Richard Vigurie and the Destruction of America

Watching Richard Vigurie on NOW, on the night of December 17, 2004 , I was appalled at his glee, his only focus, being on winning for the Republican Party and his power to influence its decisions. Not once did he say anything about “our country,” or “what’s good for America , “ all we saw and heard was his constant gloating about the victories the far right had won since he started his direct-mail campaigning in the 70s. He kept saying he was a “conservative,” but as he and Moyers talked, it became apparent that he, and others in his camp” were, and are, NIHILISTS who don’t care whether they destroy our Bill of Rights, our Constitution, our balance of power between the presidency, the congress and the Supreme Court—so long as they have all the power. As Vigurie spoke, it became apparent that whatever lies helped his side win was fine with him—so long as they won!

When asked about ethics and morality, the only morality he seemed to know about was “victory.” Neither ethics nor morality concerned Vigurie, nor the lives lost in Iraq . Even when Bill Moyers tried to get him to go to other matters, Vigurie’s only criteria was “winning,” and he basically said he didn’t give a damn about how you do it—lies, half-truths and whatever will win was all fine with him. This was most amply illustrated when it came to the factual lies pertaining to Saddam Hussein and 9/11. Moyers brought up the fact that over 40% of the American people, even with all the evidence from the 9/11 Commission and Powell’s statements and other sources, that 40% of the American people still believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This is because of the continued lying by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and their ilk. Vigurie just brushed this off as good politics, nothing to worry about. He thought that was just fine. No moral compunctions about it, no ethical concerns about the lies being perpetrated by Bush, Cheney, Hannity, O’Reilly or Limbaugh.

Then, on the matter of the lies told by the “Swift Boat Veterans,” and the FACT that they never had a shred of evidence to back up their lies attacking John Kerry’s medals, Vigurie’s basic response was that it worked and his candidate, Bush, won. This is a far cry from the Republican Party of General Eisenhower, Russell Kirk and Pat Buchannan. To this day, Buchannan is crying out against some of the neo-con behavior. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed even he has toned down in his criticism of Bush and the neo-cons since he’s become more of a regular on MSNBC, but I’m sure Eisenhower is turning over in his grave. All true conservatives, not those neo-cons parading falsely as conservatives, are upset and must now also take a stand against this immoral Vigurie group of neo-cons and uneducated fundamentalists. The true conservative does not want our Civil Rights, the justice of our court system and our very Constitution to be destroyed as the neo-cons and Vigurie are doing. Vigurie and his type are not protecting America , they are destroying it. Make no mistake about it, they are concerned about their power, not the welfare of America or its citizens. In fact, Vigurie kind of laughs at the general public because he knows that he and his friends in power and in the media can easily manipulate the American public. Hitler’s Goering and his propaganda machine had nothing on these guys. But, we must not forget Conde Rice, who cut her teeth on Vigurie and Limbaugh’s approach, which is to keep misinforming the public and never admit your lies—after a while, the bigger the lie, the more the public will believe you.

With men like Vigurie, Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld in power and influencing our government’s decisions, I fear that we have come the way of Rome near its collapse. Near the end of its world leadership, and this is seen in the writings of Gibbon and other more recent and careful historians, Rome had become dominated by parties that were more concerned with their victories over one another than they were in keeping Rome a leader in the world. Ultimately, when the time of the Huns attack came, the Roman politicians were still wrangling over partisan issues rather than real security issues. They were so concerned with their internal fighting, their parties and their own gain, just as these people are concerned today. You can see that when an attack cat as ignorant and prejudiced, a woman who screams and falsely labels things, like Ann Coulter is allowed to have a major voice on TV and radio and in the newspaper media, you know something is terribly wrong with our society. Just like the Romans, who did respond to the Huns attack before it was too late, our political party leaders are repeating the mistake of the Romans while the world is arming itself against us and our imperial ambitions. We all know how that came out—with the ultimate fall of Rome and its disgrace.

We are no longer a moral leader, we are now seen as corrupt, undemocratic, imperialistic and basically ignorant of others in the world. Men like Vigurie and Bush are part of that same strain of virus—the “me, me, me” and “our party, our party, our party” syndrome. In the meantime, with such allies as Frist in the Senate and Hastert in the House, with Tom DeLay getting away every day with unethical behavior, these men have given up caring about America and its welfare, and its moral and ethical leadership in the world—they are so power-mad that they care about nothing else except themselves and their political party. In the end, this will lead to total disaster for our nation, either from within or from without (more on this later in my article).

