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When I found myself in Harrisburg two
weeks ago surrounded by seven police officers wearing body armor,
I have to admit I was a bit taken aback. Seven was probably more
than enough to handle a sixty-year-old arthritic. Yes, it is
true; I called a member of the Democratic Party a "fool"
and a "maggot" when he explained to me that it was
necessary to remove the Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli
from the ballot in order for the Democrats in Pennsylvania to
defeat the Republican Rick Santorum. I tried as nicely as I
could to explain to him that while I agreed that Santorum is
a psychopath, a Democratic victory over a Republican at the cost
of the democratic process is a bad bargain.
This 24-year-old unibrowed
gargoyle however was long past considering such foolish, romantic
notions as "freedom", "justice" and "democratic
values". When he instructed me to remove six signatures
from Mr. Romanelli's petition as invalid simply because the six
people had all mistakenly printed their name in the first column
and signed their name in the second column instead of the other
way around, I slammed my hand on the table and shouted "shit,
if you're going to remove those signatures, you maggot".
Now of course I realize that
there have been times in the past when I have been more complementary
to Democrats but I certainly did not realize that calling a Democrat
a "maggot" was in any way similar to shouting "fire"
in a crowded movie theater. At best I thought someone might
call me impolite but instead I was surrounded by menacing members
of the Democratic Party, grabbed by a court officer in Gestapo
like fashion and forcibly removed from the room. When I refused
to "sit down and shut up" as instructed by the court
officer, the police were summoned. I was ultimately charged with
"disorderly conduct", at the insistence of the attorney
for the Democratic Party, and was led away by the police. It
is against the law, you see, to call a Democrat a maggot even
if he is consuming the still living tissue of our body politic.
Fitted for
a Muzzle
Last week the Peace and Justice
Coalition in my district (Lancaster County, PA) refused to allow
my campaign to place an ad in their newspaper. We were told
we were in plenty of time for the deadline and then suddenly
we began to receive a series of e-mails saying "well maybe
you are not quite in time for a full-page ad"; then, "maybe
we should have a strong disclaimer so that no one thinks the
Lancaster Peace and Justice Coalition endorses you"; next,
"maybe if your ad were to appear opposite an ad from the
Democratic Party candidate it would be okay"; and finally
"due to political infighting in the Peace and Justice Coalition
your ad will not appear". Of course the only "infighting"
that could have occurred would've come from the Democrats who
dominate the peace coalition in Lancaster County. The last thing
they want is to let the antiwar community know that there actually
is a real antiwar candidate. The peace movement in Lancaster
has put the election of a pro war Democrat ahead of the goal
of "troops out now" which the Democratic candidate
here calls "cut and run".
The Democratic candidate in
this part of Pennsylvania isn't even as "antiwar" as
Ned Lamont. Mr. Lamont of course is not exactly what I would
call "antiwar". He immediately donned his cheerleading
uniform and delivered a series of "rah, rah, rahs"
as soon as Israel began committing unspeakable atrocities on
Lebanon.
No, my little Democrat here
in the 16th District of Pennsylvania has made it quite clear
that our troops cannot come home from Iraq until we have created
a government whereby the Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds all feel
equally represented, our national interests have been secured,
the area is no longer destabilized and the world community comes
to our aid. This Democrat called my plan to leave Iraq immediately
"cut and run". Why would I be surprised in 2006 to
find a Democrat quoting Karl Rove?
VICTIMS
OF THE DARKNESS
So the Democrats had me arrested
and then wouldn't let me even advertise in the antiwar newspaper.
I no sooner picked myself, dusted myself off when towards the
end of the week I was told by the Rotary Club in Lancaster that
there would be a debate between the Republican and Democratic
candidates and that I would not be invited. There'll be no fun
at that party you can bet; unless you're into pulling the legs
off insects and enjoy the sound of fingernails scraping across
a blackboard.
Although I have been endorsed
by two county-level Green Parties, two county-level Libertarian
Parties, the Reform Party and the new American Independent Party,
the Rotary Club sees no reason to invite an independent candidate.
Although I have been endorsed by some of the most well-known
people in the country like Ralph Nader, the prominent MIT scholar
Noam Chomsky and the world-renowned historian, World War II veteran
and antiwar activist Howard Zinn, the Lancaster County Rotary
Club has decided to promote the candidates from the two corporate
financed parties.
Of course this is the same
as making a huge contribution to the Democrats and Republicans
and telling 38% of the people that no opinions other than the
Democrat and Republican are considered meaningful by the Rotarians
of Lancaster County (38% of Americans are registered as "not
affiliated" or in one of the newer parties).
The Rotary club told me they
would decide who they would and would not invite and I would
not be invited. According to the Rotary International manual
one of their mottos is: "They profit most who serve best".
Until two years ago it was: "He profits most who serves
the best". In 2004 they finally recognized the existence
of women and took out the gender specific language.
Some of the better-known Rotarians
include the prominent film star and well-known racist Mel Gibson;
Prescott Bush who helped finance the Nazis and spawned two generations
of Republican presidents who have brought nearly apocalyptic
disaster to our nation; Tom DeLay whose crimes are too numerous
to list and the ever popular Jesse Helms who told us that Martin
Luther King was associated with the Communists and who took special
joy in singing "Dixie" to the African-American Senator
Carol Moseley-Braun. Is it any wonder that the most outspoken
critics of the Rotary club were some of the 20th century's most
critical thinkers including: Dorothy Parker, George Bernard Shaw,
Sinclair Lewis, Clarence Darrow, H. L. Mencken, and G. K. Chesterton?
The web site of the Rotary
Club tells us that it is an organization of business and professional
leaders that help "build goodwill and peace in the world".
The web site of the Republican Party might very well tell us
the same thing. So much for free and open debates in a free
and open democratic society brought to us by the Rotary Club
whose goal is building goodwill and peace by sponsoring a debate
between two candidates who are both on record as supporting the
"Bush Doctrine". It was the "Bush Doctrine",
stating that an entire nation may be held accountable for a terrorist
act committed by one of its citizens, which led to the bipartisan
supported, brutal invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq.
When the Democrats had me arrested
two weeks ago for disorderly conduct I guess it kind of all snuck
up on me. It is good to recall the warning of Justice William
O. Douglas: "As nightfall does not come all at once, neither
does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when
everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight
that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however
slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
Whether it rides the symbol
of the Democratic Party or displays the symbol of the Rotary
Club the specter of tyranny is most frightening when it comes
in the guise of a protector pretending to exercise its tyranny
for the good of its victims.
John Murphy is the independent candidate for House
of Representatives in the 16th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
He has been endorsed by Michael Berg, Peter Camejo, Noam Chomsky,
Ralph Nader and Howard Zinn. He has been endorsed by two county
level Green Parties, two county level Libertarian Parties, the
Pennsylvania Reform Party, the New American Independent Party
of Pennsylvania and the GDI among others. He is also one of the
founding members of the Pennsylvanian
Ballot Access Coalition, working to change ballot access
laws in Pennsylvania. He can be reached at: johnamurphy@comcast.net.
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