Loyal Opposition

by Stephen Fleischman

In the beginning, there was the word. Two words. Magna Carta.

It was less a document than a series of concessions wrung from the English King John by his rebellious barons in 1215 AD; for the first time, putting a limit on the power of kings. The democrats had their victory.

Seven hundred and ninety-two years later, in 2007 AD, the Democrats are not doing as well against King George. Democratic Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, hooked some clauses about setting a timeline for getting out of Iraq onto a funding bill for the war. The rebellious barons in Congress are having a tougher time trying to reign in the power of the king because they’re a little timid about what to do. King George accused them of “not supporting our troops” by interfering with his war. Looks like George is going to veto the bill and we’ll all be back to square one. Now what’s a rebellious baron to do? To fund or not to fund…? That is the question.

The mother country also handed down a bit of democratic software from ages past—“the Loyal Opposition”—the concept that one can be opposed to the actions of the government or ruling party without being opposed to the constitution of the political system. It’s a handy concept in wartime, because then, one party, “the loyal opposition” can be critical of the other party’s handling of the war without having to worry about “not supporting the troops”. The rebellious barons in Congress don’t seem to have grasped that concept, yet.

While their base is clamoring at the gate and practically tearing down the walls to protect their civil and human rights under King George, the barons dither. In 2006, the electorate told the Democrats, loud and clear, they want an end to this war and a restoration of the civil rights that had been torn away from them in the euphonious “war on terror”. But they are fearful. They should replay Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Dave Letterman replays those words, again and again, almost every night.

A gift of democratic hardware handed down with the mother lode was “Habeas Corpus”. Now there’s a piece of work that has some clout. The literal meaning of the term is: “you’re holding a body”. The writ commands the person (or governmental authority) holding the body to bring it into court and show cause as to why it shouldn’t be let go.

Right now, the US government is “holding” four or five or six hundred bodies in prison camps on the southern tip of Cuba. (What the hell is a piece of the United States doing down there, anyway?) These bodies have been labeled “enemy combatants” by King George in an ephemeral terrorist war and so, according to him, they are exempt from Habeas Corpus.

Nowhere! Nowhere in the Magna Carta does it say that “enemy combatants” are exempt from Habeas Corpus! But I don’t see those writs flying down to Guantanamo Bay. What’s happened to the rebellious barons in the Congress? Fear again. Fear of the little shrub. Our British antecedents must be struck dumb with wonder.

Of course, there is one caveat. There’s a presidential election coming up and some of those Congressional barons have thrown their hats into the ring, or has that express become as obsolete as “writ of Habeas Corpus”?

You must remember, it’s a very sensitive time. Presidential candidates must be very careful they don’t say or do the wrong thing during this period of winnowing money and covering all bets, especially if one is the wife of an ex-President and another overly clean. Twenty-six million. Twenty-five million. That’s a lot of moolah! And that’s only for the primary. With dineros like that, surely, he or she must be in somebody’s pocket.

One bad slip on a banana peel and you’ve had it. McCain took one when he showed how safe it was to walk the streets in a Baghdad market in full armor and talk about how we were winning the war.

But there is one thing the Democrats can do with impunity. Play “the Loyal Opposition” card. We haven’t really had a loyal opposition in this country for a long time and it would surely go over with the voters.

Take the raging bull by the horns and opportunity by the forelock. The Iraq war is the chippie. The Middle East is burning.

Our service men and women are running in circles looking for terrorists, knocking down doors, terrorizing Iraqis, killing civilians, and in the process becoming terrorists, themselves. The rate of death among our own servicemen continues to mount, eight last week, sixty-seven last month. How long are we going to let this outrage go on? Will somebody please find the outrage? Where has it gone?

Whichever presidential candidate has the fortitude to step forward and say, “here is the outrage, let’s end it now,” will become the next president of the United States.

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