First Principles: A Manifesto for 2002

By: William Rivers Pitt

"The proclamation and repetition of first principles is a constant feature of life in our democracy. Active adherence to these principles, however, has always been considered un-American. We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles."

- David Mamet

In the early morning hours of December 31, 2000, my grandfather passed away. Strength of character had lent him an air of invincibility, despite his demonstrably failing health, and the shock of his passing was as sudden and wrenching as a meteor strike. For sixty years he had been an attorney without peer within the celestial atmospheres of the Boston legal community, one of the great minds of the century. I used that mind as a whetstone to sharpen my own wits, and am much the keener for it.

That evening, gathered with friends to ring in the new year, I contemplated the future without him. Still roiled by the devastating weeks leading up to the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court ruling on December 13^th, I was chilled by shadows of dark portents. Somehow, the passing of my grandfather had drawn a shroud around the coming year. Nothing good, I feared, could ensue.

As the clock winds down towards another New Years Eve, the omens I sensed that night have whispered their fanged truths into the soul of the world. 2001 will be marked by history as perhaps the darkest year since World War II. If the pestiferous potential of the events of 2001 ever find the time and opportunity to achieve full bloom, the year may well be recorded as the worst our fragile human race has ever experienced.

The attacks of September 11^th, 2001 were the defining events within a year that saw so very much go wrong. The reaction of the current administration has exacerbated the fallout from that traumatic day to such an incredible degree that one is forced to wonder if the terrorists have not already won this undeclared war. This is not the same America that saw the dawn on September 10^th, a fact that is sure to bring smiles to the faces of Al Qaeda warriors from horizon to horizon.

So be it. The past cannot be changed. The future, however, is another matter.

The world was born again by fire on the morning of September 11^th, 2001. In its wake lies the tattered remains of a nation that once was considered a beacon of freedom that lit the world. We are tasked to live on in the wreckage, and are faced with a defining realization: At the bottom, the passivity of the American people invited the catastrophes of 2001. We were unconcerned, unprepared, disinformed, disinterested, willfully blind.

September 11^th jarred us into comprehending a fundamental truth that had for too long been obscured. In the final analysis, each and every American has a personal stake in the dispensation and cultivation of true justice and equality within our borders and around the world. When there is economic disenfranchisement, boiling poverty, political suppression and abridged freedom, we American civilians become the targets of murderous hate and violence. Religiously extremist fundamentalism breeds like a virus in such circumstances, both here and abroad, and is the last bastion of the desperate and the disenfranchised.

If we are to survive and flourish in this brave new world, we must acknowledge the hand we have played in the flourishing of these circumstances. Our addiction to oil, our propensity for diplomatic expediency for the sake of that poisonous ooze, the globalization of the vicious immoralities and inequities found within the gears of unrestrained capitalism, and the profound ignorance of our populace regarding all matters pertaining to the aforementioned, have led us inexorably to the realities presented in the wake of 2001.

We must not let it happen again.

What follows is a petition of grievances. Our will and ability to address them in a comprehensive fashion will determine the fate of this nation and this world. There can be no more compromise, no more patience, no more passivity. We cannot survive another year like 2001, yet if we fail to act, this dying year will be marked as mere preamble to horrors beyond comprehension.

A Constitutional Amendment: The Right to Vote

Americans make much of their rights, but few are aware that technically there is no right to vote in this country. We are allowed to vote by our legislators and our leaders but, if they feel the need, those votes can easily be taken away. This was outlined succinctly in the Supreme Court Opinion from Bush v. Gore:

The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the Electoral College the State legislature's power to select the manner for appointing electors is plenary; it may, if it so chooses, select the electors itself.

The 15^th and 19^th Amendments to the Constitution do not grant an affirmative right to vote. Rather, they seek to thwart any actions that may thwart certain groups - women, minorities, immigrants - from casting a ballot. At the end of the day, the right to vote lives within the largesse of those who hold elective office in whatever state you vote in.

When drawing the first dim outlines of our national charter, the Founder specifically left off a Constitutional right to vote. At the time, each state had its own set of voting standards, and it was feared that an all-encompassing Federal rule pertaining to voting rights would impede ratification and scuttle the deal.

As time passed, more and more freedoms were outlined within the voting charter: women, then immigrants, and then minorities were given Constitutional voting protections by the Courts, but none were given the specific right to cast a ballot. Many of these leaps forward came in the aftermath of war - women gained suffrage after WWI, the poll tax was eliminated after WWII, the voting age was dropped after Vietnam, and minorities were given protections slowly but surely throughout the Cold War.

A Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote for all citizens is essential as we approach a new election season in 2002. The catastrophes of Florida in 2000 cannot be repeated; indeed, many of the problems from that election would have been much more easily handled if Americans had the solid right to vote, instead of merely the opportunity.

The mistakes made by ChoicePoint in the compilation of Florida voter roles, mistakes that stripped voting privileges from tens of thousands of minorities, would have been a Constitutional issue instead of an example of corporate malfeasance. Secretary of State Harris and Governor Jeb Bush would not have dared to act as they did had voting been a Constitutionally-protected activity. The Republican-dominated Florida legislature would have been unable to muddy the waters by threatening to choose their own electors. The Supreme Court would likely have not been able to toss aside 50 million votes in their decision.

The document says We the People for a reason. If Americans are truly supposed to decide their own fate, if we the people are meant to rule, our right to exercise power at the voting booth must be Constitutionally protected. An amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote for every American citizen must be introduced, and passed, by Congress in 2002.

Campaign Finance Reform: End Legalized Bribery

The fundamental concept underlying a Constitutional right to vote is that each American individual has an equal say in determining the fate of the republic. Sadly, that pure democratic ideal has been grossly undermined by the profligate use of 'soft money' in campaigns - funds raised by corporations, interest groups, and wealthy contributors that goes almost completely unregulated. These funds are collected by the two main political parties, who act as a middle man because it is illegal to give such funds directly to a candidate. Those funds are then used to promote one candidate or to smear another.

In the 2000 election cycle, some $457 million in special interest funds were collected by both parties: $239 million by the GOP and $218 by the Democrats. This is as bipartisan an issue as can be found on the political landscape, for both parties are guilty of the practice.

Because such massive amounts of unregulated funding are poured into campaigns by wealthy contributors, those contributors necessarily have far more influence over legislative decisions than you or I. Politicians who need this money to compete, because their opponents can outspend them with their own contributions, become swayed by the donors and wind up making decisions based upon the needs of the rich moneylenders, rather than the needs of their constituents.

These actions undermine the fundamental principle of one person - one vote, and do great damage to our democracy. The final determination of this issue holds the key to solving dozens of other problems in this country. If the wealthy special interests are no longer able to be the dominant voice in government, true reform based upon the needs of the people will come.

Two pieces of legislation were introduced for Congressional consideration not long ago: the Shays-Meehan and McCain-Feingold reform bills. They have languished since, thwarted at every turn by anti-reformers like Tom Delay (R-TX). In 2002, these bills must be reintroduced and passed, and must be signed into law by George W. Bush. If he is a reformer with results as he claims, he can prove it in the coming year in a manner he has thus far failed miserably to do.

No More Tax Giveaways to Corporations and the Rich

When George W. Bush took office in 2001, his first priority was the passage of a massive tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited corporations and the wealthy. Nearly half of the trillion+ dollars he stripped from the Federal budget went to these two groups, leaving average Americans to collect a paltry $300 per person. The geometry of this action was determined in no small part by wealthy donors who, using financial influence described above, were able to lobby Bush and Congress to great effect.

They didn't need the money. The tax laws in this country already enormously benefit corporations and rich people. They did not need this tax break. Rather, they are offended by the very idea that they are required to pay taxes at all. Bush, clearly under their sway, resolved to give them their money back. The result of this decision has been disastrous.

With the slowdown of the economy, the vast Clinton surplus projections became depleted. The tax cut further stripped money from the Treasury. The events of September 11^th required massive spending by the Federal government for clean-up operations, investigations, and military preparations. Today, because of these factors, the United States has returned to the ruinous days of deficit spending. Had George W. Bush not gutted the Treasury with his tax giveaway, the Federal Government would not be spending in the red.

The ultimate motivation for the tax cut is clear: Bush is influenced by those who believe the Federal government is too large, and should be, in the words of one hardcore anti-tax advocate, shrunk to a size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. The attacks on September 11^th, and subsequent reactions to same, have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Republican rhetoric regarding the size of government has been terribly misplaced. Had the Federal government not been as large as it is, had it not been equipped to deal with the fallout from those attacks, thousands more would have died and the republic may well have fallen into total disarray.

