Fin

All good things must end, which includes this column – if it fits that description.  Without going into detail, suffice it to say that I have accepted a position within the Pima County government that requires me to maintain a low profile and writing an Internet column and occasionally co-hosting a radio show definitely do not fit the requirement.

When I started writing this column on July 1, 2003, I had just left the Tucson Unified School District, a victim of the Stan Paz purge, and was reeling from my Mother’s death, injuries from a motor vehicle accident that happened the day after she died, and the loss of our family’s cabin in the Aspen Fire – all during the same month.  I’ve never had a worse month.  But Emil invited me to write a column for his relatively new website and I jumped at the opportunity.  It’s hard to imagine better therapy.

Back then, the Iraq War, which I vehemently opposed, was in its early stages.  George W. Bush, an illegitimate and incompetent President, enjoyed fairly decent approval ratings.  The Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and conservatives believed they owned the future.  Karl Rove was discussing the possibility of a permanent Republican majority.  Those were heady times for the right wing and my goal was to articulate the viewpoints of the left, hopefully in an articulate, entertaining, and reasonable fashion.  And I think, with the exception of a few over the top tirades, I accomplished that goal.

I was a minor voice in what became a growing realization that those in control of the national government had “strayed outside the reservation” and beyond the Constitution.  It was hard to recognize the country I was born into when our leaders fabricated reasons for a war, denied habeas corpus to those imprisoned on our soil, permitted individuals to be imprisoned indefinitely without charges, allowed people to be kidnapped and removed to foreign nations where they were tortured, allowed the CIA to torture its prisoners, and endorsed eavesdropping on American citizens.  The same leadership lied about the federal budget by keeping the expenses of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan off budget and repeatedly tried to demonize the opposition by accusing them of treason.  It was a perilous and fearful time, but at least those of us on the left had the First Amendment and good sense of the American people on our side.

I first saw the possibility of a President Obama when he visited Africa.  He had the aura of a world leader.  My first campaign work involved passing literature for John F. Kennedy when I was still a student at St. Peter and Paul’s school; I felt proud and vindicated when he attracted massive crowds in Europe and his picture was displayed widely in Latin American households.  Even Bill Clinton was regarded as the “Emperor of the World,” as a Chinese citizen described him before his visit to that massive country.  I was accustomed to an American President having that kind of global clout – I include Ronald Reagan, even though I did not support him – and it was difficult to endure George W. Bush’s tenure as Rodent in Chief.  We Americans deserved better, and Barack Obama was better.  Many of my friends derided my early support of Obama, telling me that he was not ready, that it was too soon.  My response:  the time makes the man, not vice versa.  If the time calls, he should answer the call.  So should the American people.  We heard the call, and Barack Hussein Obama is now President.

But my optimism for the future is tempered by seditious political discourse.  The right wing, left in shambles by electoral defeats, has no policies to advocate.  The Republican Party has degenerated into a regionalist radical splinter group.  I hope they outgrow their current radicalism and negativism, because the country deserves and needs a thoughtful opposition.  Emphasis on the word “thoughtful.”

The nature of right-wing discourse is troubling.  It began with John McCain’s peculiar (and politically suicidal) elevation of Sarah Palin.  McCain and Palin rallies were punctuated with cries of “traitor” and unfortunate racial epithets.  When Palin mentioned Obama’s name during a campaign rally, several individuals called out, “kill him!”  McCain, a decent man, could not corral the Beast he had unleashed and Sarah Palin didn’t try.

The Beast still lurks.  When Glenn Beck of Fox News calls upon his audience to consider “taking back” the government with the use of arms, the Beast roars.  When right wingers spread rumors of an imminent confiscation of citizens’ guns, the Beast roars (and kills police officers!).  When elected officials, such as James Inhofe, spread seditious lies overseas, the Beast roars.  When Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich complain that respect for the law undermines national security, the Beast roars.

While I am generally optimistic about the future of our country, mainly because we finally have adults in charge and Obama is recognized not just as a world leader, but THE world leader, I fear the Beast.  While I believe the Obama administration will wage an effective campaign against al-Qaeda and try to capture or kill Osama bin-Laden, who Bush allowed to escape, and while I believe they will finally address global warming, deficient public education, and a failing health care system, all of which the right-wing abandoned, I’m concerned about the growing venom of the right wing’s dark side. The touchstone of my concern is the refusal of reasonable Republicans and conservatives to recognize the Beast in their midst.

Here is where I leave five and a half years worth of columns:  I support and respect those the American people have chosen to take the reins of our national leadership, but I fear the Beast.

I’ll be back one of these days, after I finally retire and no longer have to maintain a low profile for the sake of my employer or anybody else.  I might be seventy at the time, which is a little more than a decade from now.  When I return to the world of Internet punditry, I hope political debates are based on historical notions of liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican, with mutual respect and deference to the other side’s point of view.

I hope, by then, nobody quarters the Beast.

© April 10, 2009 by Mike Tully

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