2005-01-27

Editorial

 

"Fearless Leaders"

Have you ever reflected on what were the most poignant (def: keenly distressing to the mind) moments of your life, other than personal events such as illness, deaths in family and the like?

I can think of many, but two stand out above all others:

• 9/11.  Not in its totality; I can take that stuff pretty well, but the unique instance of seeing a couple jump from the top of one of the buildings . . . holding hands . . . . I struggle to comprehend the magnitude of the togetherness that engendered that act.   Were they lovers?   Friends?   Or did they just happen to be in the same horrible place at the same time, deciding that it was better to leap than to perish in an inferno?   We will never know, obviously, but it is in the not knowing that the poignancy lies.

• Again 9/11.   George Bush sitting immobilized in the kindergarten classroom after

being informed that the twin towers had been attacked.   At that moment I knew that the country was in serious trouble.   That was Bush alone, his psyche naked for all to see.   The President of the United States froze when having to decide between leaving a group of five and six year olds and going to the aid of his country.   To me, that moment clearly defined Mr. Bush for all time.

That kind of behavior occurs much more frequently than we think    I can recall when the Commanding Officer of a military institute devoted to research on the effects of cold weather on behavior of soldiers went to Alaska and wouldn’t go outdoors when the temperature was -50 degrees F.   He “froze” psychologically due to the fear of freezing physically.   I have often referred to people like that as “fearless leaders,” tongue firmly in cheek, of course.   He had all of the trappings of leadership except the most necessary quality, that of not becoming inert under stress.

It is a characteristic of many, if not most “fearless leaders” that they lead by talking and not by example. George W. Bush in his campaign speeches and on other occasions has said many of the “right” things. He has expressed an advocacy of peace and democracy and freedom for everyone all over the world.   He has spoken of bettering the lot of the poor and of a value system which implies that all people have worth. He has expressed concern for the environment.

However, he should be judged by what he has done not by what he has said.   He has exploited his leadership position by engaging in self-aggrandizing behavior designed to portray himself as a tough Commander-in-Chief, such as landing on an aircraft carrier in full military regalia and swaggering across the deck, exhibiting his manhood cutting wood (with a tiny chainsaw) in a photo opportunity on his ranch, mingling with the troops as one of the boys on staged occasions.   But his non-staged official actions as President have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.   Under his “fearless leadership” thousands of Iraqis have been and are being slaughtered, our own soldiers are dying in increasing numbers, freedom has become a cheap, meaningless word such that Iraqis laugh when told that Bush wants them to be free.  Civil liberties and the environment are now continuously threatened by his administration and lies, deceit, secrecy and arrogance, lots of arrogance, have permeated his own behavior.   Like many “fearless leaders,” he has surrounded himself with sycophants who tell him what he wants to hear and a few close advisors who tell him what to say. He has clothed himself in a religious mantle and shielded himself from reality.  The government has become a secret government.   As a “fearless leader” of our country, he is seriously wanting in qualities such as knowledge and fortitude, qualities necessary to face up to difficult issues that must and should be resolved peacefully.   The use of military force is nearly always the solution of weak“fearless leaders.”   Real leaders know better and use force only as the very last resort.

On a second front, where those of us starving rank-and-file citizens could look for leadership, we are also out of luck .Unfortunately for us, the Congress of the United States is crammed full of “fearless leaders.”   Quick with collegial praise for one another, even for those whose very guts they hate and whose principles they abhor, this fraternity of the fearless talks the good talk, but doesn’t walk the good walk.   I have written off most Republicans in the House and Senate long ago as “fearless leaders,” unconscionably irresponsible captives of a neocon philosophy that strives for nothing less than remaking the world according to their own distorted views of good and bad.  Democracy as we have known it is no longer of value for them.  

Democrats, on the other hand, who should be upholding the basic principles of our country in the face of the “know-nothing” onslaught by the neocons, do nothing but talk the talk and even engage in the superficial collegial flattery and camaraderie that passes as civility with those who should be their sworn enemies.   One has to work on many issues with one’s colleagues, obviously, but there is nothing “honorable” about the “distinguished Senator from Texas, Mr. Delay, for example.”

Just call him Tom, is all that is necessary if you have to work with him, and then hold your tongue.

There’s such an atmosphere of phony gentility in the Senate that one wonders how the participants can stand it day in and day out.   Respect for the office, yes, but how can someone have respect for those “distinguished and honorable” Republicans whose every action appears to be devoted to doing away with the civil liberties essential to our democracy, to reducing our environment to that of a third world country and to reducing third world countries to the fourth or fifth world, if that is imaginable, and to supporting an illegal war in which thousands of people are murdered, including our own sons and daughters, not theirs..    

Oh yes, among the Democrats there is an occasional gallant speech, a few vows of determination are expressed, pledges are made of the desire to help those in our country, and elsewhere, who need help.   But it’s only talk.   One soon gets the impression that our klatch of Democrat Senators have such a good thing going in the “fearless leaders” club that their every action is overridden by a strong desire not to spoil the clubby situation by taking meaningful stands on, god forbid, principles. The hallmark of a “fearless leader” apparently is  “Give me liberty or give me, er, uh, well... I’ll go along with the neocons and maybe someone else will do something.”

 How else to explain why not one Senator in the Senate of the United States of America would take the hand of Senator Barbara Boxer and jump off of the tower of   Democracy with her when it came to needing one senator... only one senator, mind you, to have a hearing in congress on the voting aberration in Ohio.   Boxer rose to the challenge to her credit.

This Senate response to the Ohio voting scamis truly poignant.   So much so that I think it is worthy of being called the 9/11 of the Democratic Party.   As George Bush did in the kindergarten, the entire US. Senate except for Boxer froze. Ethics froze.   Principles froze.   The Rights of Man froze. One Man One Vote froze.   Democracy lost 99-1.

The very life of our country is at stake and all we have are “fearless leaders  -a sham government of pampered aristocrats who, despite their protestations, apparently care more about their images and personal security than about democracy, freedom, fairness, kindness, tolerance, human decency.

The motto of our ersatz leadership in both the Executive Branch and the Legislature should be “I have but one life to give for my country... yours.”

I am appalled.