I want to return briefly to the paranoia, rage, and feelings of impotence throughout Left Blogistan this summer.
This is especially acute when it comes to their coverage of the media. Liberal bloggers seem to feel that TV and newspaper pundits are succeeding in pulling the wool over Americans’ eyes, especially regarding Iraq, and that Democratic Presidential candidates are falling for this nonsense, meaning we’re in for 10 more years of war. They’re even censoring the Internet.
The problem is, evidence continues to mount on these same blogs that the American people are having none of it. Anger at George W. Bush has spread to Republicans generally. Right Blogistan is stagnating.
But Air America is broke and Keith Olbermann is still the only liberal on the Teevee, the bloggers sniff. Right, and your side has won how many elections out of the last 4? (That’s right, one.) Add the top-down demand for Republican obedience to the natural conservatism of the TV business and what you see happening is that the media is now suffering right along with the Republicans. Sure, these media giants can’t make major moves until the Rethugs are gone from Washington, but I guarantee they will then, and not just because Democrats will have the power to make life very uncomfortable for those who don’t make a switch in time.
What I think liberal bloggers should be doing, instead of whinging or playing the victim, is to attack. The time has come to demand accountability for all the crimes of this era. The market manipulation. The unsafe products and services. The corruption. Most of all, the mass murder.
I have written before there is no immunity for war crimes. To that I wish to add this corollary.
There is no statute of limitations for murder.
This means that when we can make a case that Robert Murray’s
refusal to obey minimal safety requirements resulted in the recent mine
collapse, he should be held personally responsible. It means that when
evidence can be developed that Mattel CEO Richard Eckert approved toy
design changes which resulted in sickness or death, he should be held personally
responsible.
This has to be true throughout the government and throughout
business. Regulation has been negated, the courthouse doors have been
closed off, but the criminal courts will remain open after January
2009. Evidence can be gathered, and laws changed, to bring back the
legitimacy of the International Court of Justice, even regarding crimes
happening right now.
When they no longer have their political power to protect them,
Republicans who engaged in criminal conduct during this decade become
fair game. The time is now to accumulate the evidence. The time is now
to proffer the charges publicly. The time is now to start demanding
accountability, to raise the anger level of the American people to a
fever pitch, to demand justice for the murdered of New Orleans, of
Minneapolis, of Iraq, and everywhere else our ignorance has touched.
Right now the credibility of America is at an all-time low. The rest
of the world looks upon us the way we look upon North Korea. With good
reason. That credibility must be rebuilt. China is trying to rebuild
its credibility by holding powerful bureaucrats and businesspeople
personally responsible for crimes committed on their watch. We don’t
have to say anything nice about China in order to follow that example,
and demand that such an example be followed.
The only thing Rethugs have to fear is, fear itself. When the real
war on terror begins, and those who have terrorized us for 8 years are
terrorized themselves, then we’ll start to have justice. In the media.
In the courts. In the streets.
The cry from the left today must be the same as it was from the right 40 years ago.
It’s time for some law and order. People are smart enough to buy that.
