[This commentary aired on KUNM in New Mexico late spring 2005. Fortunately, some of the power of these dark forces has been diminished in the months since then. But it is far too soon to say for sure that the sense of danger conveyed by this commentary is excessive.]

Before It’s Too Late
by
Andrew Bard Schmookler

There’s an old proverb, a stitch in time saves nine,” meaning that there are problems that only get more difficult the longer they’re allowed to grow. Commentator Andrew Bard Schmookler thinks that, politically, Americans now face such a problem.

Have you ever wondered about this gang in power in Washington: what would these guys do if there were no checks on them at all?

Given how they’ve treated the Constitution —like their trust us” assertions of their power to hold people without charges, or trials, or representation, or due process—what would they do to their enemies if there were no Constitutional limits still in place?

Given the deceptions they’ve already practiced in their statements to the public, what would we know if there were not still a free press?

Given how quickly they’ve been dismantling environmental protections, would they protect the environment at all if there were nothing to compel them to?

Given their eagerness to embark on a war of choice, how aggressive would they be in the world if they had no need to cater to public opinion?

Given the hardball we’ve seen from them in the past two elections, one wonders, would they operate democratically at all if they had the choice?

In evaluating political leaders —like Gorbachev in the old Soviet Union, and like the Bushites in America today—it’s important to look not just at what they do, but also at what they do given the limits to what they can do.

So Gorbachev was head of a dictatorship, but he was a democratizing influence in a totalitarian system. The forces now ascendant in America, by contrast, appear animated by a totalitarian spirit, albeit constrained by the obstacles erected by our democratic system.

We ought not simply assume those obstacles will always be there, forever protecting us from tyranny. These forces are already steadily tearing down those protective structures.

Who would have thought a decade ago that lies and distortions could become so widely accepted as the coin of the realm of our public discourse to the extent that they have? Who’d have thought that dissent could be swept off the public square into little fenced off areas, or that a president’s rallies could be made off-limits to supporters of his opponents? Who’d have thought that a president could flourish politically while treating international law and the international community with such disdain? Who’d have thought the American press would have been so silent about so much unraveling of the fabric of our democracy?

Maybe the American system will cast off the totalitarian assault on our heritage, but then again, maybe it will be the heritage itself that gives way.

In view of that uncertainty, it seems to me imperative that we oppose these forces —now– with passion and commitment.

Throughout history, peoples have faced the terrible choice of knuckling under to an evil regime or entering into ugly and dangerous warfare against it. We would be worse than foolish to assume that Americans will never face that choice. We would be worse than naïve to take for granted that blessing we still enjoy: that we can still act with integrity to protect our democracy without bringing violence down upon our heads.

Before it’s too late.

Had we noticed still sooner the rising threat to our democracy —the manuals propounded by Newt Gingrich about how to demonize the political opposition, the rise of talk radio wholly lacking in intellecutal integrity, the continuous assault on a legitimate president in the 1990s—the task would not be so large as it is now.

But it remains a problem that can be addressed by the traditional means of American democracy, and we should make the most of that great blessing, and raise our voices in opposition to these destructive forces—now, before it’s too late.

I’m Andrew Bard Schmookler