By Joshua Daniel Hershfield 11/9/06
The Democrats came out victorious in the electoral battle
for the House and Senate. People across
the country are celebrating the defeat of the Republicans. The news comes as a wave of relief for those
of us who have opposed the Bush administration’s tyrannical actions.
But the victory is not as sweet as it should be.
Howard Dean said in an interview with Jon Stewart that,
while he knows at least half of the Daily Show’s audience would like to see
impeachment, “we”re not going to do that.”
He said it as if he was reassuring us that we had no need to worry, our
fear of impeachment will not come true, or as if impeachment is an immature and
unsophisticated tactic that the new noble Democratic Party is not going to
participate in.
Why not? The Bush
administration is guilty of war crimes.
They are guilty of crimes against humanity. Like Eichmann, like Milosevic, like Saddam
Hussein. They are war criminals. They should not just be impeached, not just
fired or allowed to dignifiably resign, but by the rule of international law
they should be put on trial.
Nancy Pelosi said in her victory speech, “Mr. President, we
need a new direction in Iraq. Let us work together to find a solution to
the war in Iraq.” She said nothing of the 650,000 people killed
in Iraq. She said nothing of the plan to invade and
occupy yet another country. She said
nothing about defending the right to abortion.
She said nothing gay people being human beings that must have the same
rights as everybody else. She said
nothing about the environmental catastrophe of fossil fuel use, climate change,
and the poisonous industrial chemicals in our food, water, air, and bodies. She said nothing of the Military Commissions
Act, the legalization of torture, and the elimination of Habeas Corpus. She said nothing of the relentless assaults
on immigrants and the 700 mile militaristic wall that will soon be gracing our
southern boarder. She said nothing of
the Patriot Act, the disintegration of civil rights, and the growing power of
big brother government. She said nothing
of the corporate stranglehold on our economy, its attacks on labor, human
rights, and environmental sustainability.
She said nothing of the tens of thousands of people in Louisiana who were left to drown, to die, to
sink, while the federal government twiddled their thumbs and staged photo
shoots. She said nothing of how we are
all being expected to take sides in a war between fundamentalist Islam and US
imperialism. She said nothing of the
manipulation of language and how as a country we”ve come to accept terms such
as “collateral damage.” She said nothing
about impeaching, firing, and putting on trial the criminals who currently
occupy our government, who stole two elections, and are committing countless
crimes against humanity.
She said that her accession to House speaker is a chance to
demonstrate that women can occupy the highest positions of power and “can
breathe in that rarified atmosphere.”
That “to break the marble ceiling that is here is great for all women in
America.” It would be nice if the party she is speaking
for intended to defend the right to legal, safe, and free abortion.
It is good that the Republicans no longer have the majority
in the House and Senate. Let’s go throw
a party and get down with our bad selves, but when we wake up in the morning
with a hangover and a splotchy memory, we need to realize that not only are the
Democrats not going to impeach Bush, but we”ve elected a party that has every
intention of continuing the illegal and brutal war in Iraq, every intention of
attacking Iran, every intention of perpetuating the terrifying “War on Terror,”
and has no plan to repeal the Military Commissions Act, the Patriot Act, and no
plan to protect our right to abortion.
We can call this a victory.
It is. After all, most of us
voted against the Republicans and they did lose. But we must recognize in the midst of this
fervor of the Republicans finally losing, that our political system is being
lost as well. We now have the choice
between two parties whose politics are growing closer by the day. We are posed with the illusion of political
diversity, a diversity that doesn’t make a difference. And the terms of debate are not the
discussion of whether or not we should be in Iraq and how best to get out, but
rather the discussion of who will do a better job of continuing an endless war
of endless bloodletting. These terms of
debate are not only stifling and oppressive, but are a continual death sentence
for what is now estimated to be 500 people a day.
The Democrats may have reclaimed the House of
Representatives, they may have reclaimed the Senate, but we have not yet
reclaimed our country.