The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy: The Undoing of America's Exceptionalism

Hall, Burt

ISBN 10: 1475926960 / ISBN 13: 9781475926965

Published by iUniverse, 2012

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1475926960I4N00

Synopsis:

p>For over thirty years, World War II veteran and author Burt Hall assessed accountability in government and national security. Now, this seasoned, professional analyst delivers a tough account of what went wrong in our politics and system of government over the past two decades and what we can do about it. The right wing (not to be confused with Conservatism) has hijacked the Republican Party and wrecked havoc on our nation. It exploited basic flaws in our system to gain power and a series of major setbacks and a weakened democracy have followed. The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy lays out clearly what the basic flaws in our system are and how they can be fixed. The danger is that an ongoing shift of political power to the very wealthy and suppression of voting rights is silencing the voice of the average citizen. If elected officials do not fix the basic flaws, the American people have alternatives in our democracy and must take matters into their own hands.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy

The Undoing of America's ExceptionalismBy Burt Hall

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Burt Hall
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-2696-5

Contents

Highlights....................................................................................................................................................xi1) Rejection of People's choice of President..................................................................................................................12) Now in Charge, Right-Wing Administration Does Not Respond to Extraordinary Warnings of Impending 9/11 Attacks..............................................223) LAUNCHING TWO NEEDLESS WARS................................................................................................................................544) Resulting Decline in US Foreign Policy and National Security...............................................................................................725) Passing on a Nation in Decline.............................................................................................................................846) A Second Rejection of People's choice of President.........................................................................................................987) Repairing Our System of Democracy..........................................................................................................................1078) Repairing Our System of Politics...........................................................................................................................139President John F Kennedy—A Final Comment................................................................................................................160Appendix I Special letter to Secretary Powell from high-level US diplomat explaining why he is resigning from the Bush administration........................163Appendix II Special article by Rev Dr Graham Standish on Religion in Politics................................................................................166Appendix III Special article disclosing Senator John McCain's key role in promoting the war in Iraq..........................................................171Appendix IV Remedies to Repair Our System of Government......................................................................................................175Appendix V Patriot Millionaires: Let the Bush Tax Cuts Expire Once and for All...............................................................................178Appendix VI Special Article by Nick Hanauer: A Billionaire's views on Taxes..................................................................................183Appendix VII Special Excerpts from Article by Rob Hayes and James Marc Lear: Why the Citizens United Decision is Constitutionally Flawed.....................187Appendix VIII Special article by Cynthia Carpathios: Independent Voters Urge Reforms to Limit Partisan Political Power.......................................191Appendix IX Special article by Olympia Snowe: Why I'm Leaving the Senate.....................................................................................193Appendix X Special article by Senator Collins: Yes, the Political Center Can Be Saved........................................................................196Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................................................199

Chapter One

REJECTION OF PEOPLE'S CHOICE OF PRESIDENT

"We are an endangered species ... my wing of the party has been swept into oblivion by the ultra right, which now controls the Republican agenda."

A former moderate Republican

The right wing of the Republican Party decides what it wants to do and then pursues a win-at-any-cost strategy to achieve its ends. Right wing adherents assume they have a "divine" right to govern and a right to tear down those who don't share their beliefs.

During the two Clinton administrations, they tried every means at their disposal—unethical, illegal and unconstitutional—to undermine his administrations and force resignation. Subversive politics disrupted the presidency and eased the way for the right-wing takeover of the White House in 2001. It all started with –

Refusal to Accept Presidential Election Results

After much campaigning and political infighting, we elect a president every four years. These elections provide legitimacy to a new or continued administration. Traditionally, Americans pull together and support the elected president. That tradition was broken in the 1990's.

Republicans owned the White House for twelve years before Clinton's election and were outraged at the loss of the presidency. Clinton was seen as a usurper, his victory illegitimate and he had to be driven from the White House. To accomplish this, he had to be brought down.

