| December
7, 2007
The
Constitution, the Media and Kucinich
Piano
Wire Puppeteers
By SEAN
PENN
It’s
been an odd week. For me, a particularly odd week. But that’s
another story. So, wait a minute. Iran DOESN’T have nuclear
weapon capability??? So, who are we gonna bomb? I want to bomb somebody!
Didn’t
Senator Clinton just vote in essence to give President Bush the
power to bomb Iran? If he had done it last week, would that have
made her right? I mean, if she knew then what she knows now? Or
am I getting that backward? Golly, I’m confused.
And
what about President Bush? This week, Vladimir Putin, the man Mr.
Bush said he “Looked into the eyes of and found to be very
straightforward and trustworthy.” So much so, he was “able
to get a sense of his soul.” Well that soulful fella has just
successfully coalesced the most dangerous power base in Russia since
the Cold War amid rumors that include allegations he ordered the
assassinations of journalists and imprisonment of noted proponents
of freedom (Oops).
Meanwhile,
our President’s great enemy in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, that
“totalitarian,” “authoritarian,” “dictator,”
that “mad man run amok,” somehow was unsuccessful in
his bid for the constitutional reforms that would have allowed him
to be repeatedly re-elected for life…Hmmm?
Odd
week, you know? Really.
What
happened to Chavez’s “strong-arming?” His “electoral
corruption?” His alleged “gagging of the press?”
How in the hell could he have lost? I’m sorry, did I miss
something?
How
is it that this “Commie bastard” with 80% of his citizens
having elected him in the first place was unable to prevail? Could
it be that we’ve been lied to about him? I mean, Pat Robertson’s
not a liar, is he? His god wouldn’t let that happen, would
he? And god-forbid, our god would let the right-wing pundits, left-wing
corporates, or our own administration send us a bill of goods!?
Is
it possible, I mean I know it’s silly, but is it just a little
bit possible that President Chavez is in fact a defender of his
people’s Constitution? That, that’s how his referendum
could fail? And that that’s why he accepted it with such grace?
A constitution which I have read several times. Quite a beautiful
document, not dissimilar to our own. You might give it a read. Oh,
I forgot – he’s a “drug runner.”
Let
me share something with you. Late one night in Caracas, I met with
a couple of fellas, mercenaries I think you call them. Goddamit,
I keep doing that. I mean “contractors.” They were Brits,
their specialty: drug interdiction. These two were no great fans
of Chavez. They called him “radical” and expected him
to fall to an assassin’s bullet within the year. Like him
or not, he had the cash to win their acceptance of his employ. And
working alongside the Venezuelan military, these two, based in Caracas,
had played the mountainous and jungled border between Columbia and
Venezuela. A zone rife with paramilitaries, FARC guerillas, and
mer…scratch that, contractors. What I was told that evening
in Caracas by these piano wire puppeteers was that they had never
worked for a government whose investment in drug interdiction was
so genuine. “Yeah,” said one of the Brits, “I
gotta give the bastard Chavez that.”
But
I was talking about the Constitution. Most importantly, our own.
And what an odd week it has been. Our culture is engrained with
a tradition that blurs the line between what is right, what is just
and what is constitutional, with what is a scam. That tradition
is the cult of personality. What can TV sell, what kind of crap
will we buy. And at what point are we buying and selling our rights,
our pride, our flag, our children, and succumbing to meaningless
slogans that are ultimately pure titles for un-Americanism. How
do we know what’s American and what is not? Because John Wayne
tells us so? Because Sean Penn tells us so? Susan Sarandon? Bill
O’Reilly? Michael Moore? Senator Bull? Or Senator Shit? Ann
“my bowel expenditure” Coulter? No. It’s our Constitution.
We don’t use it just to win. We depend on it because it’s
the only “us” worth being. And because it’s our
children’s inheritance from our shared forefathers and the
traditions that really do speak best of our country.
So,
here’s the question. We got Iowa coming up, we got New Hampshire
right on its ass. Do we sell it for electability? If Hitler were
the only candidate, would voting for him be most American? Jump
on a plane with me. Okay, we’re over the Middle East now…Let’s
land. Take a deep breath.
Imagine
the bodies, burned and mutilated, the concussive sounds of gunfire
and explosives defining the last horrifying moments of the dying
and the dead. Imagine the millions of refugees fleeing through the
deserts of Iraq, the babies crying, and the stench of death in the
air. Yuck. Let’s get back on the plane and head home.
Now,
imagine American servicemen dead or broken, returning from a broken
military to a silent casket or a broken veteran’s administration,
to broken lives and broken businesses, broken wives, unspoken husbands,
and devastated children. And what for? What have we gained?
Al-Qaida
recruitment is up. Terrorism is up. Quality of life is down in our
country and around the world. While the rich continue to get richer
and the poor, poorer and more numerous. And on the verge of recession,
we are witnessing the dramatic disassembling of the middle class
amidst a flood of foreclosures and unpayable debts. To Osama Bin
Laden’s infinite delight, we have become a country of principle
breakers rather than principle bearers.