Even with these facts staring him in the face, Bush and his Republican cohorts tried last week to pass yet another tax giveaway package, disguised patriotically as a 'stimulus package' for the economy and the people. In truth, the package would have been an early Christmas present: billions of our dollars for corporations already operating in the black.

Only the determination of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who refused to allow passage of the House bill in the Senate unless protections for the million or so newly-unemployed Americans were included, kept this farcical 'stimulus package' from passing. In an astounding example of aerobic backpedaling, Bush responded by claiming that, in reality, he wasn't sure if the stimulus package was actually necessary.

It is worth noting the thin margin Daschle had in his decision. Had James Jeffords not switched parties early in 2001, giving majority power to the Democrats, the ruinous House bill would have likely passed through the Senate with ease.

Twenty two years ago, George H.W. Bush referred to Reagan's trickle-down economic theory as 'voodoo economics'. He was more right than he knew. Reagan's folly left millions of the living dead walking the earth: AIDS victims, crack addicts, millions of Americans suffering the deprivations of recession, all left exposed by a plundering of the Treasury that fed wealthy corporations at the expense of vital social programs. George W. Bush would see this flawed trickle-down concept returned to government. It must not be allowed to happen.

Congressional Democrats, as well as Republicans of good conscience, must at all costs continue to thwart any move Bush makes to further undermine the ability of government to aid the people in these trying times by giving more of our needed money away to those who do not need it. Furthermore, they must revisit the tax plan already passed and restructure it accordingly, with the current circumstances clearly in mind. 2001 was a bad year for the average American, but a boon for the rich. 2002 will be worse if our government is too poor to help us.

Accountability for the Airline Industry

Many factors allowed terrorists to commandeer those commercial airplanes on September 11^th. One factor that has been largely ignored is the criminal negligence of the airline industry, whose security precautions were and continue to be so weak as to be non-existent. This is a failure of catastrophic proportions, and is largely responsible for the death and ruin we have experienced.

For years now, the airline industry has lobbied Congress through the unregulated use of soft money contributions in an effort to keep any laws demanding that they beef up security off the books. On September 11^th, the terrorists passed through security checkpoints manned by people with little or no security training and who earn only the minimum wage. These security personnel were employed by companies under contract with the airline industry, such as Argenbright in Boston's Logan airport, whose safety records are nothing short of abysmal.

The subsequent passage of a bill Federalizing airline security has shored up the security failures to some degree, but nothing has been done to address the accountability of the airline industry in the attacks of September 11^th. Instead, $15 billion of our tax money was given to the industry as a bailout, with no strings attached. This must not stand. The recent capture of an airline passenger with explosives in his shoes demonstrates that security on passenger airlines is still less than adequate; the suspect raised suspicions on Friday (12/21/01) because of a questionable passport, but was still allowed to board an airplane on Saturday (12/22/01).

The airline industry's negligence, years in the making, came about because they did not want to spend money on security. They must be called to task for it. Congress must in 2002 instigate a penetrating investigation into the vast array of failures and greed-motivated negligence that permeate this industry. We the people must exert market pressures upon these companies by instigating a nationwide boycott of their services. They will do nothing on their own, as has been demonstrated, unless we compel them to.

Repair the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

The response of this administration to the events of September 11^th has been to curtail some of the most essential American rights in the name of security. In short, they have destroyed freedom in order to save it. With the passage of the PATRIOT Anti-Terrorism Bill and Bush's signature on an Executive Order mandating secret military tribunals for anyone suspected of being a terrorist, there are precious few Constitutional protections left. These acts violate the right to a speedy trial, the right to speak privately with an attorney, the right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to be secure against government invasion of a private home.

The creeping oppression of our right to free speech began when we censored ourselves in the aftermath of September 11^th. It was furthered when Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer warned Americans to "watch what we say". It took a great leap forward when Attorney General John Ashcroft proclaimed in the well of the Senate that anyone who questions his methods is aiding terrorism, or is a terrorist themselves. Where shall it go tomorrow?

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglass once said, "As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness".

The terrorists have already scored a mighty victory because of the actions of this administration. Bush told us the terrorists attacked us because they hate our freedoms, and then turned around to shred those freedoms in an audacious manner. Osama bin Laden and his cohorts could not have asked for a more felicitous outcome. Oppression comes like Douglass' darkness, creeping unnoticed through the American body politic. It must be stopped.

