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An Odd Week,
Indeed
Piano Wire Puppeteers
By Sean Penn
12/07/07 "Counterpunch"
--- - It’s been an odd week. For me, a particularly odd
week. But that’s another story. So, wait a minute. Iran DOESN’T
have nuclear weapon capability??? So, who are we gonna bomb? I
want to bomb somebody!
Didn’t Senator Clinton just vote in essence to give President
Bush the power to bomb Iran? If he had done it last week, would
that have made her right? I mean, if she knew then what she
knows now? Or am I getting that backward? Golly, I’m confused.
And what about President Bush? This week, Vladimir Putin, the
man Mr. Bush said he “Looked into the eyes of and found to be
very straightforward and trustworthy.” So much so, he was “able
to get a sense of his soul.” Well that soulful fella has just
successfully coalesced the most dangerous power base in Russia
since the Cold War amid rumors that include allegations he
ordered the assassinations of journalists and imprisonment of
noted proponents of freedom (Oops).
Meanwhile, our President’s great enemy in Venezuela, Hugo
Chavez, that “totalitarian,” “authoritarian,” “dictator,” that
“mad man run amok,” somehow was unsuccessful in his bid for the
constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to be
repeatedly re-elected for life…Hmmm?
Odd week, you know? Really.
What happened to Chavez’s “strong-arming?” His “electoral
corruption?” His alleged “gagging of the press?” How in the hell
could he have lost? I’m sorry, did I miss something?
How is it that this “Commie bastard” with 80% of his citizens
having elected him in the first place was unable to prevail?
Could it be that we’ve been lied to about him? I mean, Pat
Robertson’s not a liar, is he? His god wouldn’t let that happen,
would he? And god-forbid, our god would let the right-wing
pundits, left-wing corporates, or our own administration send us
a bill of goods!?
Is it possible, I mean I know it’s silly, but is it just a
little bit possible that President Chavez is in fact a defender
of his people’s Constitution? That, that’s how his referendum
could fail? And that that’s why he accepted it with such grace?
A constitution which I have read several times. Quite a
beautiful document, not dissimilar to our own. You might give it
a read. Oh, I forgot – he’s a “drug runner.”
Let me share something with you. Late one night in Caracas, I
met with a couple of fellas, mercenaries I think you call them.
Goddamit, I keep doing that. I mean “contractors.” They were
Brits, their specialty: drug interdiction. These two were no
great fans of Chavez. They called him “radical” and expected him
to fall to an assassin’s bullet within the year. Like him or
not, he had the cash to win their acceptance of his employ. And
working alongside the Venezuelan military, these two, based in
Caracas, had played the mountainous and jungled border between
Columbia and Venezuela. A zone rife with paramilitaries, FARC
guerillas, and mer…scratch that, contractors. What I was told
that evening in Caracas by these piano wire puppeteers was that
they had never worked for a government whose investment in drug
interdiction was so genuine. “Yeah,” said one of the Brits, “I
gotta give the bastard Chavez that.”
But I was talking about the Constitution. Most importantly, our
own. And what an odd week it has been. Our culture is engrained
with a tradition that blurs the line between what is right, what
is just and what is constitutional, with what is a scam. That
tradition is the cult of personality. What can TV sell, what
kind of crap will we buy. And at what point are we buying and
selling our rights, our pride, our flag, our children, and
succumbing to meaningless slogans that are ultimately pure
titles for un-Americanism. How do we know what’s American and
what is not? Because John Wayne tells us so? Because Sean Penn
tells us so? Susan Sarandon? Bill O’Reilly? Michael Moore?
Senator Bull? Or Senator Shit? Ann “my bowel expenditure”
Coulter? No. It’s our Constitution. We don’t use it just to win.
We depend on it because it’s the only “us” worth being. And
because it’s our children’s inheritance from our shared
forefathers and the traditions that really do speak best of our
country.
So, here’s the question. We got Iowa coming up, we got New
Hampshire right on its ass. Do we sell it for electability? If
Hitler were the only candidate, would voting for him be most
American? Jump on a plane with me. Okay, we’re over the Middle
East now…Let’s land. Take a deep breath.
Imagine the bodies, burned and mutilated, the concussive sounds
of gunfire and explosives defining the last horrifying moments
of the dying and the dead. Imagine the millions of refugees
fleeing through the deserts of Iraq, the babies crying, and the
stench of death in the air. Yuck. Let’s get back on the plane
and head home.
Now, imagine American servicemen dead or broken, returning from
a broken military to a silent casket or a broken veteran’s
administration, to broken lives and broken businesses, broken
wives, unspoken husbands, and devastated children. And what for?
What have we gained?
Al-Qaida recruitment is up. Terrorism is up. Quality of life is
down in our country and around the world. While the rich
continue to get richer and the poor, poorer and more numerous.
And on the verge of recession, we are witnessing the dramatic
disassembling of the middle class amidst a flood of foreclosures
and unpayable debts. To Osama Bin Laden’s infinite delight, we
have become a country of principle breakers rather than
principle bearers.