Unfortunately, too many in the Democratic Party, are the same—you get the same smell from Joseph Lieberman. Many old line Democrats wonder if he shouldn’t join Zell Miller and put on a Republican jacket. Lieberman, and many of his friends in the Senate and the House, in the DNC and the DLC, have shown that they will rubber stamp almost everything GW Bush wants, rather than standing up for America’s best interests. Senator Fritz Hollings, who just resigned from the Senate said it best in his final speech on the Senate floor and on 60 MINUTES, when he said most of his colleagues as lining up at the trough of big business –rather than taking care of the welfare of our country whether it be at the levels of pharmaceuticals, health care, environment, foreign relations or party dominance. He said, you name it and whatever corruption is possible, our Congress and our president are doing it.

Let’s look at just one major human problem in America —that fact that over 43% of the American people do not have health insurance. This is the highest number in the industrialized world—and yet we spend more on it per person than many others. When one looks at it, it becomes apparent that the power of the pharmaceutical companies and the alleged “non-profits” has become so rampant that it is not the money spent on it, it has to do with the corruption of the structure that does not cover all people under a plan like England, Canada, Sweden and the rest of those who have governments who still care about their people (although Tony Blair is doing all he can to copy the GW Bush and American plan of “let the people be damned, let’s take care of our wealthy friends.”). This disaster can be laid at the feet of the both the Republicans and Democrats—both parties emulate the old football slogan of the 60s, “win at any cost”—the Vigurie formula.

Add to this the most recent “overhaul” of our medical programs and Medicare was voted on in the middle of the night, near the end of the term, and gave the pharmaceutical companies exactly what they wanted. They were allowed to keep their ridiculously high prices, not criticized for all the money spent on TV advertising (60% of their budgets vs

40% being spent on R and D) and all this was to be subsidized by the government—all this rather than doing like Canada and some others by allowing the pharmaceutical companies a decent profit, but setting limits on the prices of drugs. Both of our political parties voted in this disasterous bill and then told the American people they had done something good for them. As time has gone by, the skullduggery behind this bill has become more apparent, but no one is in a hurry to fix it –though it should and must be fixed for the welfare of our country in the long term. The drug benefit card is so confusing and able to be cheated upon by pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies (who can jack up their prices at will, with no redress) that most seniors won’t use the cards. This “overhaul” was nothing but a way to skrew the seniors and others more easily, with federal government (ne, Bush) help.

Let us also take the “war on terror.” This is another tragic farce. Rather than trying to go after Bin Laden and others who were attacking America, Bush decided, with the help of both parties (remember Lieberman & Gebhardt, both standing there, smiling, with Bush) to attack Iraq rather than continuing to look into 9/11 and to deal with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Neither Bush nor the Congress, especially the neo-cons, who are in league with Vigurie and friends, wanted to address the real problem of attacks on America —the ongoing brutalization of Palestinians at the hands of Sharon and Israel .

Instead of trying to solve this problem, Bush put more oil on the fire, as did people like Frist and Hastert and the neo-cons by supporting Sharon and allowing Israel to have carte blanch with American funds, American support at the UN and in world forums, and denying Palestinian rights while Israel kept blowing up homes, hospitals, water plants, electric plants, government offices, universities and schools in Palestine.

Most of the world was appalled and said so,even England became edgy, as much as Blair supported Bush’s “war on terror.” But when it came time at the UN to condemn these illegal and immoral acts, the U.S. made sure that Israel was never censured or condemned—even while it built its own version of the “Berlin Wall” (that continues to this day). This situation has provoked more anti-Americanism in the Arab and Muslim worlds, because both Arabs and Muslims throughout the world have condemned America ’s continued support for Israel and its bestial policies.

Then add to this the unprovoked attack on Iraq, especially when Iraq had followed the UN mandate and disarmed its major weapons and the UN inspector, Dr Hans Blix, had said that his inspectors had found no WMDs in Iraq and there probably weren’t any and that given a few more months he could ascertain the certainty of the matter. Dr. Baradi of the IAEA said the same thing, that there were no atomic weapons or facilities for producing them in Iraq . Yet, Bush went in, at the urging of the right wing of his party, with the drums of war being beaten by the Vigurie allies, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and their wannabes around the country on talk radio and on cable loudmouth TV—following the Vigurie protocol of “win at all costs, and the hell with the country.” So, we sent our troops in and we have now lost over 1000 of some of our best people—fathers who will never see their young children again, uncles who were retired and spending time with their families, mothers who will never have another child or see their grandchildren and youngsters who will never see life past 18—their lives torn short by this neo-con, Vigurie inspired, “win at all costs” philosophy that led to their deaths—and let us not forget the over 30,000 of our troops who are maimed for life—and the 120,000 Iraqis who have been killed and the thousands more how have been maimed—and all the other Americans and Iraqis who will die from our disposal of Depleted Uranium in the Gulf War II—a toxin much worse than the Agent Orange used in Viet Nam that was, and is, a silent killer for decades unto this day.

