Constitutional Amendment Time: You can't pardon yourself, your VP -- the previous president or VP, or anyone who has served in your Administration or the previous. [Phrase as to remove loopholes]
(If justice miscarries for these people they can rely on the system, or wait for the next president, otherwise is a conflict of interest. Impeachment doesn't work the way the founders intended -- it's time to fix the constitution)
This goes back to the beginnings of our country. There is no way to hit the reset button. If we could get the truth back to WWII (See Johnson's Blowback) we might be a step ahead, but we are just rehashing the 19th and 20th centuries as British Empire 2.0.x with the concomitant deceit of the public to make it palatable for the mushy middle.
While I agree with you, and you're saying important stuff, your writing ruined it for me. I'm reading, and you mention "ACA". Hmmm, what's that, but keep moving. Then you say it again. Damn! did I miss it? I go back, scan, ... nope. Title? Nope. Now I'm pissed and unknowing. Where was I? Oh, yeah, you were saying something. I don't care anymore. But I do care enough to write this, so you will be more clear, next time.
I generally fix this in the reaction to the New Deal and the resulting National Security state which manifested itself fully after WWII in what is generally, but somewhat erroneously, IMNVHO, (that's "In My Never Very Humble Opinion) referred to as "McCarthyism". Anti-Communism was never so much a policy as an excuse for reactionaries to strangle political discourse and impose their inchoate attitudes on the world. Now that we no longer dominate the world economy as we did from 1940- 1960, our chickens are roosting. Our current generations are paying for more than sixty years of evil blunders done in our name.
Fasten your seat belts, kidz; it aint gonna be easy.
Any drug and alcohol counselor...can tell you how well this kind of denial works. Fact is: It doesn't. It just lets the addict keep getting away with abuse. ... Like all addicts, they refuse to acknowledge anything they've done -- let alone accept any responsibility for it.
i've always thought the drug addict analogy was a good one for the Rethugs (w/ apologies to dope fiends, who i generally believe can rehab themselves)...it's true, & it's in terms that most people will understand...you could even view the ISG report as an attempt at a political version of the Baker Act (which apparently isn't any more effective in DC than down here in florida...)
personally, i'm not counting on anything, but if the Dems (who have everything to gain & nothing to lose, from my simple-minded pov) don't love the family (America) enough to step up & do a serious intervention/impeachment on these crackwhores, & soon, the rock-bottom that we as a country have still yet to hit...well who knows? the bush years have basically proved that diminished expectations have no set lower limit...
Richard Crews,
The term "ACA" (alternately "ACOA") refers to Adult Children of Alcoholics & specifically the network of denial & repression that takes place within families dominated by drink. I think the parallel is apt in that the engine of repression for the children is often a desperate sense of peace-keeping, of maintaining a normal front even as the family dies from within.
That may be a simplistic take on it, but you get the idea, FWIW.
I cut my teeth on Watergate as well; my brother & I papered our room with Herblock cartoons we'd cut out of the (pre-Murdoch) NY Post, & one that stands out for me came right after Nixon was pardoned: Herblock drew Nixon & Ford together sitting on a large steaming garbage can with the title "The long national nightmare continues."
As I recall it, there was a great gnashing of teeth in the days between the Resignation & the Pardon over whether Nixon had suffered enough -- CBS ran a reporters' roundtable on the very issue with Dan Rather joining his colleagues in saying that Nixon's fall had been so "tragic" that to pursue him any further would only cause more damage to the nation. It was left to Roger Mudd (of all people) to say that Nixon's stepping down still left the issues of basic justice unaddressed, that it was his last best stonewall. And damn if he wasn't right.
And damn if all the Nixonites didn't only learn how to steal bigger & better in all the days since.
So the next time I hear someone dismiss impeachment (or charges of war crimes or treason) as crazy-talk 'cuz of all the damage it would do to the nation I'll have to ask "Compared to what? This shit here?"
Good column, Miss Sara
Like stepping into a time machine. I, too, was 16 when Tricky Dick resigned and I thought that the shit would hit the fan for sure. Nope, never happened. I'm still waiting for something to happen other than "screw the little people." I would argue that the one event that has made everything possible for this criminal syndicate was Ford's pardoning of Nixon.
If the repubs are allowed to survive the current misadventure (raping and looting of the govt.), they will only lick their wounds (more like paper cuts) regroup and do the same shit again. ONly, the next time, America will not survive it.
Hell, I don't really think we'll survive this one with all the shit Bush, Cheney and company have done. But, after all, I am of that in between GEN thing and I am a cynic through and through.
Very well written. You gazed into my soul with that one.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the end of Apartheid. Anybody who felt he had been a victim of violence could come forward and be heard at the TRC. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution.
The TRC was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa and, despite some flaws, is generally - though not universally - regarded as successful." (Wikipedia)
This type of solution may be what things come down to. The errors of Watergate came from a premature ending to a series of events that left each "side" to write history according to their partisanship, thus the "stabbed in the back" by dirty hippies, Vietnam war and Nixon all rolled into one big unappetizing package, and the GOP nursing their wounds as though THEY were the injured party. The truth must be told before reconciliation can take place.