We
are torturers and we too often, imprison only the weak. When our
own administration chooses its bewilderingly un-American agenda
(For the entitled people? By the entitled people?) over the Constitution
in defining American values, principles, and law, Bin Laden laughs
at the weakened sheep that we and our representatives have become.
High
crimes and misdemeanors? How about full-blown treason for the outing
our own CIA operatives? How about full-blown treason for those who
support this administration through media propaganda?
While
I’m not a proponent of the Death Penalty, existing law provides
that the likes of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and Rice, if found guilty,
could have hoods thrown over their heads, their hands bound, facing
a 12-man rifle corps executing death by firing squad. And our cowardly
democratically dominated House and Senate can barely find one voice
willing to propose so much as an impeachment. That one voice of
a true American. That one voice of Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
This
is not going to be a sound bite. Not if I can help it. I’m
torn. I’m torn between the conventional wisdom of what we
all keep being told is electibility and the idealism that perhaps
alone can live up to the challenges of our generation. Of the democrats
running for President, only Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s
candidacy is backed by a voting record of moral courage and a history
of service to our country that has fully earned our support and
our gratitude. And when I say support, I am not speaking to democrats
alone, but rather to every American who would take the time on behalf
of their children, our planet, and our soldiers to educate themselves
on the Kucinich platform.
In
the recent debate among Democrats in Las Vegas, the candidates,
one after the other, placed security ahead of human rights. Benjamin
Franklin once said “Any society that would give up a little
liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose
both.” Then, there was good ole Patrick Henry. Remember him?
“Give me liberty, or give me death.” These were the
real tough bastards. The real John Wayne’s.
These
are the traditions we should be serving. I found the debate infuriating,
nearly an argument for fascism with few exceptions, key among them
Dennis Kucinich. Of course as a strategic politician, Mrs. Clinton
pulled out her set of Ginzu knives and dominated once again on “centrist”
political strategy. In fending off attacks upon she, the front runner,
she reminded the audience and her fellow candidates, “We are
all Democrats.”
Wolf
Blitzer asked each candidate if they would support the other should
they themselves not be the nominee. One after another, the answer,
yes. One exception: Dennis Kucinich, who with the minimal time allotted
him, once again rose up beyond the sound bite and put principal
ahead of party; argued policy rather than politeness. He has been
the dominant voice of integrity on issues of trade, labor, education,
environment, health, civil liberties, and the one endlessly determined
voice of peace.
But
is he too short? Does his haircut not appeal? Is he not loyal enough
to a cowardly democratic platform? Does he not appeal to the cult
of personality? And what if the answer is yes? What if Dennis Kucinich,
the most deserving and noble of candidates, the most experienced
in issues of policy and the least willing to play into the politics
of personal power? What if we can’t elect a man simply on
the basis of the best ideas, the most courage, and the most selfless
service? What does it say about our country when we can’t
rally the voices of the common good to support a man, like our troops,
who would die for us, who would die for our constitution? Who, as
mayor of Cleveland at the age of 31 stood up against contracts on
his life. Three separate assassins whose intent was to kill him
as he stood up for his constituency there.
Nonetheless,
he carries on. He continues to serve.
I’ve
been a supporter of Dennis Kucinich for several years. And I’ve
been torn lately. I’ve been torn by the allure of “electability.”
I began to invest some support in a very good man (one among Dennis’s
opponents) who seems to be finding himself as a constitutional defender,
but he’s not one yet. He is however, among those that we allow
the media to distinguish as electable. But we’re talking about
the Constitution here. We’re talking about our country. I
have decided not to participate in proactive support on the basis
of media distinctions. I have chosen to pledge my support to the
singular, strongest and most proven representative of our constitutional
mandate.
Dennis
Kucinich offers us a very singular opportunity as we share this
minute of time on earth. We, the people. It is for us to determine
what is electable. And here’s how simple it is: If we, those
of us who truly believe in the Constitution of the United States
of America, all of us, vote for Dennis Kucinich, he will be elected.
Could we call him electable then? If so, America will stand taller
than ever.
Let’s
remind our friends in the social circles of New York and the highbrow
winner-friendly and monied major cities that support Mrs. Clinton,
that this is not Bill Clinton. For all the misgivings I have about
our former President, he raised up friends and opposition alike,
his great gift as a motivator of interest and activism, of self-education
and participation was, on its own merits, a unique gift. But don’t
underestimate personal agendas, those that initiated NAFTA, betrayed
Haitian refugees and gay rights in the military within a minute
of his own election. Don’t underestimate that part of him
when he gives his wife the face of his talent. Don’t underestimate
the damage her poisonous ambition can do to this country. We can’t
wait for the benefit of hindsight to service the benefit of Mrs.
Clinton’s career.
Let’s
raise up men and women of vision, of integrity, of belief in our
principles. How exciting would that be to do? How good would that
be for television? What if we turned this game around? Imagine watching
on television, our country raising up a leader because he represents
our Constitution.
Yes,
good things can be good TV.
So,
let’s give the Constitution another read, shall we? And then
decide who its greatest defender would be. I suggest that Republicans,
Independents, and Democrats alike will find that they know what’s
really right in their hearts and minds.
Sean
Penn's latest film is Into the Wild.
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