Mainstreaming Socialism

It is a testament to the effect progressive influence has had on the current Democratic Party to hear longtime establishment apologist and regular MSNBC commentator Lawerence O'Donnell sing the praises of the contribution American socialists have made to the quality of life in this country. In response to the latest vilification of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, O'Donnell reminded his viewers that the eight hour work day along with the 40 hour work week were products of the efforts of thousands of early American socialists (Eugene Debs being a notable 20th century example although not specifically mentioned by O'Donnell). He went on to make note of the formation and popularity of such socialist programs as Social Security and Medicare and the specific contribution of FDR's Secretary of Labor, Francis Perkins, in the enactment of the former while noting the historical roots of the latter.

O'Donnell's declarations represent an abrupt change of attitude from at least this sector of the Democratic mainstream. It was only a few short months ago that O'Donnell was attempting to minimalize AOC's historic defeat of 20 year incumbent and party kingpin, Joseph Crowley, and, in so doing, hope to marginalize her accomplishment. In the ensuing months, O'Donnell has apparently come to realize the very real depth of appeal that current socialist ideas and programs enjoy among an ever growing majority of Americans. As alluded to by O'Donnell, socialism, its ideas and benefits, have been an essential part of the American societal fabric throughout much of our history although not always identified by name. We might add to this list the very publicly financed and proudly American institutions of the National Park Service; the vast and largely well functioning system of highways, roads, and bridges; the much lauded and often revered US military; our police and fire service; a network of public libraries; a public educational system at once filled with promise and in need of even greater attention and the promise of the restoration of fully finance higher education to compete on the world stage with other industrialized nations of the world. In the light of these existing socialistic realities, the introduction of the Green New Deal as proposed by Bernie Sanders, Ms Ocasio-Cortez and scores of other members of Congress appear not as outlying concepts but rather ideas consistent with ongoing and successful programs with which we are all well accustomed and familiar. These ideas echo a rich and vibrant heritage forged throughout our history by the efforts, sacrifices, and vision of the likes of Mr. Debs, Samuel Gompers, social activist Dorothy Day, the great Paul Robson, our would-be Vice President Henry Wallace, and the legendary vision of Martin Luther King. They and thousands of other American socialist forefathers must look upon the current iteration of those who strive for the full and authentic expression of democracy with pride and hope for the fulfillment of a dream once conceived and still yet to be fully realized.

Of course, there exists now, as then, a formidable opposition to this movement...a very well organized and financed effort to maintain the status quo of wealth disparity and the preservation of a system that protects the 1% of elites...American oligarchs dedicated not to the common good but rather to the perpetuation and continuance of their narrow, myopic, and destructive vision based upon greed and self aggrandizement. They are currently represented by the familiar Koch Brothers, the Waltons, Robert Mercer, and Leo Leonard and the Federalist Society just to cite a few notable examples. They will do their best to demonize the harbingers of change in the upcoming election cycle now already upon us with vile insult, misinformation, and outright defamation in an attempt preserve a hold on an unjust system increasingly viewed with disfavor. When mainstream representatives like Lawrence O'Donnell begin to accept the need for real change and link this need with reference to the heritage of past struggle and the existence of ongoing successful programs that benefit the many, we may look forward to a future where a consensus will be achieved to turn the tide and enjoy a day when, in the words of Mr. Dylan, 'the sun will respect every face on the deck; the hour when the ship comes in!' The ship is indeed on the horizon.

A Matter Of Constitutional Duty

The Mueller report and today's statement indicate a clear referral to Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty in lieu of Mueller's inability (given DOJ's constraints) to prosecute a sitting president. As Elizabeth Warren has been advocating, it's time to act upon principle rather than political expediency and proceed according to the dictates of the law. That said, it will also be a powerfully useful thing to have Mueller give detailed public testimony to the relevant findings as they relate to Russia influence/interference in the election of '16 and the 10 instances of obstruction of justice by Trump as outlined in Part Two of his report.

Memorial Day

A solemn day of remembrance on behalf of all human beings, military and civilian alike, who have been victimized by the obscenity of war.

How Low Can You Go?

Publishing a doctored video which distorts Nancy Pelosi's halting speech pattern is akin to what a middle school bully might do to someone displaying a slightly different way of speaking in order to humiliate the recipient of the taunt. In so doing the bully invariably reveals himself to be the weak, insecure coward that his action underscores. This serves to affirm the fact that one doesn't hit rock bottom until they stop digging. Apparently, Trump and Giuliani have no intention of putting the shovels away any time soon.

Trump's Attemped Assault On The First Amendment

Trump's 'justice' department has handed down multiple counts of espionage against Wikileaks's publisher Julian Assange, the first time in American history that a disseminator of truthful information regarding military or governmental wrongdoing has been prosecuted for what has been common journalistic practice since the inception of our country.
This radically repressive step was presaged during the Bush/Chaney years with the prosecution and subsequent conviction of whistleblowers Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou (just to name two) who exposed respectively unwarranted surveillance of private citizens and CIA torture programs. Instead of reversing this trend, the Obama Administration greatly accelerated the practice of demonizing journalists and their sources by invoking the arcane 1917 Espionage Act more times than all prior administrations combined in an effort to suppress independent journalism by directly punishing sources of information thereby sending a chilling message to those attempting to inform the American people of the transgressions of their government.
With the indictment of Julian Assange, the Current Occupant has now expanded this practice of assaulting the first amendment  by actually making it a crime for publishers to expose malfeasance, corruption, wrongdoing, and international criminality by issuing stories based upon leaked classified material. In so doing, the Trump Administration is attempting to silence serious journalism as we have know it throughout our history. Taken to its logical conclusion, under this practice, the only permissible leaks of classified information will be those emanating from the government itself. Government controlled information is a central element to totalitarian rule where a free press is seen as antithetical to the interests of the state. Today's announcement moves us one step closer to this dark vision of America. The Fourth Estate is essential to our survival as a free nation; the prosecution of news agencies must be opposed with all the energy we, as a free people, can summon.
As a cruel and obscene irony, the attempt to make illegal the free dissemination of information grotesquely coincides with confirmed reports of Trump's serious contemplation of issuing pardons to accused war criminals, Edward Gallagher and Matt Golsteyn (as well as a former Blackwater mercenary).
As Dylan observed some time ago: 'it's not dark yet, but it's getting there'!