Mrs. Robinson is right-on and justice is a very crucial piece of putting a stake in the heart of the neo-con zombies.
I'd stroll around the grounds with you anytime Mrs. Robinson.
Thank you for a most UPLIFTING read and dream sequence moment on a lazy hot July afternoon.
Alas, as others allude, it's over. Already. With or without the fat lady singing.
They have gone too far, done too much, and have minions in place . . . and, the Dem's are too much wrapped up materially in the power and keeping of wealth and power to REALLY impeach them all, punish them, and set a REAL and meaningful example.
The Dem's are as guilty as the rethugs.
The Dem's ARE neocons, deep down, in that they want to maintain, grow and ENHANCE their wealth and power.
Same as it ever was . . . .
Only the people by the millions can sway this, and then, it's still not enough . . . cus, it's already over.
The Sheeple have bleated.
The time to stand and fight this crap was the past 30 years, while we were all going to school, and then, making money to better ourselves within the American Dream Stick they keep holding just out of reach of our noses.
But if America DOES change its mind, and wants to hit the streets in peaceful protest, lemme know. I could put down my keyboard, and cocktail, for a romp.
Hell, we've done it ONCE for this nation, and then, watched it get swept away for 'healing'.
And our fathers and grandfathers DIED in two not so great wars, talk about sacrifice . . . all WE did was march in the streets and grow our hair long and shout a lot.
But we lost THAT edge, long, long ago.
Harumph.
Can we hope that even if the Gang Of Pirates largely escapes prosecution, they will have alienated so many of the USAmerican people that they will never be returned to power?
the problem is that Cheney, by invading Iraq, has set us up for a real national crisis wrt oil, something 9/11 really wasn't except on TV:
dad's drunk, the stationwagon is nosing towards the guardrails and mom thinks to herself the kids are not going to blame her even though she let him get in the drivers seat with a tallboy...
just to push the analogy:
mom's real problem is that she doesn't want to strike out on her own. she likes the money dad's bringing home but she hasn't looked at the credit card balance recently. she thinks that they'll skid and scratch up the car and dad will feel guilty and clean up. she's not seeing a flaming wreck...
And I, like my mother, will cry for my country. Because I know that if we fail this time, America as she knew it -- as I learned to love it -- will have ceased to exit.
Of course 'we' will fail, because such a national conversation (about anything) is impossible. It's not entertaining for a start and it certainly doesn't fit in with the Fall TV schedules. The way things are, Americans are stuck in the here and now. No idea of the past, and certainly no concept of the future.
Yep. And as a result, we get to keep carrying the same old baggage forward through the generations -- same as happens in dysfunctional families everywhere.
Wow, right on article .. thanks for writing it.
Of course you are correct in that all will be swept under the rug. The democrats say We will just have to learn to live with the new right wing United States.
Uh - 'scuse me...but hasn't Amerika always "swept it under the rug"? Going all the way back to the nascent stirrings of "a new nation" on these (stolen) shores? So what's news about this??? Demoncrat, Rethuglican - what's been the difference for 230 plus years???
Doc, et al; aint gonna be no sweeping Iraq under the rug.
Ruling classes don't eat their own. It's as simple as that. That means that all of the crap they do gets dumped on their servants and slaves. They are the true ones that have to clean up and don't expect a thank you and a change of behavior.
I really wish I could even buy into the analogy of our country as a family but the closest that I got is a Southern plantation circa 1830. There are some bad owners that treat their slaves badly, but don't expect them to be dealt with harshly. A nudge here, a gentle warming there, as the other owners try to forestall their sadistic brother from starting a slave revolt.
But that is the furthest extent of their interest. They are not interested in freeing their slaves, they can't even imagine a world in which that is possible. They will not hang the devil in their midst for his murders, rapes, and torture for that might be an actual indictment against his right to do those things, a right that they would(and did) start a war over.
And please don't tell me that this analogy goes too far, as I need only point to the 3500 dead young men and women buried in the cold ground over the past four years as part of the master's insane plan for world peace. And they are only the most visible of a silent colossus controlled by our ruling class that determines whether the food we eat is poisoned, whether the environment around us should be clean, and whether we are worthy of receiving healthcare to name but a few.
The ruling class in this country does not eat their own. Because if they did, they might perceive correctly that their tenuous grasp on the levels of power, their white-knuckled hold of control on this society might be replaced by something new, something better, something revolutionary- something democratic. And their bottom line depends on this never coming to pass. For liberation is nothing more than 'stealing' the master's property. And that theft is still unthinkable in this country today.
Great writing. I should mail this to my relatives. They're kind of Republican, but they might actually accept your logic.
Can this old man just quietly sit in the desert and Cry for all the misdeeds of this day.....
As much as I want to have faith in this Great Country of ours, it somehow has gone by the wayside. Lets us all pray to the unknown God for some sort of redemtion......
I am sorry for not thanking you for your eloquent article. It is right on!
Sara, this is truly an amazing bit of writing. It got to me right where I live. I accept the metaphor all the way, primarily because I don't think it's a metaphor.
