A Daughter of the American Revolution Speaks Out Against Bush
by Andrea Clemons | View comments |
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As a Daughter of the American Revolution and as an American citizen, both labels conferred upon me not through any particular virtue of my own but by happenstance of my birth, I declare this government despotic and demand that the Bush regime step down and take its program with it. An IC Letter to the Editor.
Letter to the Editor:
I remember the time when my father signed me up with the Daughters of the American Revolution. He had spent parts of his free time for the last decade or so doing intense genealogical research on his (and my mother's) family, sometimes traveling in order to visit particular libraries in other states. Eventually, he discovered that someone in our ancestry fought in the American Revolution. This is the only criterion for becoming a member of the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution. So he sent the evidence in and suddenly he and I were members of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution (but my mother wasn't, because it wasn't her ancestor that fought.) I was in college. I was proud of whatever ancestor it was, because it sounds rather impressive – to have been a real revolutionary! To fight off the British empire! What a feat. I quickly heard from friends that the Daughters of the American Revolution have an unfortunate history of racism and nationalism. To be honest, I'm not surprised – by its very criterion for entrance, the Daughters of the American Revolution is a pretty exclusive group – and for what reason? To pretend that we have some kind of elevated patriotic duty / importance / connection in this nation for the particular family that we, by chance, were born into? I see much more patriotic duty exemplified by the recent immigrants that find themselves scrubbing the toilets of this nation than I do by the children in the wealthiest, most long-established families of this nation.
As part of my joining the Daughters of the American Revolution, my father sent the Daughters my email address, so I would get periodic Southern California Daughters of the American Revolution email updates about gatherings and whatnot. Well, one of those emails had a homophobic, nationalist and militaristic joke in it, which implied that French soldiers are all gay because they aren't as interested in war-mongering as American soldiers apparently are. I was so disgusted by the email that I deleted it. And then I immediately deleted it from my trash box. And then I kicked myself because I had just lost my chance to write a scathing reply to the violent homophobe that had sent it and everyone else on the list. Soon after that, I was graduated from college and I lost that email address. I no longer receive emails from the Daughters of the American Revolution that insult other people and my intelligence. Good riddance.
I am, however – still and forever, because I can't change my ancestry – a Daughter of the American Revolution. As such, and as an American citizen generally, I will demonstrate on October 5th as part of the World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime! demonstration. I will demonstrate against the Bush regime for taking the nation that my ancestors fought to liberate from empire and that subsequent ancestors worked their entire lives – in factories, in offices, in fields, in homes, and even in the military – to create. They created the wealth of this country and upheld the early ideals of this country and served this country in whatever ways they knew how. My father's ancestors have served this country since its inception and my mother's ancestors have served this country since the early 20th century. I will demonstrate on October 5th in all of their names.
I understand that this country's wealth has been created first on the backs of slaves from Africa and forever on the backs of those with the least monetary wealth and more recently on the backs of people in developing countries, but I also recognize that many Americans today and many Americans in the past didn't realize these scaled power structures, repeated from international dynamics to class dynamics and race dynamics, etc. It is in the idealized America that my ancestors placed their faith, and it is the Bush Regime's erasure of that America and worldwide endangerment of America and Americans that I will protest.
On October 5th, with respect for the ideals with which this nation was conceived, such as democratic representation and division of powers and the agency of the people that are governed to demand justice and a government that reflects their best interests, I will demonstrate. The zeitgeist producing this nation and its founding ideals are clearly described in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I recognize that every government is established by idealists, truly believing that their form of government will lead to a peaceful and prosperous existence. I also recognize that, while the founders of the United States of America had very clear ideals, shaped by the fire of tyrannical rule by a foreign king, they were also racist and engaged in a genocide of the indigenous peoples on this continent. Our history is a shameful one. I am proud of the ideals, and not proud of the hatred and killing that came alongside those ideals. Even at the beginning of this nation, those that called themselves citizens of the United States did not see the blatant connection between the imperialism they were escaping by declaring their independence and the imperialism they were perpetuating by claiming a land and murdering its people.
The clauses of the Declaration of Independence following the one above are a litany of the abuses suffered by residents of the British colonies under the thumb of the king of Britain. These are the abuses shaping the "absolute despotism" that motivated the colonists to "throw off" the king's rule and declare themselves an independent nation.
