A Culture of Violence: Cowardice & Courage
Against Despair
Although polls indicate that 90% of Americans support background checks for gun purchases, the United States Senate, despite 54 yes votes, including New Mexico Senators Udall and Heinrich, blocked the bill due to arcane senate rules and lobbying by the National Rifle Association and other merchants of death. Guns, in effect, have replaced God, Science, Reason and technology as mythic symbols of faith and fate in the minds of citizens in the corporate state.
Corporations and their agents continue to capitalize on the fears of politicians as they hold the government in thrall to campaign payoffs. When business interests merge with the governing class, the result can be defined as democratic fascism. Though President Obama supports background checks on the sale of guns at home, he engages in the targeted assassination of individuals abroad, both American and foreign, adding fuel to the fire in this culture of violence.
From Democracy Now, we learn that “An independent bipartisan task force has concluded that it is “indisputable” the United States engaged in torture and the George W. Bush administration bore responsibility. The 11-member Task Force on Detainee Treatment was convened by The Constitution Project after President Obama chose not to support a national commission to investigate the counterterrorism programs. It was co-chaired by Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, NRA consultant and undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.
The report concludes that never before in U.S. history had there been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” While the report focused largely on the Bush administration after 9/11, it also criticizes a lack of transparency under Obama.”
J’Accuse the cowards of the country of having turned a blind eye to American crimes against humanity, crimes condemned by the Geneva Conventions and decent people everywhere. Oh, yes, I am reminded of that dreadful year, 1968, during the Vietnam War, when the brave partisans of the Tet Offensive in January humbled the U.S. military and subsequently President Johnson surrendered his office. The two great American leaders, symbols of hope and decency, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, were shot down—assassinated—by James Earl Ray and Sirhan Sirhan but also killed by a society engaged in the culture of violence. Despite those dark days, we survived.
The liberal class would believe Obama a decent man, forced to do indecent things, captive of a system. The conservatives would believe George W. Bush a beer-drinking buddy, who made gut-wrenching decisions and got the wrong bad guy. But, in reality, Obama and Bush, both of whom dance with their demons instead of acknowledging the angels, symbolize the failed American experiment.
At home the U.S. Justice Department targets free speech whistle blowers just as American security agencies abroad target busy Wikileakers. As the imperial empire expanded, the Supreme Court joined in the coup d’etat and turned the U.S. Constitution into a quaint and forgotten document. The judicial coup is exemplified by the U.S. Supreme Court in decisions like Bush v. Gore, or Citizens United, effectively undermining the constitution and centralizing the power of Congress and the corporate state.
As a country we have neglected vigilance—the price of liberty. The historic principles found in The Declaration of Independence spell out a vision for the citizenry aimed at “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “ And the U.S. Constitution begins, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” As the light of law and principles of justice fade, we must ask ourselves how we can recapture hope?
Just as an individual is held accountable for crimes, so the public sector must accept responsibility for creating a context in which the culture of violence grows–like weeds after a warm spring rain. We assign blame and guilt for violent acts to individuals but we must recognize the role of government and commercial interests as the nation state engages in acts of terror and violence, including the predatory and commercial exploitation of human weakness. One cannot separate public and private acts of violence from the excesses of capitalism. Whether a violent act occurs due to the use of a gun or by means of a bomb, the cause can be explained by analyzing the effects, both individual motives and cultural forces.
Some, though not all, of our governors live on lonely islands. But our islands have names at home and abroad: Vietnam and My Lai, Iraq and Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan and killer drones; Waco and Oklahoma City, New York City aka 9/11 and Virginia Tech; Sandy Hook and Boston.
We can find hope in the random acts of kindness expressed by the good people of Boston, the home of the bean and the cod, on Patriot Day. Spectators and first responders, doctors and nurses, politicians and official organizers as well as victims–instinctively demonstrated the courage associated with the mythic founding of the country during the revolution of 1776. Then Paul Revere and George Washington, the troops and the irregulars, stood tall or fired away from behind trees—and resisted the occupiers. Bostonians demonstrated the best kind of courage in aiding their fellow human beings–saving lives–unlike those mentioned below.
Today our leaders, frightened by lobbyists and deceived by their own rhetorical flights of fancy, are drowning us in their self-serving bullshit. Here are the names of the shameful Senators who voted against the Manchin-Toomey amendment to expand background checks for gun purchases. We urge voters in their home states to throw the bastards out.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.*
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
*Reid voted no as a procedural move so that he would retain the ability under Senate rules to bring up the measure again should supporters believe they’ve mustered enough votes to secure passage.
Source: U.S. Senate