If we fail to break the back of Bushism, the United States as you and I knew it as teenagers, and as our parents knew it, that shining city on a hill, is gone forever. And what I would have never believed, never in my wildest dreams have imagined was possible, will I think become very possible -- civil war in the United States.
The Republicans as presently constituted must be held to account for their crimes against the United States. Period.
Really well written. Thank you.
Every time I hear 'let's forgive and forget and move on' I remember that the last few times we did that, we've gotten the people back a couple of presidents later, doing the same things (or worse) that got them into trouble before. Watergate. Iran-Contra. Plame.
No. No forgiveness, and no forgetting. Never again. When you're in government and are caught in a crime, you lose the job, you lose whatever clearance you have, and you lose them permanently, in addition to whatever other legal proceedings happen.
BTW, aren't the Republicans the same party that was so loud about sentencing guidelines and judges being too lenient, and Democrats being soft on crime? Do they really believe that stuff only applies to others?
"Do they really believe that stuff only applies to others?"
Yes.
This has been another edition of "Simple Answers". 
It's human nature to sweep things under the rug. The truth is just too uncomfortable for most people. If Americans start talking about the great wrongs we've done as a country, we'll have to go back to about the time Columbus landed.
But...if things get bad enough, we might be able to do what the Germans have done to deal with the Holocaust. At least they set their history books straight and admitted it was their fault. It took a long time, and not everyone climbed on board, but it was enough to turn the country into a grownup world citizen, instead of a bully.
I'm not even confident the Dems will tie Iraq around the Republicans necks. When it was sold as easy, they did buy in, after all.
Doc, et al; aint gonna be no sweeping Iraq under the rug.
Tanbark
Wanna bet????
I'm with drbopperthp: I think the Democrats will use hearings as a tactic to regain power, and then drop the whole idea of holding Bushco accountable. The thing is, they would then have to address their own complicity, their own cowardice and unwillingness to challenge the thugs currently running our country. They won't do it. Betcha.
Beautifully conceived and written.
Tanbark's right.
Iraq is the 800-hundred pound gorilla gorilla in America's closet that nobody wants to talk about because nobody knows how bad it's going to be.
Does anybody want to talk about what happens after the Army is irrevocably broken? When we run out of soldiers? When we can't afford to fix or replace supplies? Does anybody here think we can maintain this do-it-yourself military genocide until 2009? The time to start making plans for getting our guys outta there was a year ago.
See that stain under the rug?
It ain't wine.
See that stain under the rug?
It ain't wine.
D.R.Scott
Whatever "it" is, it's in the same place where all of this country's other BULLSHIT (checked out your blog - like it) has been and will continue to be swept. The bet still stands - all takers welcome.
Thanks, infodog, re: whattahell does ACA mean?
I checked at my favorite acronym place on The Internets. My personal favorite guess was the previously-unknown-to-me "American Cornhole Association", but somehow, I guessed that wasn't what Mrs. Robinson meant.
What is "ACA," please?
Sorry, I asked about ACA before reading the comments.
BTW, the fact that Nixon wasn't properly punished made it possible for him to be "rehabilitated" into an honored elder statesman, mourned by all the surviving presidents (and there were quite a few at the time!) at an elaborate funeral.
It was a disgusting display.
And then Reagan, who along with his administration got away scott-free for Iran-Contra, was given a burial that turned him into a martyr, a saint, a king.
Even Ford was given a ridiculous funeral, as though he were the best thing since sliced bread.
The country isn't just sweeping the dirt under the rug with these guys. It's reshaping the dirt into hagiography.
Mrs. Robinson:
Yes, this is exactly what I worry about. Even if, and when, we withdraw forces from Iraq, you have to admit that unless Bush and his cronies are punished in some real way, then they have come out ahead on the whole deal.
We need a better feedback control system of some kind in our government. The one we have now, we can push back against the worst abuses of power, but the perpetrators don't get hurt from this in any meaningful way. And so they just learn from the experience and get stonger. I also wonder if there is anything that can give better feedback in the system so that perpetrators of horrible shit get actual punishment.
Failing that, I don't see any real possibilities except to either let the country slide into true fascism, or have an armed revolution. Neither of those possibilities are attractive to me.
The problem is that there are a lot of people (and when I say a lot I mean 100 million or more according to the latest Gallup polls) who still think Bushie is doing a great job. There were those who thought Nixon was innocent and unfairly targeted by Democrats. There are those who think Reagan was the greatest preseident of all time.
...and there are those who still think Bubba Clinton should be serving jail time for his moral crimes.
The problem is the religious/moral Right in this country continues to promote ignorance; so the Republicans will always have power and this "family" will never be able to convince Daddy to go to rehab.
"They tried to make me go to rehab I said, no no no!" --Amy Winehouse.
Not nearly as screwed as we're going to be when you dolts are through with putting Hillary in the Whore House.
Gonna make everything that has been going on for the last 6 1/2 years look like a really good time in comparison.
I propose drunk drivers enter strict rehab rather than enduring jail time. Although negligence if often the case in drunk driving accidents, jail time may be too harsh for minor infractions.
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Ella
Alcohol Rehab
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