In the aftermath of Clinton's election, right wing members of the business legal and church communities, and the political establishment collectively mounted covert and other efforts to disable the President's administration and remove him from office. Their tentacles spread far and wide. Some of the key players were:

• Investment bankers Peter Smith and Richard Mellon Scaife, both of whom paid huge sums to finance any possible scandal—no matter how farfetched. Scaife is believed to have spent from $200 to $300 million trying to influence government policy and "steer this country to his brand of hard-core conservatism." He financed a right wing magazine, American Spectator, whose role was to trash the President, without much regard for the facts, and drive him from office.

• Lawyers Richard Porter, member of the first Bush administration, and Ted Olson, a member of both Bush administrations. They were actively involved behind the scenes, playing important roles in various assaults on the President. Olson participated in several Scaife-funded activities and was intent on undermining the Clinton presidency without disclosing his own involvement.

• Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who represented the opposition from the religious right. Falwell's organization, Moral Majority, promoted videotapes accusing the President of drug-dealing and the murder of White House aide, Vince Foster—among other things.

• A group from Arkansas who stood ready and willing to feed the right wing network. They included political opponents who were financial opportunists and incensed over Clinton's success. The "Arkansas Project," sponsored by Scaife, was a four-year, $2.4 million attempt to gather information "leading to political ruin of the President."

• Newt Gingrich, who became the new right-wing Speaker of the House in 1994. Gingrich called the Clinton administration "the enemy of normal Americans" and said in a private meeting he would use "subpoena power" to wage war against the White House. He envisioned as many as twenty congressional investigations being conducted simultaneously. Smith and Scaife were both major contributors to Gingrich's campaigns and causes.

Gingrich would later try to use a government shut-down to force an unacceptable budget on the President. According to an eight-term Republican congressman who served with Gingrich (See chapter eight), Gingrich changed the way Congress did business by polarizing his party and being constantly at war with Democrats. He and his Majority Whip, Tom DeLay were the architects of partisanship and the politics of personal destruction.

• Tom DeLay, House Majority Whip from 1995 to 2003. He diverted the nation and Congress itself from confronting the ongoing menace of international terrorism by using extraordinary measures to force through the House of Representatives an illegitimate impeachment of the President.

These facts, and those which follow, are just a small part of a vast right wing conspiracy documented by highly reputable journalists in these books: (1) The Hunting of the President, (2) A Vast Conspiracy, (3) Blinded by the Right, (4) The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton and (5) The Clinton Wars.

Plot to Create Unwarranted Sexual Harassment Suit and Manipulate U.S. Judicial System

The Paula Jones incident first surfaced in an American Spectator article by journalist David Brock in January, 1994—two years after President Clinton was elected to office. In that article, Brock wrote about a sexual encounter by the then Governor Clinton of an Arkansas and a state employee, Paula Jones.

Brock later expressed regret for having written it and confessed to using innuendo and unverified charges to spice up his material. He received $5,000 from investment banker Peter Smith to begin researching the article. Brock found out later that Peter Smith had paid another $30,000 to sources of Brock's article (known in the trade as "cash for trash").

Richard Porter formed a group of lawyers to support and advise Paula Jones. Rather than sue American Spectator Magazine for its distortions, her advisors decided to advance their own agenda by working covertly to manipulate the courts in a sexual harassment suit against the President. Referred to as the "elves," the advisors kept their participation a secret from even their own law firms.

Richard Porter's law partner Kenneth Starr offered to work free for Jones. He had six telephone conversations with Jones' group of lawyers, in which he offered his opinion that presidents were not immune from civil suits. He stated publicly several times that the suit should proceed without delay.

Scaife donated $50,000 to help Jones sue the President. A member of Gingrich's House staff would be her chief fundraiser. People close to the case, which was filed on May 6, 1994, suspected that anything that happened between the two principals was consensual, but they pursued it to humiliate the President and hasten his destruction.

The plan was to set a perjury trap when the case came to court by interrogating the President about any past relationships when he was then Governor of Arkansas.

Reputable Independent Counsel Secretly Replaced by Ken Starr to Destabilize the Clinton Presidency

That same year, following right wing demands for inquiry into a failed Arkansas Whitewater land deal that occurred in the 1980's, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Robert Fiske as Independent Counsel to investigate Whitewater, as well as the President and First Lady's involvement. In the next several months, Fiske moved fast, initiating several local prosecutions in Arkansas. Unexpectedly, a three-judge panel replaced him with Ken Starr. They did so after ultra-right Senators, Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth, secretly put pressure on the panel.

