Treason in America

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Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been convicted of perjury for lying to a grand jury over a period of time about the revealing of Valerie Plame’s name as a CIA operative.

Vice President Cheney is “saddened” by the verdict, and tells us what a great guy Scooter is. Where are Cheney’s standards? Is perjury no longer against the law, Mr. Vice President?

Pressure is on President Bush to pardon the poor man. A White House spokesman reports that the president will not pardon poor Scooter “at this time,” leaving the option open for later, perhaps when the president's approval ratings rise above twenty-five percent. In the meanwhile, Scooter is asking to remain at large while he appeals his sentence of a little over two years - and Cheney declares there should be a retrial.

Both scandal-ridden World Bank boss Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, fired as Bush’s Secretary of Defense after his strategy failed in Iraq, wrote letters asking for leniency. What chutzpah! That’s like Medea (who killed her children to spite Jason) applying to be a foster parent or Jeffrey Dahmer battling against Hannibal Lector on Top Chef. On the other hand, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld both became fall guys for the administration and they might think that lends their voices credibility.

And after all, poor Scooter has suffered public humiliation. Scooter gave his life to the Republican Party and became the current fall guy for the administration’s utter contempt for the Constitution. Isn’t that enough?

Outing a CIA agent is treason, by law. When did treason become a misdemeanor? And why did we Americans permit the current Gang In Power (GOP? - oops, wrong vowel) to form a Good Old Pols (there it is, GOP) group that acts with reckless disregard for the country – as long as their own interests thrive?

In the last election in Illinois fewer than 20 % of registered voters went to the polls. Translated to eligible voters, the percentage drops dramatically. Why the apathy? Some people don’t register to vote so they won’t be called for jury duty, which could well cause financial hardship. In Cook County, jurors can be assigned to courts two hours from their homes and be taken from their work. If they work by the hour and don’t get paid if they don’t show up, the $17.20 per diem stipend can send them into a life on the streets.

Others don’t vote because they despair that the political parties act only to further the interests of the parties, not the country as a whole. And they’re partly right. After the promises not to attach pork barrel amendments to important legislation, the Democrats continue the path of their opponents. Who wouldn’t despair? When party agendas become so important, the country suffers. Look around.
But the 80+% who chose not to vote in the last election have abrogated their responsibility to the few, the ones who feel strongly about government, too often the ones who believe the Bill of Rights is outdated, that freedom of speech should be limited, that the separation of church and state should be abolished and a theocracy formed (it works well in Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia doesn’t it?), and that the Second Amendment, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” means that every citizen, regardless of competence, should be forced to carry.

I voted in the last election, and I hasten to add that most of my fellow citizens who also voted still believe in the Bill of Rights, despite the Patriot Act’s attempts to crush it.

The problem with the current administration is that they talk long and loud about a strong America, free from attack. Yet at the same time they preach hate and fear and form policies that create new attackers. How many more times can the president cite September 11, 2001, as the reason for whatever off-the-cuff policy he proposes this time?

If we really believe in a strong America, we must demand that the people who revealed Valerie Plame’s CIA connection be tried for treason. If that’s Cheney, tough. President Clinton was impeached for lying about a blow job, but no one seems to think Bush’s or Cheney’s or any of their advisors’ behavior is worth looking into.

We must take America back. We must begin once again to uphold standards of law and the Constitution. If we fail to do so, a free United States of America could cease to exist. And we may well find ourselves rebelling against another King George.