In addition, our attacks on Iraq have been seen as an attack on Islam. This attack on Islam has spread into the U.S. itself, with more and more Muslims and Muslim charitable organizations being attacked as being related to “terrorists.” Nothing is further from the truth. Almost all Muslims residing in America are good citizens and would never do anything to hurt our nation. They also give to Muslim charities as Islam calls for. But, for some reason, the neo-cons want to make an “example” of them, and are trying to single them out as the American government singled out the Japanese in WWII. Of course, this administration and our media never speak the truth about Israeli terrorism, or our own U.S. terrorism in the bombing unto rubble of Falluah and other places in Iraq —the finger is always pointed at Arabs and Muslims. Vigurie and the neo-cons like this, because like Goering and the Nazi’s they like to have an internal enemy—during the Hitler era it was the Jews, Poles, Russians and gypsies. In America , these days, it’s the Arabs and Muslims. Who is leading this attack, those same neo-cons who are leading us into disaster after disaster in the world, the neo-con fundamentalist right wing, aided by Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and their ilk.

Finally, the people of the Muslim world, and even some of the leaders who have been in bed with American policies, have begun to stand up and say, “No, you are wrong—99% of the Muslims are peaceful, not angry like Bin Laden, but you are filling the ranks of the radicals by your policies in Palestine and Iraq .” But does Vigurie and the Bush neo-con establishment, or the American media, want to hear this—ABSOLUTELY NOT!

They want to carry on in their own selfish ways—worrying about partisan matters in our Congress, in our White House and the TV and radio channels—they are more concerned about ratings and money flowing into their coffers. Somehow, someone forgot that the people actually own the airwaves, not Fox, not Clear Channel, not Sinclair, not NBC, CBS, PBS and ABC—but with the Powell and the FCC in their pockets—none of these organizations have a care in the world as they lambaste Islam and the Arabs, and humane policies that would help the poor, the homeless and the veterans who are coming home from Iraq with major injuries, not to mention those military people who say they will not go to Iraq as a matter of conscience. We must think of ways of taking these media licenses back so that the lies cannot go on forever and make the Orwellian nightmare even worse. Read 1984 and you’ll see Vigurie and his neo-cons have followed the oppression pattern of the rulers in that novel to a T.

All hail Vigurie and his vigilantes. I’m sure this is not what Eliseo Vivas, Russell Kirk and others who were real “conservatives” had in mind when they wanted a stronger conservative voice in American politics. They wanted to conserve our Constitution, our Civil Rights, our resources, our democracy, our freedom of speech and the right to agree to disagree. Even Richard Buckley, one of the leading conservatives of the last 3 decades has sounded a warning against this “win at all costs” philosophy and Bush’s rampant abuse of power.

Finally, let me make one point clear, as I said in the beginning, a person who wants to win at all costs, even at the expense of his country, is not a conservative—he is a NIHIILIST. I fear that the Vigurie and Bush crowd are naught but nihilists who are leading our nation to destruction. Just look at Dostoyevsky’s, THE POSSESSED, or

THE DEVILS, and you’ll see them for what they are. Do they care? Not so long as they win, win, win. If this continues, and there is no reason think it won’t because the moneyed corporations now own total control of the media, have control of the White House and most of the Congress and because Bush will be allowed to appoint the new Supreme Court Justices this term as some retire, we may lose the America and the Civil Rights and Constitutional Protections we had prior to the Bush presidency.

This puts our nation in a precarious position internally, but externally as well because the Bush behavior has not only made enemies of the Arab and Muslim populaces, but as the neo-cons anger Russia and threaten North Korea and China in the areas of their hegemony, Bush may trigger a larger conflagration that will lead to a major attack on our mainland that will make 9/11 and Pearl Harbor look like child’s play. This is not idle speculation, if you but look at the change in tone from Putin and the leaders of China and North Korea, you can see how they are basically telling America and Bush to butt out of their areas and their interests internationally. Putin has said this with respect to the former Soviet Republics, and now Russia and China have made major new oil and atomic reactor deals with Iran—this in the face of the Bush and neo-con warnings to Iran. The EU will not come to our aid, because aside from Tony Blair, no major power in the EU wants to stand with us in Iraq or in any other conflicts. The EU also knows that the IAEA has already said that Iran is complying with UN resolutions and not violating them—this in the face of U.S. accusations to the contrary. Thus, we have not only lost allies in the world, we have also lost our momentum for cutting back on atomic weapons in the world by our initiatives to create new ones and by supplying Israel with more expertise in this area. Others in the world now say, “If you and Israel and others have them, why shouldn’t we—in order to protect ourselves.” North Korea has said, “When Saddam disarmed, you attacked him. Therefore, why should we trust you and disarm.