As with his tax giveaway, as with the attempts to drill for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Preserve, as with so much else, Bush is using this crisis to further an agenda that had already been formulated before September 11^th. It is cynical opportunism of the worst kind, one that has been aided and abetted by the cowardice of Congress, who tremble in fear at Bush's overinflated approval ratings. These last acts, the suppression of dissident voices and the curtailing of essential freedoms in the name of patriotism, must not be allowed to stand.

In 2002, Congress must act decisively to undo this damage. Waiting for the 'sunset provisions' in these bills is not sufficient. If we are to believe that this Congress stands for freedom and liberty, they must act soon, and snatch this victory from the hands of those who attacked us.

Find the Answers to Unresolved Questions

With the defection of James Jeffords from the ranks of the Republican party, Senate Democrats suddenly found a potent tool in their hands, one that had been abused for years by the GOP: subpoena power. The time has come to use it.

Recent reports indicate that the Senate will undertake an investigation into the colossal intelligence failures leading up to the September 11^th attacks. No avenue of questioning must be spared in the search for answers. The preparedness and capability of the CIA and NSA must be investigated, as must the multiple claims that a variety of hints and reports were out there for months indicating an attack was imminent.

This investigation must also undertake to parse the relationship between the Bush family connections to the business giant Carlyle Group and the oil barons of Saudi Arabia. Most of the terrorists involved in the attacks came from that nation, and it is no small leap to consider that a blind spot developed in our anti-terror preparations out of deference to these business connections. If this is true, the results were catastrophic and must be addressed, for that loophole still exists.

For months, Americans were terrorized by reports of letters filled with anthrax entering the mail system. These letters, it turns out, were nothing less than assassination attempts aimed at leading Senate Democrats like Daschle and Leahy. Several civilians, including mail carriers, died as a result. Recent reports indicate that the anthrax was a strain developed by the United States military and the CIA, leaving open the possibility that the attacks came from a rogue element within our government. It is more than likely, however, that the assassination attempts emanated from someone steeped in the ideology of the extreme right, which has dabbled with anthrax in the past.

Attorney General Ashcroft and his Justice Department has failed in spectacular fashion to make even the slightest dent in this case, despite the fact that whomever is sending the anthrax represents a clear and present danger to government officials and civilians. The arrest of anti-abortion extremist Clayton Lee Waagner, who sent hoax anthrax threats to hundreds of family planning clinics, does nothing to address the true threat. Is Ashcroft afraid of what will be uncovered if he breaks the case? Do his own ideological underpinnings make him hesitate to pursue a suspect whose views might be in agreement with his? Whatever the case may be, the handling of this investigation has been deplorable in its utter lack of progress. It is time for the Senate to invite him in for another visit.

Another investigation that has collapsed into silent ignominy is the one surrounding the crash of Flight 587 into the New York neighborhood of Rockaway. The last words we heard on the subject stretch the outer edges of credibility: a jumbo jet which had taken off a full two minutes ahead of flight 587 left behind enough wake turbulence to tear both engines and the tail off the doomed Airbus.

If turbulence left in the wake of an airplane that took off two full minutes previous is strong enough to rip an Airbus to pieces in midair, the land around dozens of airports would be piled high with the shattered remains of crashed airplanes. There is something else happening here, and we are not being told of it. Yet we are exhorted by patriotic commercials starring Bush to fly, fly, fly. It is likely that this Airbus was in shoddy repair, or was tampered with, but the story is being suppressed by the government out of deference to airline lobbyists who have not yet finished counting the money they got in their Federal bailout payment. Break out those subpoenas, Senators. It is time to know the truth.

Finally, the collapse of the giant energy corporation Enron has left enough questions to fill the agendas of a dozen Senate hearings. Enron's ties to Bush run deep, both within his staff and in his long personal relationship to disgraced Enron chief Kenneth Lay. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt was selected by Enron because of his regulation-friendly policies, Presidential advisor Karl Rove was once an Enron employee, and those secret energy policy meetings Cheney held and subsequently refused to describe were dominated by the needs and desires of Enron. The list goes on and on.

Some 4,000 Enron employees have been left with nothing in the aftermath of this collapse. In their name, the Senate must act. They must determine why Enron fell apart, who knew it was coming, and what government officials had a hand in it. Bush would have us believe that capitalism free of governmental oversight is the proper way to do business in America and around the world. The debacle surrounding Enron gives great lie to these beliefs, and the Senate must step in with their oversight powers to make sure it never happens again.