Most of the abuses directly describe the tactics taken up by the Bush regime. More importantly, the arrogant, imperialistic, militaristic and self-interested attitude defining all of them equally describe the Bush regime's actions. The founders of this nation declared this type of ruler a despot. They used the lessons from the oppression and suffering endured under the king to create a nation where such abuses would not happen again. And yet, before my very eyes, the Bush regime is bucking all of those protective devices against intolerance and despotism – the right to one's own religion, the separation of powers, the right to privacy and fair trial . . . the list doesn't end. It is time to throw off this government. This government that not only doesn't represent most U.S. citizens' best interests, but doesn't represent the United States, as a nation's, best interest as it perpetuates our "addiction to oil" and our military-industrial complex that, while it fattens the pockets of Bush's CEO friends, places our nation at the top of every list of most despised peoples. We are despised for allowing our government to get so out of hand that the health of the global ecosystem and the life of people all over the planet are ominously at risk, both indirectly through our refusal to take responsibility for the planet's health or directly, as the targets of our weapons.
As a Daughter of the American Revolution and as an American citizen, both labels conferred upon me not through any particular virtue of my own but by happenstance of my birth, I declare this government despotic and demand that the Bush regime step down and take its program with it. Please join me on October 5th, in the town or city in which you live, to demand the same. The World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime!
Andrea Clemons
clemons.a@gmail.com
http://worldcantwait.org
Read more articles by Andrea Clemons
What a complete failure as a patriot. Ms. Clemons only sees the wrong not only in the United States past,but in her present, and undoubtebly her future. She believes that all loyal Americans should overthrow Bush and his cabinet, all because she disagrees with him. What Ms. Clemons refuses to acknowledge is how many agree with him. We still have these little things called elections. I wonder how Ms. Clemons would feel if some libs revoked the 2nd Amendment and a group of citizens on the grounds of the 2nd amendment took up arms and actually overthrew our governement? After all, this is the reason the 2nd amendment is part of our consitition, how would Ms. Clemons feel about that.
As for as Daughters of the Revolution - what are you trying to say; are you proud or embarrassed? I am glad her post made its way to our pages, sometimes is hard to remember just how insane the liberals are.
Comment by Honker | October 5, 2006
Leftist pap wrapped up in an American flag.
This kind of rhetoric is just getting tiring. The author is just throwing out mindless moveon.org talking points without supplying a single supporting fact.
Empty rhetoric that doesn't even deserve a refutation.
Comment by Mountain Man | October 5, 2006
Bush won. Get over it.
Comment by sedonaman | October 5, 2006
Andrea! As what I consider a true patriot I welcome your cutting insight to where America has gone wrong.. I hope to see more posts from you as a balance to what a TRUE republican needs to say to pull this country back from the edge of madness. Honker and Mountain man are bitter about some little thing that poisons their world . Pay no attention to them and write the words that will restore this country to its former glory……..
In all kindness
Pat
Comment by Patrick DeBerg | October 5, 2006
1.The problem of the letter-writer is not America's behavior but her own self, molded by the official process of education as implemented by the engineers of souls. 2. The writer lacks an ability to understand nuances and does not have a grasp of the Zeitgeist that furnishes the frame within which the past must be viewed. 3. An example for the allegation regarding nuances. The framers of the US Constitution were not idealists. They had ideals but were practical men. That is the reason why they could endow a (still) young country with the oldest system of the world. 4. I never liked the DAR but even so, I think that they are better off with this lady getting out.
g. handlery
Comment by George de Poor Handlery | October 5, 2006
"Andrea Clemons has been a high school science teacher"
Huge surpise. "Those who cannot do, teach", as they say. Too bad you didn't become a history teacher, our country's institutions of education could use you to help re-write global history as it re-happened after the fact.
Comment by Patrick Mulligan | October 5, 2006
Andrea, you may be a DAR by birth but at heart you are a true America-loathing leftist. It may surprise you to learn that the "revolutionaries" you are proud to be descended from tarred and feathered and lynched Loyalists. Those Tories who fled in fear for their lives had their homes and possessions seized by the revolutionaries.
The point is that from its inception America has been imperfect. Where America is different though, is that its people have always aspired to create "a more perfect union."