We are torturers and we too often, imprison only the weak. When
our own administration chooses its bewilderingly un-American
agenda (For the entitled people? By the entitled people?) over
the Constitution in defining American values, principles, and
law, Bin Laden laughs at the weakened sheep that we and our
representatives have become.
High crimes and misdemeanors? How about full-blown treason for
the outing our own CIA operatives? How about full-blown treason
for those who support this administration through media
propaganda?
While I’m not a proponent of the Death Penalty, existing law
provides that the likes of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and Rice, if
found guilty, could have hoods thrown over their heads, their
hands bound, facing a 12-man rifle corps executing death by
firing squad. And our cowardly democratically dominated House
and Senate can barely find one voice willing to propose so much
as an impeachment. That one voice of a true American. That one
voice of Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
This is not going to be a sound bite. Not if I can help it. I’m
torn. I’m torn between the conventional wisdom of what we all
keep being told is electibility and the idealism that perhaps
alone can live up to the challenges of our generation. Of the
democrats running for President, only Congressman Dennis
Kucinich’s candidacy is backed by a voting record of moral
courage and a history of service to our country that has fully
earned our support and our gratitude. And when I say support, I
am not speaking to democrats alone, but rather to every American
who would take the time on behalf of their children, our planet,
and our soldiers to educate themselves on the Kucinich platform.
In the recent debate among Democrats in Las Vegas, the
candidates, one after the other, placed security ahead of human
rights. Benjamin Franklin once said “Any society that would give
up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve
neither and lose both.” Then, there was good ole Patrick Henry.
Remember him? “Give me liberty, or give me death.” These were
the real tough bastards. The real John Wayne’s.
These are the traditions we should be serving. I found the
debate infuriating, nearly an argument for fascism with few
exceptions, key among them Dennis Kucinich. Of course as a
strategic politician, Mrs. Clinton pulled out her set of Ginzu
knives and dominated once again on “centrist” political
strategy. In fending off attacks upon she, the front runner, she
reminded the audience and her fellow candidates, “We are all
Democrats.”
Wolf Blitzer asked each candidate if they would support the
other should they themselves not be the nominee. One after
another, the answer, yes. One exception: Dennis Kucinich, who
with the minimal time allotted him, once again rose up beyond
the sound bite and put principal ahead of party; argued policy
rather than politeness. He has been the dominant voice of
integrity on issues of trade, labor, education, environment,
health, civil liberties, and the one endlessly determined voice
of peace.
But is he too short? Does his haircut not appeal? Is he not
loyal enough to a cowardly democratic platform? Does he not
appeal to the cult of personality? And what if the answer is
yes? What if Dennis Kucinich, the most deserving and noble of
candidates, the most experienced in issues of policy and the
least willing to play into the politics of personal power? What
if we can’t elect a man simply on the basis of the best ideas,
the most courage, and the most selfless service? What does it
say about our country when we can’t rally the voices of the
common good to support a man, like our troops, who would die for
us, who would die for our constitution? Who, as mayor of
Cleveland at the age of 31 stood up against contracts on his
life. Three separate assassins whose intent was to kill him as
he stood up for his constituency there.
Nonetheless, he carries on. He continues to serve.
I’ve been a supporter of Dennis Kucinich for several years. And
I’ve been torn lately. I’ve been torn by the allure of “electability.”
I began to invest some support in a very good man (one among
Dennis’s opponents) who seems to be finding himself as a
constitutional defender, but he’s not one yet. He is however,
among those that we allow the media to distinguish as electable.
But we’re talking about the Constitution here. We’re talking
about our country. I have decided not to participate in
proactive support on the basis of media distinctions. I have
chosen to pledge my support to the singular, strongest and most
proven representative of our constitutional mandate.
Dennis Kucinich offers us a very singular opportunity as we
share this minute of time on earth. We, the people. It is for us
to determine what is electable. And here’s how simple it is: If
we, those of us who truly believe in the Constitution of the
United States of America, all of us, vote for Dennis Kucinich,
he will be elected. Could we call him electable then? If so,
America will stand taller than ever.
Let’s remind our friends in the social circles of New York and
the highbrow winner-friendly and monied major cities that
support Mrs. Clinton, that this is not Bill Clinton. For all the
misgivings I have about our former President, he raised up
friends and opposition alike, his great gift as a motivator of
interest and activism, of self-education and participation was,
on its own merits, a unique gift. But don’t underestimate
personal agendas, those that initiated NAFTA, betrayed Haitian
refugees and gay rights in the military within a minute of his
own election. Don’t underestimate that part of him when he gives
his wife the face of his talent. Don’t underestimate the damage
her poisonous ambition can do to this country. We can’t wait for
the benefit of hindsight to service the benefit of Mrs.
Clinton’s career.
Let’s raise up men and women of vision, of integrity, of belief
in our principles. How exciting would that be to do? How good
would that be for television? What if we turned this game
around? Imagine watching on television, our country raising up a
leader because he represents our Constitution.
Yes, good things can be good TV.
So, let’s give the Constitution another read, shall we? And then
decide who its greatest defender would be. I suggest that
Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike will find that
they know what’s really right in their hearts and minds.
Sean Penn's latest film is Into the Wild.
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