A recent book about Andrew Jackson (H.W. Brands - "Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times") is a study about a great American President. Besides being the eponymous figure of "Jacksonian Democracy," he was important in other ways, as author Brands notes, "In 1815, the battle of New Orleans didn't seem like a footnote. If Jackson had lost that battle, the British were poised to march up the Mississippi River and split the US in two. That might have been the end of us. But Jackson against all expectations defeated the British and saved the day."
A reading of Brands' book is both instructive and revealing because it tells us how much we've departed from our democratic institutions since the times of Jackson and the Founders. Like Washington, Jackson never sought public office ("I never have been a candidate for office; I never will. The people have a right to call for any man's services in a republican government, and when they do, it is the duty of the individual to yield his services to that call.")
Jackson was a "politician" -- in the best meaning of that term, "of citizens," from which the word is derived. And politicians develop "policy," that is, a "way of management, government, administration," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. Politicians, of course, are several levels below child molesters -- at least from the point of view of the voting public, who curiously hold in contempt the citizens who are elected and who after all develop our nation's policies at all levels of government -- federal, state and local. And politicians help define our moral codes through the legislative process.
All of which leads to the question: Has the Bush Administration done anything other than contribute to the further degrading of the important calling of Politician? And a more important question: Will honest and civic minded citizens be of a mind to seek public office? The answers must be obvious, as we observe the actions and words of a simple minded President who has become a convenient tool for cynical manipulators like Cheney, Rove and many others around him who use our government for their own purposes -- to accumulate money and power.
We learn now about a piece of crap called "Duke" Cunningham, (where the Hell did he get such name?) a Congressman chairman on the Intelligence Committee of the House and (mis) serving on other committees that have supervision over contracts for our nation's spy agencies, where millions of bucks were doled out to pals of the Duke and his like. At latest count this slimy character accepted more than $2 million in bribes, corrupting the legislative process and compromising our nation's security by disclosing secret information to his pals. Is the Duke the precursor of the kind of elective official who will set the moral tone for our country? Is this guy representative of those who will lead us lead us into the path where their own interests will be served (and the Hell with the country)?
But let's not forget con-to-be Tom Delay the "Obnoxious" and his partner in crime, Abramoff the lobbyist, with no doubt some other sterling members of Congress currently hiding under rocks before they are exposed as golfing partners being taken hither and yon by Abramoff. (And surely, other perqs -- because after all they need more than a golfing outing in exchange for their votes and influence) And then there's jolly old" Scooter" (and Rove?) who don't mind compromising our nation's security, including the lives of covert agents -- anything to get even with a guy who told the truth about WMD's.
"Why," asks the author of "What's Wrong With Kansas?" "Do the people who are most harmed by Administrations like Bush's continue to elect people like those...(of the Cheney/Rove/Bush persuasion)... who then proceed to do them harm?" Why indeed.
Maybe, just maybe, the mid-terms will see a turnout of some of the rascals who have done so much harm to our country -- indeed to the world, because we are the most powerful country in the world, at least for now. And maybe, just maybe, our voting public will be more discerning about candidates for public office. We got rid of a Nixon who tried to make his office the "Imperial Presidency." The Cheney/ Bush view of our government represents a different kind of threat to our country -- from those FDR called the " economic royalists." And likewise by the other Roosevelt who called them "malefactors of great wealth." In a different age, but with an ever timely warning, Abraham Lincoln viewed the threat this way:
"As a result of the (civil) war corporations have become enthroned and an era of corruption in high places has followed and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
Tom DeLay, The Arrogant, and Abramoff, The Insect, are here pictured on an ice floe that has begun to float away -- which per the current issue of Atlantic Monthly is what certain Eskimo tribes did with individuals in the colony that had outlived their usefulness. (The Atlantic Monthly editor should have added "or indeed represented an undue burden or even an embarassment." for these two characters) Click the image for a close-up...
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