Like, Totally. And Shit.

As many of my proggie friends are preparing to trek to DC to whoop it up during the "inaugurager" (good one, Kev), Arthur Silber reminds us again why all of this shenaniganary is simply a disgusting distraction, and other than a few buzzkills, everyone is ignoring the real issues of significance. Why anyone who is supporting this jefe (new boss, same as the old boss) is beyond me, but the pull of belonging, the need to be part of the "winning team" is pretty damn strong. I can understand it. I understand why people who believed that everything wrong with this country, with the world, with, well, everything can be laid at the feet of President Bush and the "Rethuglicans" in general just want to turn off their brains and party fucking hardy! These last 8 years have been truly horrifying. The mask has been removed, etc. etc. "We worked hard for HOPE and CHANGE, and finally, mirabile dictu! we have won! Evil has been vanquished, a thousand year reich of peace and prosperity and hope and vacuity begins, a new day dawns, etc etc and now I finally can go back to dicking around with my iPhone rather than blogging about Obama, and worrying about yucky 'politics' and such." (or whatever it is the kids these days are saying).

Arthur, quoting David Swanson at Counterpunch:

I want to focus on a few points in particular. I recently mentioned again in passing (with links to lengthier discussions of this subject) that no meaningful prosecutions of war crimes will be pursued with regard to even one of the major criminals from the Bush administration. On that subject, Swanson notes the following at the very end of his article:

Conyers goes on in his Foreword to enumerate his many reports and announcements, investigations, hearings, lawsuits, etc. Conyers opened a hearing on impeachment (but not really on impeachment) this past July by bragging about all the hearings he'd held. To him, these hearings and reports are, to some degree, ends in themselves. Actual substantive steps that impact people's lives can get lost in the shuffle. One such step would be impeachment, which could happen right now if Conyers wanted it to. Another step would be Conyers' clear and active support for a special prosecutor.

While prosecution of Bush and Cheney would be hard-pressed to fail, and politicians who supported it would be hard-pressed not to rise in popularity, Cheney has given us a preview of his legal defense: "We were never impeached."

I urge you to reflect for at least several minutes on the horror of this result. This is one of the bitter, deadly fruits of cowardice in the face of evil. It helps to illuminate a critical principle, one that would be very simple to appreciate if it were not for the unstinting efforts made by Democrats like Conyers and the most vocal of Democratic apologists to evade the truth and refuse to acknowledge the obvious: each retreat from battle makes the next battle that much harder. The Democrats are always talking about "saving their gunpowder" for the next fight, which will be the genuinely important one. But each act of cowardice of this kind -- and it is cowardice, we should call such acts by their rightful name -- weakens them, rather than making them stronger. At the same time, each concession to evil makes evil stronger, while the coward reinforces his own cowardice. Thus, evil consolidates and expands its reach -- and those who would fight against evil are pushed farther offstage.

That's it man. Game over man, game over.

No impeachment. Complicity all around. (oh yeah. and this. and this. etc. etc. ad nauseam)

The clock runs out on the Bush/Cheney administration, all is right and good in the land once again.

PS - I do not support.

Thus, the lesson: when you choose to be a critical part of a system that has become this corrupt -- and the endless corruptions of our corporatist-authoritarian-militarist system have been documented at great length here and in other places -- you will not ameliorate or "save" it. The system will necessarily and inevitably corrupt you.

Finally, that is the choice that confronts Conyers, and all of us: you can remain or become part of a system dedicated to destroying liberty and peace -- or you can choose to withdraw your support, to whatever extent is possible given the particulars of your life. I have never suggested, and I am not suggesting now, that the choice is always obvious, and it is certainly not easy -- but that is the choice. It is long past time to pretend otherwise.

Choose with care, and wisely, if you dare. As I have said before:

[T]hese horrors are now what the United States stands for. Thus, for every adult American, the question is not, "Why do you obey?" but:

Why do you support?

Or will you refuse to give your support? Will you say, "No"? These are the paramount questions at this moment in history, and in the life of the United States. We all must answer them. Our honor, our humanity, and our souls lie in the balance.