Patriarchal Loyalty by Ed Dunphy

by Ed Dunphy
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
August 2, 2011

Image by SS&SS via Flickr

Wikipedia defines Loyalty as faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause. Most of us will say that we are loyal Americans.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, on Loyalty:

“Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels — men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, we may never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion .”

On loyalty Mark Twain wrote:

“You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions, or its office holders.”

Patrick Henry on loyalty:

“Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. …”

Staunch loyalty to any political party or to any government for that matter, will with certainty lead one to questionable morality. Further explanation is certainly necessary for some yet not at all for others. As a descendent of a Democratic party family, I was forced to disappoint. In my first inning as a political activist in the sixties, I protested against a Democratic President Johnson on his escalation of the Viet Nam invasion which was started by Democrat President John Kennedy. The massive deaths of American Soldiers along with the bombing of the Vietnamese people just sickened me. It made no difference to me that the Criminal in the White House was a Democrat. Naturally I continued the protest as Nixon became the latest war criminal at the time. Political party meant nothing to this Democratic descendent. As a protester I remember being called a commie, coward and a disloyal American. Disloyal, because I did not support the massive sins of the United Sates. I remember standing in Times Square in 1967 and having bottles and bricks thrown at us while we were being called cowards. Yet we stood there while some of our compatriots were nursing their bloody heads. We stood there as the cops stood by and would not defend our civil rights of protest. We stood there, loyal to the Red White and Blue. Loyal to “America The Beautiful” whose spacious skies were filled with sin. But why! Why were we loyal to a Nation that brought shame on itself as it did. The why is simple. Because in those days our country had an inherent honesty, a series of wrongs could more easily be made right. We felt we could change things. We felt we could stop the madness. And guess what……………We did!

Now fast forward to the shock and awe during the Iraq invasion. A society so changed from the sixties that it defies the logic of any democracy. Corporate ownership of a defunct congress now well in play, and a press so skewed that it had become the cheerleader for the scoundrels. Does the press have a responsibility of loyalty to the American People and our Nation? One would think so. Whatever happened to the Woodward and Bernsteins of the American Press. No matter how much proof of “no WMD’s” were thrown at the press. No matter how many constitutional violations took place. No matter how many impeachable offenses were committed. The headlines of the day was on the level of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.  On capital hill charges of Impeachment were thrown at President Bush and Dick Cheney, the press was silent. What then of the Loyalty to our nation by our Press?

On 4th of July, 2011, as I rode around New Jersey I noticed the stars and stripes were waving over each major and minor corporation and factory throughout the state. Loyalty you say?

Maybe so. However what of a corporation the size of General Electric. They pay no taxes, they make weapons of war and guess what? They own 49% of NBC TV. Do you think a company that makes weapons will report honestly on Iraq or Afghanistan? Did NBC send out its Woodward and Bernstein to uncover the lies that lead up to the invasion of Iraq? Did NBC news comply to the orders of the Bush administration not to show the caskets of our fallen soldiers in order to keep the rhetoric in tow. Yet I am willing to bet that the Red, White and Blue Banner flew high over their corporate offices. Multiply this by the other corporately owned news stations. So what of Corporate Loyalty?

And what of our own loyalty, as a descendent of a Democratic family, I cared not of party loyalty, only of the morality of their actions. A shock even bigger than our shock and awe over Iraq was the religious right support of President Bush. The same people that claim Jesus as their Savior, supported the bombing and killing of over one million Iraqis’ and thousands of American soldiers. Is this the same Jesus that was also noted as the Prince of Peace. One of the many questions they could not answer was, which country would Jesus bomb? This was followed by the blind support of lifelong Republicans. Very few of which will ever open their hearts to inner peace which may lead to supporting peace throughout . So what does this support for party loyalty mean for our country?

We had a president who violated federal law by lying to Congress and the American people, who invaded a sovereign country for no legal reason. Who instituted a torture program in violation of international law. Who subjected American families to loss of life of their fathers, brothers, sisters and mothers. Who squandered our nation’s treasures. Yet these action were supported by those loyal to a party.

Fast forward again to the last Presidential election. History was made. The first Black President was elected. A momentous moment in American History. He came to office promising to right the wrongs, to set the sails for a better America. A sense of loyalty to our nation was once again in play. Democrats and the so called progressives of this country had a new hope. They set there sites on loyalty to our new President. The American people had spoken.

So the “YES We Can” campaign was all about change. However the “Yes We Can” President turned out to be smoke and mirrors. A bamboozle of the worst kind. When our country had sunken to the lowest in historical morality, when our moral compass was spinning like a top, this president, Barack Obama showed his loyalty to the corporate thugs and to proliferating the policies of the previous criminal in the White House. He is continuing “Extraordinary Rendition” (torture).

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accused the United States of operating a “clandestine spiderweb of disappearances, secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers” and called for EU regulations governing foreign intelligence services operating in Europe, and demanded “human rights clauses” in military base agreements with the USA. A story in the Los Angeles Times on December 8, 2005 corroborates the claims of “torture by proxy.” It mentions the attorneys for Majid Mahmud Abdu Ahmad, a detainee held by the Pentagon at Guantanamo Bay, filed a petition to prevent his being transferred to foreign countries. According to the petition’s description of a redacted classified Defense Department memo from March 17, 2004, its contents say “officials suggested sending Ahmad to an unspecified foreign country that employed torture in order to increase chances of extracting information from him.” Yet the progressives have not condemned Obama.

The Obama administration awarded Blackwater, and continuing the work of the Bush administration, a quarter of a billion dollar contract to work for the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan. Yet Progressives remain loyal to Obama.

This so called progressive president has increased our military budget to an all time high. He continues the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. He is continuing to build an embassy in Iraq, a country that we illegally invaded. He refused to even put single payer health insurance on the table. Yet progressives still support him.

My dear progressive friends please look into the mirror, you will not like what you see, for you have become what you have criticized. Please question your loyalty. Have you committed the same sins of that we have criticized ? Have you blindly given your loyalty to the man that provided you with hope, yet never delivered? Patriarchal loyalty should never be to a person institution or government. It must be tied to a moral compass.

To repeat Mark Twain’s quote:

“You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions, or its office holders.”

Twain also said:

“Love your country all the time and your government when it deserves it”.

John F. Kennedy said:

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

My loyalty is based on my moral compass, not on the whims and sins of government and politicians. I said that.

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[DS added the video.] [Note: video no longer available.]

Jeremy Scahill: “We’re Learning More About Sick Torture Tactics Authorized By Bush Administration”

MiniRtist on Aug 4, 2011

August 04, 2011 CURRENT TV Keith Olbermann

Countdown with Keith Olbermann 08-04-2011 1a – Water Treatment, with Jeremy Scahill

see

Human Rights Watch: Obama broke law not prosecuting Bush and Cheney

Congress and the Dangerous Drive Towards Creating a Military State by Andy Worthington

The US Dictatorship and its White House Servant ‘President’ by Finian Cunningham

The Love and Shame of My Country by Philip A. Farruggio

The Joke is on U.S. by Jason Marks