Fiske had been aggressively pursuing the Whitewater case and had impeccable credentials and a reputation for fairness. Starr, on the other hand, had no investigative experience and opposed Clinton on every major issue of the day. Starr became the "designated point man in a strategy ... to destabilize the Clinton presidency."

Despite his few qualifications, additional investigations were heaped on Starr's plate. They included probes into White House travel office firings, possible misuse of FBI files, and the suicide of White House aide, Vince Foster. Afterwards, Starr went beyond his authorized scope to make numerous inquiries into Clinton's private sex life while Governor of Arkansas.

Eventually, Starr would spend $70 million trying to bring down the Clinton presidency. Other Independent Counsels spent another $40 million investigating members of his Administration. In the end, not one top official was convicted of a public crime.

Empty Handed, Starr Eventually Resigns, But Only Temporarily

Recognizing that any case against the Clintons was over, Starr's best people began leaving his employ. Those who stayed on were "the unemployable and the obsessed." Suddenly, in 1996, Starr announced plans to accept a teaching position at Pepperdine University in California—without closing any of his investigations. The new position had been arranged earlier by Scaife, possibly as an incentive.

The right wing and the media were stunned. The Washington press corps had succumbed to allegations of Clinton's wrongdoing, but Starr couldn't prove them. Outraged, columnist William Safire of the New York Times newspaper described Starr as "a man with a warped sense of duty" who "had brought shame on the legal profession by walking out on his client—the people of the United States."

Meanwhile, the right wing published a futuristic book, The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton. It imagined Clinton's payment of hush money during the Whitewater investigation and his later impeachment. The book had an anonymous author—widely rumored to be Ted Olson—and included a forward from a Congressional right winger, Republican Bob Barr, saying it was, "... required reading for every citizen of this country."

The right wing continued to hope Starr would inflict a mortal wound on the President. This was a theme of Ted Olson's anonymous satire in American Spectator. Bombarded by protests and attacks on his reputation, Starr decided to stay on as Independent Council.

High Court Blunders, Allows Civil Suit Against Sitting President

In 1997, the Supreme Court allowed the Jones sexual harassment suit to go forward during the President's term in office on the grounds that it would not be a distraction! The Dean of American Journalism, David Broder, explained the Court's decision this way:

"One of the great blunders of American history ... one of the dumbest decisions in the long history of the Court ... when they decided that a President should have no immunity against civil suits while serving in office, they may have broken their own record for ignoring reality."

Under our Constitution, once a president assumes office he owes the public his full time and attention. Civil suits can hamstring a sitting president during his entire time in office. During an NBC interview, even Paula Jones acknowledged the disruption her suit might create and said she was willing to wait until the President's term was over. However, the Supreme Court placed her case above the public good and disregarded the U.S. Constitution.

Years later, Jones would publicly admit, on the Larry King Show, to being used by people with a political agenda.

Starr Sets Up Monica Lewinsky Investigation

The mid-nineties were desperate times for Starr and his men. They had drilled dry holes concerning the Clintons for several years, and their supporters were unhappy. Starr's people had given up on charging the President with any wrongdoing, but they were in no rush to close their cases.

In 1997, a new cast of characters surfaced led by Linda Tripp. A public affairs employee at the Pentagon, who had previously worked in the White House, Tripp had illegally wiretapped her friend and White House intern, Monica Lewinsky talking about her relationship with the President. This was a relationship he might deny if interrogated on the Paula Jones case.

Starr had no authority to intervene, but he moved fast. He went to the Justice Department and begged for more authority on the grounds of a link between the Lewinsky matter and his Whitewater land investigation. The presumed, but fictitious, link in the two cases was the President's friend, Vernon Jordan.

