Party Rules
by Peter Kurth
Dissident Voice
January 11, 2003
"No
people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of
dictatorship. He always represents
himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator
turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will
stand for everything traditionally American.
And nobody will ever say `Heil' to him, nor will they call him ‘Führer'
or ‘Duce.' But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic,
sheeplike bleat of ‘O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh
Kaaaay!'"—Dorothy Thompson, 1935
"They're changing
the guard at Buckingham Palace/Christopher Robin went down with Alice" -
and found himself knocked against a wall, hog-tied, fingerprinted, deprived of
sleep, popped in a canister and shipped off to Egypt for further
interrogation. What happened to Alice
and Christopher Robin isn't clear, although you can bet the boy's bear got
unstuffed and that Alice, at the least, was threatened with the removal of her
nipples and toenails.
You probably
didn't know that Christopher Robin was a dangerous terrorist. No matter:
According to a story in The Washington Post, this is what happens to
even "suspected al-Qaeda operatives" when they're captured by the
CIA. Torture is still illegal on
American soil; the most we can get away with here are "stress and duress
techniques," but it's another thing entirely among our loyal allies
overseas, whose "intel services" aren't hampered by pesky democratic
concerns. Along with Egypt, Saudi
Arabia is a favored destination for "suspects" when they won't spill
the beans.
"We don't
kick the [expletive] out of them," a CIA source tells the Post: "We send them to other countries so
they can kick the [expletive] out of them." U.S. officials defend this recent upsurge in [expletive]-kicking
as "necessary to glean info."
Says one: "If you don't
violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your
job."
Welcome to
one-party rule. By the time you read
this, Republican lawmakers will be back in Washington "to take over
Congress," as The New York Times puts it, "solidifying their hold on
a vastly changed Washington." For
the moment, Democrats are putting a brave face on it, vowing to fight for
minorities, families, the middle class and the poor.
"We can't
do the rope-a-dope," says assistant Democratic leader Senator Harry Reid
of Nevada, using the usual dumb sports metaphor - in this case, from boxing -
in order to reassure what's left of the electorate that Democrats won't be
"backed into a corner." But
since half of Congressional Democrats are Republicans in disguise, and with the
example of the last two years as a guide, you can expect this show of
opposition to melt like butter in a pan.
We're "at war." And in
time of war, extraordinary powers accrue to the commander-in-chief, as they
know very well in the "Father Knows Best' White House," as the Times
calls it.
If you listen to
the Bushmen, in fact, opposition of any kind is un-American. "We want more and more faith-based
charities to become partners in our efforts," Dubya proclaims, "our
unyielding efforts, to change America one heart, one conscience, one soul at a
time."
Change it into
what? Newly elected Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, taking over from "disgraced" Mississippi
Republican Trent Lott, describes his ascent as "a catalyst for unity"
instead of a coup d'état engineered by the White House in the form of Dubya's
Rasputin - and Frist's chief patron - Karl Rove. The Republican Party's sudden interest in racial equality is
"purely strategic," according to the Post, a "vote-getting"
affair born not from principle or policy but solely from changing
demographics.
"We have
just about maxed out with white men," an unnamed Republican strategist
confesses. "When you look into the
future, all you see is smaller numbers and more and more Hispanics." And “terrorists.”
No wonder Frist
read from a prepared statement and refused to take questions at his first press
conference in December - "the most powerful man in the Senate" never
even voted in an election before 1989.
Comparing his now "awesome responsibility" to the kind he
faces every day as a heart surgeon and $25 million shareholder in Columbia/HCA,
America's largest profit-making hospital chain, Frist pledged to work in
Congress for "all Americans." He stressed the word "all,"
thus assuring his loyalty to Dubya and Rove.
HCA, by the way,
was recently prosecuted for "massive billing fraud" and ordered to
pay more than $1.7 billion in civil and criminal penalties - "the largest
amount ever in a health-care fraud case," says The Chicago Sun-Times. But never mind: There are to be no independent voices in Bush's regime. This president is conniving us into war with
Iraq and willing to see the economy go down the tubes, so long as welfare isn't
cut off for the rich.
Hence: the
proposed elimination of the dividend tax, which even shareholders admit won't
do a thing to encourage "stimulus-type spending"; the Bushmen's
request that the federal debt ceiling be raised to accommodate a permanent war
economy; and a freeze on "non-entitlement and non-security-related
domestic spending," which will include cuts of up to $300 million in a
program designed to help the poor with their heating bills.
You won't be
able to raise your debt ceiling, I expect, when they come for the TV. Chop up your furniture if you need to heat
the house. And remember what happens to
"suspected" dissidents in a brave new world of thuggery, thievery and
lies - one heart, one conscience, one soul at a time.
Peter Kurth is the author of international bestselling books including Anastasia:
The Riddle of Anna Anderson, Isadora: A Sensational Life, and a
biography of the anti-fascist journalist Dorothy Thompson, American Cassandra:
The Life of Dorothy Thompson. His essays have appeared in Salon, Vanity
Fair, New York Times Book Review, and many others. Peter lives in Burlington,
Vermont. Visit his website at: http://www.peterkurth.com/