[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]The founding fathers understood the dangers of vacillating public sentiment, so they established the Constitution to protect America from the ebb and flow of public opinion. The Constitution was designed to set in place values from which the nation should never deviate in response to public sentiment.
But the GOP and the Democratic Party are working hand-in-hand to undermine those standards. First, the GOP creates a toxic political environment to circumvent the people's common sense. Instead of defending the Constitution, the weak-kneed Democratic Party simply goes along in order to protect their political interests. This unholy alliance has been going on for nearly 40 years. America has been racing downhill ever since. The primary victim is the rule of law, the foundation of the Constitution.
Immediately after President Nixon resigned in response to the Watergate scandal, instead of bringing Nixon to justice for violating the law, only his subordinates were jailed. On Sept. 8, 1974, President Ford issued a full pardon, “in the best interests of the American people,” immunizing Richard Nixon from further prosecution, thereby corrupting the Constitution and setting a precedent establishing a class of people who were above the law.
Learning for Future Application?
The American people were caught sleeping, but Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two young politicians in the Nixon and Ford administrations, respectively, were wide awake. They were fully cognizant of the ramifications of this new development.
On Jan. 20, 1981, the newly elected Republican President, Ronald Reagan, entered office under a cloud of suspicion. On Nov. 4, 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian militants. They took 66 Americans hostage. The hostage crisis went on for 444 days, greatly enhancing Ronald Reagan's bid for President against President Jimmy Carter. Many believe that Reagan forces negotiated with the Iranians to hold the American hostages until after the election. That never has been proven. B the fact the ut what adds hostages were released six minutes after Ronald Reagan was administered the oath of office as the 40th President of the United States fuels the allegation.
What has been proven, however, is that even though the Iranians were considered an enemy of the United States and held the hostages for more than a year, Reagan entered into a secret agreement with the Iranians to have Israel ship them military arms, then re-supply Israel in return for payment under the table (treason). Reagan needed the money to fund the Contras in a war in Nicaragua in which Congress had outlawed funding via the Boland Amendment. Reagan also drummed up funding for the Contras by flooding the nation's inner cities with illegal drugs. Thirty years later, the nation still is feeling the negative effects of this act of treachery.
Running Gamut from Bad to Great
While several of Reagan's high-level subordinates were convicted of conspiracy and obstructing justice (“So many White House documents were shredded that the White House shredder became choked”), the convictions of Col. Oliver North and John Poindexter were overturned on technicalities. Others who were convicted later were pardoned by President George H.W. Bush “in the best interests of the nation.”
Instead of impeaching Ronald Reagan and sending him to prison for his grossly unthinkable crimes, airports and an aircraft carrier were named after him. Many Republicans began to hold him up as one of our greatest Presidents. Once again, while America slept, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were watching from the wings.
The mantra of “not looking back in the best interests of the nation” is getting tiresome, not to mention nonsense. If Richard Nixon had been sent to jail for his part in Watergate, and Ronald Reagan and his gang had been made to walk the yard with him, chances are Bush and Cheney never would have dared to initiate their illegal war in Iraq that led to the death and displacement of over a million Iraqis, the death, and dismemberment of thousands of American troops, and the near bankruptcy of the nation.
America is on a toboggan hurling down a slippery slope. Every political generation is taking the assault on the U.S. Constitution to the next level. We've gotten to the point where the Supreme Court is taking the election of our Presidents out of the hands of the people. War crimes are being redefined as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” and freedom of religion is under serious assault.
Where will tomorrow's young demagogues take us? Yesterday it was a war against terror. Today it's a war against Muslims. Tomorrow it could be a war against Black Muslims. The next day, a war against Black people.
Wake up, Mr. President. It's 3 a.m. Reality is on the line.
Mr. Wattree may be contacted at wattree.blogspot.com or Ewattree@Gmail.com
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