Starr Then Misleads Justice Department into Authorizing Investigation

According to Starr's people, Jordan had given job assistance to Lewinsky in exchange for false testimony she would give for the President in the Jones case, if called upon to testify. Starr's people then pressured Attorney General Reno into a snap, overnight decision, by telling her that Newsweek would soon be reporting a sensational sex story and cover up —including any refusal by Reno to let the Independent Counsel investigate. In making their case, Starr's office provided both incomplete and false information.

• Newsweek's top echelon actually had decided not to print the Lewinsky sexual affair. It was Reno's overnight approval that eventually tipped the scales in favor of publication.

• Starr's people omitted the important fact that Vernon Jordan had been helping Lewinsky find a job in New York long before she ever got a Jones subpoena. There was never any overlap with the Whitewater land deal.

Starr Fails to Reveal Three Conflicts of Interest

Starr did not disclose his previous involvements in the Jones case. He had had a number of consultations with Paula Jones' lawyers, had advocated her case in public, and had offered to work free for her.

Starr's office said they'd had no contact with the Jones team. Actually, they were already in collusion with Jones' group of legal advisors —the "elves."

Starr did not disclose that his law partner (Porter) was conspiring behind the scenes to undermine the presidency, as well as to set up a perjury trap in the unwarranted Jones suit.

After getting the new investigation, Starr's people then implored Newsweek to hold up publication of the sex story until the President had answered the Jones deposition—the long awaited ambush was set.

Attorney General Accepts False Information Without Statutorily Required Review

The Independent Counsel statute was clear. Attorney General Reno had to make a review herself and find "credible evidence" before the statute could be triggered for an investigation. Had she done so, she would have found (1) the suspicions about Vernon Jordan were untrue, (2) there were no grounds for expanding Starr's authority and (3) several conflicts of interest undermined Starr's capacity to do an independent and impartial review.

The problem with Reno's overnight decision is that the Independent Counsel statute does not operate on mere suspicions or hearsay, but on evidence determined to be credible by Justice Department officials themselves. Further, Starr had an axe to grind and was not the right person for the job. Reno pulled the trigger too fast, too soon, and worst of all based on bad information.

Unfortunately, her ill-advised decision triggered a situation impossible to control—the assignment of a sex scandal to a biased team of investigators with an unlimited budget, who were intent on bringing down the President.

A few weeks later, the presiding judge dismissed the Jones lawsuit and concluded that the Lewinsky matter was not material to that case. An appeal was later settled out of court. So, now we have Starr abandoning several unfinished investigations to chase obstruction in a sexual harassment case—and there was no case to obstruct.

Starr Violates His Statute to Advocate Impeachment

As Bob Woodward of the Washington Post newspaper reported, Starr's decision to send a massive narrative of the Clinton-Lewinsky sexual relationship to Congress was "pathetic and unwise." To the dismay of many, right wing House leaders made the report immediately available to everyone—including children—in excruciating detail on the Internet.

The history and charter of the Office of Independent Counsel is clear. The Independent Counsel is a prosecutor and fact-giver, not an impeachment advocate for a particular political party in power. Because of Starr's strong advocacy, his ethics adviser, Sam Dash, immediately resigned. Dash said that by acting as the House's "prosecuting counsel for impeachment," Starr had violated the statute requiring him to present evidence but not conclusions.

In late summer 1998, just before release of Starr's report, our country suffered its third terrorist attack. The bombing of two U.S. embassies had killed over 200 people and injured about 5000. At that very time Osama Bin Laden declared war on the United States, saying "to kill the Americans—civilians or military—is an individual duty for every Muslim."

House Leaders Use Blackmail to Railroad Impeachment in Lame Duck Session

Well over two-thirds of the American people favored Clinton remaining in office and made their views known by rendering a huge setback to Republicans during midterm elections in November, 1998. At this juncture, impeachment was for all practical purposes dead.

While Chairman Henry Hyde of the Judiciary committee had earlier promised the American people a fair hearing on the Starr report, the Republican setback in recent mid-term elections reduced its majority in the next Congress to almost nothing.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Right-Wing Threat to Democracyby Burt Hall Copyright © 2012 by Burt Hall. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Bibliographic Details

Title: The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy: The ...
Publisher: iUniverse
Publication Date: 2012
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
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