Media Reform and the Fairness Doctrine

In 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Telecommunications Act in an effort to shore up his flank against ceaseless attacks by the GOP. This Act, among other things, did away with the backbone of journalistic integrity: the Fairness Doctrine*. This Doctrine ensured that no one person or entity could control too much of the media. For example, if a corporation owned a newspaper within a city, they were not allowed to own a television station as well. This republic survives on the free and open exchange of ideas and thoughts. With the demise of the Fairness Doctrine, journalism has become a shoddy thing indeed.

The magazine The Nation recently reported that 10 corporations now control virtually all media, including the news. Once upon a time, journalism worked to curtail and control the worst excesses of these powerful entities. Now that the news is owned by these interests, the people are no longer informed about their activities, and the impact these activities have upon their lives. Because of the deep connections between business and government, the media can no longer be trusted to report fairly and accurately on what is being done by our leaders in our name. This must stop.

The response from most Americans in the aftermath of September 11^th was a numb shock - How did this happen? Why do they hate us? Once upon a time, journalism worked to inform Americans about what was happening around the world, and what our government was doing abroad. This practice began to dissolve after the end of the Cold War, and was almost completely ignored after 1996. Because the American people went uninformed, they were not able to act in their own best interests and keep our government from becoming involved in the conflicts that have now come to our doorstep. At the minimum, Americans should know what is happening, so when events like September 11^th do come, we are not left in confused disarray.

Congress must step forward in 2002 and reinstate the Fairness Doctrine as a matter of national security. We the people must know what is happening at home and abroad if we are to govern effectively. This responsibility cannot become the sole purview of multinational corporations, because they have proven themselves to be actively disinterested in the needs of the populace. If this nation is to remain healthy and free, the open exchange of information must be impeded by nothing and no one. Congress must act.

End Our Addiction to Oil

At the end of the day, the American economic addiction to petroleum has led us inexorably to this nightmare. As our dependence upon foreign oil has grown, so have the entanglements. Our involvement in Saudi Arabia, our waging the Gulf War to protect the Saudi oil fields, our political involvement in that most complex of regions, all have been contributing factors in the arrival of this war to our shores.

There are two courses of action we can take. We can continue to be involved both politically and militarily in these regions to ensure the constant flow of oil into our economic veins. This will simply guarantee more terrorism, more war, and an increased weakening of our economic stability as oil becomes more and more scarce. Drilling in ANWR and elsewhere will not suffice, as there is not nearly enough oil in America to sustain us. Involvement with the burgeoning oil industry in Russia presents similar complications.

Our other option is far more logical. The time has come to begin an energetic and well-funded exploration of alternative sources of energy that can be harvested and exploited at home, free from international entanglements. This will free us from the crucible of the Middle East, and will herald the beginning of a new industrialization that is far kinder to our environment. The time is upon us. Either we shall have oil, war and pollution, or we shall have alternative energy sources, peace and clean air.

The decision appears to be simplicity itself, until the lobbying power of the petroleum industry comes into play. Congress must at all costs resist their appeals, deny their funds and ignore their threats. Nothing less than the future of the planet depends upon our ability to wean ourselves from the oil addiction that has for so long poisoned our bodies and threatened our safety. The time is now.

We the People

None of the necessary reforms outlined above, not one, will see the light of day without the active and dynamic participation of the American people. Perhaps the most common emotion we felt in the aftermath of September 11^th was a sensation of utter helplessness. We were caught unaware, and before we had our feet back under us, those in control of the government had changed the nation from top to bottom. Today, matters appear even farther out of our reach than before.

This is far from the truth. The American people have not been minding the store for decades - jaded by corruption, preoccupied with the complexity of normal life, content to let others do the work, we have allowed the machinery of government and media to slip farther and farther from our grasp. In reality, however, it would not require much of an effort to reclaim it all. If every American made an effort, we could take back the country from the hands of those who have been running it so very poorly for so very long.

Become informed about the issues. Contact your Congressional representatives and let them know you are minding the store, or show up at their offices if you must. Become present in the daily civic life of your nation. Demand better information from the media. March in protest when you are denied what you want. Organize voter registration drives. Boycott industries that would have you take a back seat in the maintenance of your country. Run for office, or work for someone whose views are in agreement with yours.

Nothing will be changed by complacency, and it was complacency that gave us the dismal year 2001. If 2002 is to be any better, it will be up to us to make it so. We must fight for the future. The alternative is to have no future at all.

Happy New Year.