of the media. One of the men responded (I think it was Dean): "The media has given this administration a pass." Robert Scheer added that newspapers are in trouble, that journalists do not have enough money for investigative journalism and that, just as importantly, this administration has been very effective in stiff-arming the press by threatening to take away access to the White House in punishment of unwelcome coverage. This administration, he said, "is the most secretive presidency in history."
Finally, Robert Scheer pointed out the role that over-weaning patriotism plays in muzzling critics. Why isn't there more rage about how torture has been used in the war on terror? Why haven't people recoiled publicly from the testimony of FBI agents about the use of torture in interrogating prisoners? "We are insulated from decency by patriotism," he answered. "We have to challenge this idea" that being patriotic means accepting whatever the government says must be done to fight terror. "We thrill" to stories of people who stand up to dictatorships, Scheer said. But in our society, we punish such people. We accuse them of being unpatriotic. "We get more John Deans," who speak truth to power, "by upping our demand." He concluded: "I want to see more courage on the part of the Democrats."
Other Sources:
- Robert Scheer, Even the FBI is Outraged Over U.S. Torture," posted on Alternet.org.
- Bernard Weiner's review of Dean's book, Conservatives Without a Conscience.
- Amy Goodman's interview with Robert Scheer about his book The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.
No comments:
Post a Comment