The Bell Tolls for Democracy

Once again the Republican leadership of the Congress and the Executive branch has shown its utter disdain for the American people and their intrinsic right to know what their government is doing and why they are doing it. On Thursday, June 16, 2005, John Conyers Jr., representing the 14th district of the state of Michigan, held a public hearing regarding the allegation that the President lied to the American people and to the Congress of the United States in order to launch an invasion of Iraq. This allegation has been prompted by the so-called, “Downing Street Memo.” In an attempt to thwart that hearing, the Republican leadership allocated a wholly inadequate space in the basement of the Congress. In addition, this same leadership scheduled votes on eleven different pieces of legislation at the time that hearing was being held. This behavior is reprehensible and demonstrates at what lengths the leadership will go to disrupt the democratic process, when it is in their interest to do so.

Following the meeting, Conyers walked over to the White House, another bastion of democracy in action, with his letter (co-signed by over 100 fellow Congressmen) in the company of colleagues to the President demanding an accounting of the veracity of this memo and a petition signed by over 500,000 American citizens. He was, of course, barred from entering the White House. Ultimately, the letter together with the petition was reluctantly accepted by a representative of the President.

These tactics of obfuscation and stonewalling show the extent to which the current abominable leadership of this country is being assaulted by the truth, and the degree to which they understand the consequences should this truth become public knowledge and a part of the public record. Should this and over evidences of the current Administration’s chicanery and duplicity become widely known and appreciated, the President would certainly be bound for impeachment. It is a wild hope of mine that history will find him ultimately charged with war crimes, for he is indeed a war criminal responsible for the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings.

It is also interesting that corporate power with its stranglehold on the nation’s media has used its influence to prevent a timely reporting of these historic events with the weight and gravity they deserve. It is time for the American public to wake up to the reality of what has befallen this country before it is too late.