A Call For Courage In A Time Of Crisis

Although the legal bar for a criminal indictment of conspiracy could not be met by Robert Mueller's inquiry, the report is nevertheless littered with scores of examples of contacts with a foreign entity (Russia) intent on discrediting Trump's opponent in 2016 and in service to his eventual electoral victory. As for the the matter of obstruction...it's case was illustrated with 10 principal instances of obstruction in word and deed. Instead of clearing Trump of this charge, the report outlined evidence to be taken up by Congress and/or other investigative bodies (keep in mind the ongoing investigations in the Southern District of New York) to determine wrongdoing as well as outright criminality (legally within the purview of Congress). Please remember that DOJ (Mueller's boss) guidelines prohibited the indictment of a sitting president but, as the report clearly indicates, leaves open the questions of collusion and obstruction and recommends ultimate adjudication of these matters for others (read:Congress) to decide. AG William Barr's cursory summary does nothing the clarify or seriously answer questions regarding Trump's ultimate culpability while the full report provides a substantive framework for the House to continue the pursuit of justice in this matter. There remains so much more to come.

In the meantime, Senator Elizabeth Warren has declared her support for the initiation of impeachment proceedings in the House to exercise the legislative imperative of holding a sitting president accountable for malfeasance, wrongdoing, and other acts of criminal behavior clearly outlined in Mueller's report. Internal Democratic opposition to this call for action was best articulated in an interview with MSMBC's Joy Reid yesterday by New York Representative Sean Maloney who, although ostensibly agreeing that Trump's acts of obstruction were worthy of impeachment, proceeded to assert a painfully wrought argument that attempted to state that the best way to hold this president accountable was to defeat him at the ballot box in 2020. In so doing, Maloney was loyally adhering to the long standing Democratic practice of deferring responsibly for addressing previous wrongdoing/illegalities with an appeal to 'practicality' and 'a desire to look ahead rather than behind' while, in reality, was merely uttering the same fearful response to the moral challenge of standing up to those who presume to boldly violate domestic and/or international law and common norms of decent behavior in favor of the assertion of an authoritarian prerogative not otherwise consistent with democratic values. This avoidance of confrontation and trepidation in the face of possible negative reaction of the opposing political party has been in evidence in both large and small instances in recent decades. In the aftermath of the first presidential debate in 2004, then DNC chair Terry McAuliffe admonished John Kerry for 'acting like a know-it-all' in his decisive refutation of George W Bush. It was feared that the Republicans would somehow use Kerry's command of the facts (a similar charge was leveled at Al Gore four years earlier) and portray him as a condescending 'intellectual' intent on 'beating up' on the less cleverly agile Bush. This relative minor instance would be followed by other examples of the abdication of responsible reaction to wrongdoing in a more serious context. In the wake of the 2008 election, the Obama administration was perfectly poised to hold the egregious excesses of the Bush/Chaney regime to account and to specifically address the illegal invasion Iraq and the lies that were the underpinnings of this misadventure as well as the violations of the Geneva Conventions on gruesome display at Abu Ghraib Prison near Baghdad. Instead, Obama chose to 'look ahead' thereby giving tacit approval to the lawlessness of the previous regime and setting a precedent for future administrations to ignore past transgressions in deference to fear of political retaliation. The dangerous result of this course of action over time is to gradually normalize wrongdoing as a a matter of unspoken national policy.

The acceptance of unlawful, immoral, and otherwise unacceptable behavior (the list is voluminous) as an ongoing expression of who we are as a people threatens to seriously alter our internal sense of collective identity as well as to permanently damage our international standing. It can be argued that the transformation is already occurring in plain sight. Sean Maloney would have us believe that he is 'playing chess, not checkers' as he attempts to characterize his response to the call to hold the Current Occupant accountable, through the constitutionally sanctioned means of impeachment, as some form of higher political intelligence. In fact, Maloney, like his fearful predecessors, is merely restating a familiar and increasingly unappealing refrain of cowardice in the face of a national crisis. At this critical juncture in our history, Ms Warren and a growing number of citizens are courageously showing us the way forward and proclaiming 'if not now, when; if not us, who' will restore a sense of our essential character to ourselves and to a world in need of our long-awaited leadership. It's never 'impractical ' to do the right thing.

In Support of Small 'd' Values

The Intercept's Ryan Grim has revealed that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under the direction of Cheri Bustos has created a blacklist of political consulting firms that had worked in support of candidates that would have temerity to challenge Democratic incumbents in primary races. Sadly, this illustrates just how entrenched the Democratic establishment is and how committed they are to preserving a status quo that increasingly fails to reflect the ideology or aspirations of an emerging majority of constituents. Instead of having the courage to welcome new and wildly popular ideas from forward thinking candidates, the DCCC has chosen to operate on the principle of fear while resisting real institutional change. This cowardly myopic approach is exactly what doomed their fortunes in 2016 and threatens to repeat itself in 2020. It's long past time to assert democratic values within the Democratic Party!