The Chris Moeller Archives

Citizen Cindy

The United States, contrary to the opinion of some, should not allow the parents of war casualties to set foreign and military policy, in the same way that bereaved relatives of crime victims should not be allowed to dictate the punishment of the victim's perpetrator(s). The military and their relatives do not deserve extra access to the President, and it's worth noting also that Cindy Sheehan's deceased son took a voluntary oath to carry out orders on the battlefield in Iraq.

Those things being said, they also don't matter. Sheehan's around-the-clock protest outside President Bush's Texas ranch has resonated with the American public because the people recognize the depth and genuineness of Sheehan's emotions. Left-wing activist groups may have rallied quickly to her effort to gain an audience with the President, but they aren't powering the engine. Sheehan is principled to the core, and that should be obvious to any uncompromised ears that hear her statements.

This is becoming an enormous story. Sheehan has single-handedly launched an American anti-war movement. In 2004, 99 percent of Americans cast their Presidential ballots for pro-war candidates, even though everyone was aware, presumably, that the war had been launched on bogus criteria. Now-- for essentially the first time-- a savvy and impassioned dissenter is bringing the human cost of the Iraqi war to the attention of the administration, the media, and an awakening public.

Early in 2003, author and World War II veteran Kurt Vonnegut suggested, quite presciently perhaps, that President Bush is a psychopathic personality, or PP. "To say someone is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable medical diagnosis," he said, "Like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete's foot. The classical medical text on PPs is The Mask of Insanity by Dr. Hervey Cleckley. Read it! PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. They cannot care because they are nuts. They have a screw loose."
Vonnegut believes that PPs are overrepresented in corporations and government because they are so decisive, a trait valued in those circles. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next.

Americans, as a whole, are unaccustomed to dwelling upon the human element of conflict. The conflict is always, as the George M. Cohan song said, "over there." It's interesting that in other cultures, the commonly-used phrase is "When war comes..." In the US, war is always elsewhere. We outsource our military action.

By introducing the human element-- at long last, Sheehan has stirred up some very visceral emotions. At the vigil site in Crawford, an angry local man used his pickup to mow down hundreds of white crosses bearing the names of dead soldiers. In Cleveland today, parents of a fallen Marine joined publicly with Sheehan, calling her the "Rosa Parks of a new movement." They questioned, not the President's motives, but his ability to manage the war, asking him to send reinforcement to Iraq or withdraw altogether. Sheehan's supporters say they plan more than 1,000 anti-war vigils across the country on Wednesday.

Sheehan's actions, and their effect, have reinforced for me the things that Ralph Nader talked about in his 2004 Presidential campaign-- the importance of exercising conscience and principle above all else, and the power of one independent citizen when they're empowered to action. Individuals become movements, expectations are raised, and, eventually, solutions become realities.

posted by CM @ 9:23 PM