democracy

This column first appeared in the 15 October 2009 print edition of the Purdue Exponent
Forty-six years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lead a 250,000-person march on Washington, D.C. to demand that black people be granted the same rights as white people. At that historic march, Dr. King shared his vision for a different world—a world where humanity would no longer be divided by ignorance and hatred. On Sunday, roughly 200,000 people followed his example and once again marched on Washington to bring his dream closer to fruition. Drawing inspiration from the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s that prepared the way for the nation's first black president, protesters, many of them young people in their twenties and thirties, arrived from all over the nation to declare that the right to marry whom they choose is a fundamental civil right.

Calls for an independent investigation into the Bush administration's misdeeds are becoming more persistent and difficult for the ruling officials to ignore.1 Spain has already initiated criminal proceedings against six of the administration's high-ranking officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. In March, Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to request that they call for a criminal investigation in the United States, policy reforms, and reparations, and Amnesty International USA coordinated meetings between several citizen delegations and federal legislators in April to press for an independent inquiry. The people also want to see the previous administration face justice: according to a recent Gallup Poll, 62% of US citizens favor an investigation, with 38% favoring a criminal investigation, and 24% an investigation by an independent panel. 2 Even pundits in the notoriously subservient mainstream media -- perhaps upset by the way that the Bush administration's blatant deceptions threatened to draw attention to their role as a mouthpiece for the rulers -- have echoed calls for investigations and impeachments.

1. 1. I originally wrote this article six months ago for submission to "The Nation." They never got back to me on it, so I took it to the "Z Magazine," and they must not have liked it either, because they also ignored it. Next was "Monthly Review," where they at least acknowledged the submission and thanked me for considering them, but they didn't have space for it. Finally, I took it to "Dissent" three months ago, and they haven't gotten back to me yet. This leads me to conclude that this may not be a very good essay, and I feel compelled to warn you of this before you get too far into it.
2. 2. J. Jones. 12 February 2009. No Mandate for Criminal Probes of Bush Administration. Gallup, Inc. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/114580/No-Mandate-Criminal-Probes-Bush-Administration.aspx

Why do different organizations and individuals speak of "mixed messages" coming from Obama's "first 100 days" in office? Obama's time in office thus far has played out almost exactly as I expected. He made perfunctory gestures toward fulfilling campaign promises, introduced initiatives to pacify the working and middle classes, and attempted to increase government transparency without upsetting the establishment. The Right also behaved almost exactly as expected by opposing almost every initiative with a flurry of rhetoric and pro-corporate propaganda. The only two surprises to me were that the Right didn't learn enough from their humiliating defeat to cut down their open and belligerent hostility toward the people and that Time Warner Cable wasn't able to move forward with its plans to further restrict Internet access.

I live in Blackbird Farms a neighborhood located in West Lafayette IN, where my Home Owners Association (HOA) bans permanent outdoor clotheslines. So, for the past two years, whenever the weather is absolutely beautiful I place my foldable hanger on the lawn, tie a line between two trees to hang the rest of my laundry and go about my day feeling good that I ‘harvested’ some of the sun’s free energy, spent some time outdoors and will shortly have a great smelling load of laundry. Yet this weekend I was approached by the HOA president who informed me that while I am not currently breaking the HOA rules, since I take down the line and bring my hanger inside at the end of the day, the HOA board will most likely have a vote at the next meeting banning all outdoor clothes drying and he just wanted to inform me of this impeding change.