December 23, 2005
The Right-Wing Takeover Has Been Stopped
By Froma
Harrop
The right-wing
takeover of this sensible country has been stopped. With this
pleasant thought, we enter 2006.
In one golden
week, three things happened that bore a common thread. In each
case, mainstream positions won out over the bluster of blowhards.
People of principle stared down charges that they were unpatriotic,
loved Osama or hated religion. The results were gratifying --
not only to liberals, but to moderates and a good number of self-described
conservatives, who have distanced themselves from their leaders'
excesses.
For starters,
the Senate said "no" to opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It has saved the refuge before,
but this time the Republican oilmen turned the vote into a game
of chicken. The drilling provision was first stuck to the budget
bill. When lawmakers balked, it was unstuck and attached to the
defense-spending bill. Once there, the gamesters figured they
could smear anyone voting against it as uncaring about the troops.
The defenders
of the wildlife refuge, which included several Republicans, did
not cave. Sen. Maria Cantwell, Democrat from Washington, accurately
called the bill "legislative blackmail." Sen. Joseph
Lieberman of Connecticut announced that the defense bill was not
going anywhere with drilling in it. The Democrat had just returned
from a grand tour of conservative talk shows, where the hosts
covered him with praise for supporting the Iraq war. Any charges
of not backing American forces bounced right off his armor.
The pro-environment
senators easily ignored the latest tantrum by Sen. Ted Stevens,
the Alaska Republican obsessed with developing the refuge. And
then they turned the tables on the opposition: Some questioned
the patriotism of those who would load the "must-pass"
defense bill with extraneous special interests.
In another
vote, the Senate temporarily extended the USA Patriot Act past
its Dec. 31 expiration date. President Bush wanted the anti-terrorism
law renewed, but that wasn't going to happen without a frank conversation
on his recently revealed surveillance activities.
Not long
ago, anyone who wanted to contain the president's powers was smothered
by accusations of leaving America open to attack. It's true that
after Sept. 11, many of us agreed that the government needed more
powerful tools to track the bad guys. That the rules had to change,
however, didn't mean there should be no rules. The citizens have
not signed on to giving Bush the right to wiretap Americans making
international calls without a warrant -- especially since he already
can do it in an emergency and ask permission later. The president
says he may act as he pleases.
Vice President
Dick Cheney bared his teeth and warned that politicians who criticize
these policies will pay a heavy political price. Sen. Chuck Hagel,
Republican of Nebraska, coolly responded, "My oath is to
the Constitution, not to a vice president, a president or a political
party." Expect to hear that kind of thing more often.
The third
victory for rational thinking took place in central Pennsylvania.
There, a federal judge ruled that "intelligent design"
-- a crypto-creationist challenge to the theory of evolution --
is religion, and forcing it on science classes in Dover, Pa.,
was unconstitutional.
Judge John
E. Jones, a Bush appointee, called intelligent design "relabeled
creationism." He accused its backers of lying about their
true intentions, which was to promote religion in a science class.
And before the intelligent-design sponsors could utter the words
"activist judge," Jones told them to get lost.
Actually,
the tide first turned against the intelligent-design boosters
in November. That's when the Dover voters removed school-board
members pushing the scientific-sounding doctrine.
As far as
I can tell, there's hardly a liberal in this story. The judge
is a Republican. The voters who kicked out their school board
come from a staunchly conservative community. It appears that
the movement to sneak religion into science class -- which has
commanded a national debate -- is the work of a noisy few.
All these
events, one after another, suggest that the newfound courage of
moderates is not a fluke. There never was this big groundswell
to develop a wildlife refuge, make Bush king or teach creationism
in the schools. The nation has begun to march in the other direction
from the right-wing majorettes. May the parade grow long in 2006.
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