America , you cannot be trusted.” China and Russia were both alarmed when Bush wanted to push ahead with his new “missile defense system.” It didn’t work, and may never work, but it does make other countries feel more vulnerable—which leads them to look at us with a wary eye. Especially in light of our foreign policy and our attempts to run the world either by military force or by dark operative behavior in various countries (Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia and now in the Ukraine by supporting the anti-Russian candidate with money, political operatives, media pressure and even organizational help with demonstrations).

What does Vigurie and his crowd have to do with all of this. They are the ones who feel they can not only control America , but by their devious behavior and public campaigning through media lies, that they can control the rest of the world as well. The problem for the Vigurie group and his neo-con friends is that the world has caught on to the game and these other countries can counteract the lies being told from America—something the poor American people cannot do because most of our population is being held captive by a lying media at all levels and are thus easily manipulated to believe the lies rather than seeing that we are living in an Orwellian nightmare like 1984 that gets progressively worse. Thus, as this group tries to ‘win” all over the world, we will lose more of our soldiers in wars in Afghanistan , in Iraq and wherever else we try to send troops.

And, just like the case with resistance from the Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghanis, America and its allies in the world, Israel and England, will find that though they may succeed in their attacks initially, they cannot sustain their forces and eventually, just as America is finding in Afghanistan and Iraq, the native populations will fight back and win in the end. The fighters in Iraq are doing what the Palestinians did to the Israelis, fighting back with primitive and small arms, with roadside bombs and finally with suicide attacks from which there is no defense.

The Iraqis and others will never allow our oppressive forces to say in their land—just as we would never allow an invader to take over our country without resistance unto death. That’s why we experts on the Middle East can’t believe the hubris of the American politicians who believe they can actually get Iraqis to go out and kill their fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins for a few lousy American dollars, America, and the Vigurie’s of the world will find that the whole world does not thirst for the almight dollar and for power the way politicians do in America. There are other values in the world, but the Viguries and the neo-cons are so enamored of power and money that they are blinded to other cultures in the world.

Yes, Vigurie may laugh and smile about his victories in America so far. But in the end, this cannot stand. Some kind of revolution will take place, whether it is started internally or by forces coming in from the outside with enough military power to upset the ruling clique who runs our country, I do not know. But this simple minded, win at any cost, ethnocentrism of Vigurie and his neo-cons will come to an end. My hope that is will be by democratic means, but if the Republicans continue cheating as they have in the last two elections, then the American people and the rest of the world will give up the idea of participatory democracy and the power of voting and turn to other means to change the government, as was heralded by Thomas Jefferson (and you can see it at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC) when he said that when the government no longer represents or responds to the people, they may have to take matters into their own hands.

I hope this doesn’t have to be the case. In this case, I also fault people like Bill Moyers for not just telling Vigurie that he’s wrong, the neo-cons are wrong and they are the real danger to our country. Instead, Moyers just pussy-footed through the interview while Vigurie made a fool of himself and Moyers. Though I shared Moyers upset with Vigurie, there was no reason to just let him off the hook. But that is the problem with too many “liberals, “, they have no guts. They don’t call a louse a louse, a crook a crook, and the thieves who are stealing our country pull every dirty trick in the book and are never called what they are, “traitors to America and to our Constitution!” For shame Bill for not cutting the con-man down.

On the other hand, some of our people are independent and intelligent enough that they will not tolerate this madness forever—even the dumbest of the dumb who voted for Bush this last time may awaken when they see their children, their brothers and sisters, their mothers and uncles and aunts being sacrificed for the Bushian/Republican empire in foreign war. And, when they lose their more of their jobs, then their homes, then their sense of hope—then they may awaken. May it be soon, before it is too late, before we come to a bad and vicious end.

Sam Hamod, Ph.D., edits www.todaysalternativenews.com and writes on international and domestic affairs. He is a former advisor to the State Department, editor of 3rd World News (in Wash, DC) and gadfly in the Menken, I.F. Stone tradition; he wants America to be the best in the world morally and ethically—as a friend to nations, not an enemy or a bully. He is available for lectures; he may be reached at shamod@cox.net

Copyright, Dec. 20, 2004, Sam Hamod.