Party Loyalty vs. Personal Priorities (or Why I won't be Seeing Hillary)

It is moment of truth time. A fellow Democratic activist friend invited me to attend Hillary Clinton’s fundraising event in Louisville this Friday.

Suddenly the conflicting rays of principle, party and personal priorities converge in the prism of his invitation. For while I have long been a fervent FDR Democrat, Mrs. Clinton supported the Iraqi war, which for me is the defining issue of our time.

There is NOTHING more important than correctly calling forth our military to invade another country, nothing. All our social justice and citizen’s benefit philosophies are dwarfed by the hypocrisy and immorality of erroneous decisions to war. And Mrs. Clinton was a vocal advocate of this war, voting along with many other Democrats to authorize President Bush’s fait accompli.

The whole of 2002 found me so frustrated and enraged by the Democrats buckling, not only on Bush’s anti-social domestic policies, but especially by their complicity in Bush’s frequent and flagrantly FALSE assertions about the non-existent Iraqi threat and our urgent need to go to war.

From his State of the Union “Axis of Evil” speech to his West Point address enunciating an unprecedented policy of PRE-EMPTION it was clear that Bush was intent on going to war way before the final CIA report that fall. His bellicosity was as Un-American as it was illogical, and was based on deliberate mis-representations in order to whip up public fear and fury to support this long-planned invasion.

Thus, I wrote an anti-war article based upon my own research and analysis that thoroughly debunked Bush’s rationale and correctly predicted the hornet’s nest we instead created. (http://peacecow.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_peacecow_archive.html appearing under the June 21 “Time To Impeach” entry).

I could not for the life of me understand how intelligent, highly placed Democrats like Mrs. Clinton, like John Edwards and like John Kerry could have voted the way they did. It showed either an incredible lack of depth of thinking OR depth of character in sacrificing long term truth, justice and security for short-term expedience. How could I, sitting here in the hinterlands of rural America know more than them?!

Then came the 2004 Democratic platform, which had as its top priority a vast increase of our military so that we could exert control across the globe, practically mirroring the Republicans and totally missing the fact that we were nearly outspending the rest of the world combined.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “Yeah Rich, but we’ve gotta support the party if we are to unseat the Republicans, who are killing America with their selfish cronyism and corruption!” True, but if I have no say in what my party prioritizes, and if it continues with leadership that has acted contrarily to my deepest held values, then I would have to abandon that party. I am NOT saying the Democrats are there yet.

In fact, John Edwards has apologized and admitted his error. Good. But can he be trusted again? Those in the highest levels simply cannot make those errors on such important issues and with a little research and analysis this was not even a close call. Yet Mrs. Clinton still supports this war.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “But Richard, a party will never represent 100% of its members wishes.” True, but war and obscene military spending are bellwether issues, and if that remains the official party line in 2008 I will leave it.

I have come to this realization: I am not merely a “Democrat.” I am first a Human, then an American, reporting to a Universal Moral Director.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “You know, you’ll about kill any chance you had at getting your party’s support for any elective office you may want to seek down the line.” Yet my goal should never be a seat per se, a position per se or anything but to do the will of the Director and to serve others as well as myself as best I can with the light given me.

I hope the Democratic Party will return to that snug fold. But if not there IS a political party that more closely represents the Director’s values, and Ralph Nader is that party’s leader.

Respectfully, Rfd 11/30/05