An ancestor of mine fought and was maimed in the Civil War, a horrific war which preserved the Union and ended slavery. However, in Asia and in many Muslim countries slavery is still commonplace and accepted. By the way, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln stepped outside the bounds of the Constitution in ways that make G. W. Bush's supposed "despotism" look like a church picnic. Hint: if Bush followed Lincoln's precedent the entire editorial staff of the New York Times would be in prison.
In the 1960's the Civil Rights movement in America achieved historic success against institutionalized racism. Now a scant 40 years later, black Americans enjoy legal protections and wide-spread preferential treatment in hiring and promotion not afforded to their former white "oppressors." Contrast that with China and the 1989 Tianaman Square pro-democracy protests which were literally crushed under the treads of Chinese Army tanks. That, dear Andrea, is real despotism.
Finally, I implore you to look around you. Look at the students in your classroom whose own family roots can be traced to every corner of the earth. Look at the people you pass on the street — black, brown, Asian, Mediterranean. Do you really think they came here to be part of the "evil empire?" To sacrifice themselves to the "white power structure? No, they are here for reasons you are too blinded by your rage and rigid ideology to see. They are here to live in safety, free from persecution and to reap the rewards of their talents and hard work. My paternal great-grandmother came to America through Ellis Island and was a washer woman for the likes of the Rockefellers. My grandfather left school in 6th grade and became a firefighter. My father used the G.I. bill and became a physician. I however, do not possess his science aptitude, and live in more modest circumstances than those I grew up in. That is as it should be. And that is why people climb onto leaky rafts for the off chance of washing up on America's shores. Ironically, your ancestors became revolutionaries for the same reasons.
Comment by RSB | October 6, 2006
Here we have it folks, Ms. Clemons, a true product of the education system in America today. Now she is installed to teach our children. Ms. Clemons, your daddy must be proud.
Comment by Mike Brown | October 6, 2006
I just don't get this self-lothing, "America-is-awful" sentiment. I feel sorry for the students Ms. Clemons has in her class. Every student of history must study it in the context of the times, not through a politically "correct" lens of two centuries hence. I challenge her to go back in history and find any society or nation that grew and developed without tears or bloodshed.
Even more sad, is her unquestioning endorsement of the communist supported "World Can't Wait" protests. If she wants to oust a "real" despot, perhaps she should try protesting on the streets of Pyongyang, Havana, Beijing or even Tehran — she certainly would learn the meaning of tyranny then.
For a teacher, it is also sad that she doesn't seem to understand what "despot" means: "a ruler with absolute power, especially one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way." (Compact Oxford English Dictionary) Of course, the current Bush admnistration could never fit that definition. Bush does not have absolute power (memo to Ms. Clemons: Congress still holds the purse and the Judiciary has the final word on the Constitution (which, btw, contains no express guarantee of a right of "privacy" as such)). As the plethora of Bush hate-speech floods the internet, press, and entertainment worlds proves, there is certainly no "oppression," either. At least, in these United States, people are still free to think as they please, and to speak their minds (memo to Ms. Clemons: compare this vitality with, say, how fringe thinkers are treated in Iran or China). Ms. Clemons also fails to explain how the Bush administration has been "cruel." I suppose that is a somewhat subjective evaluation to make, but I'd willingly compare any "atrocity" she cares to cite against, say, the current regime in China, where they now apparently have mobile executioner buses to bring justice right to your doorstep. I'd even willingly compare the U.S. treatment of its underclass with the underclasses living in French slums.
Do I think everything is perfect? Of course not. Could we be surrendering too many freedoms too cheaply in the name of "security"? Certainly. But I more concerned about what is happening in my own locality, where local officials want to plant cameras almost everywhere. None of this has to do with Bush, of course, but to me, that is more dangerous to personal "privacy" and liberty than whether the NSA listens to certain overseas phone calls.
As Alexander Hamilton observed over a century ago, a permanent tension exists in self-government — "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself."
Comment by AlexHamilton | October 6, 2006
Mr. DeBurg,
It is ME that is bitter about some little thing? I have read your endless litanies on this website, and it seems to me that you are so filled with hate that you cannot see past your own rhetoric. How about this little gem from you: "Liberals need a place to hide from the real world because what you [Republicans] have going on out there is frightening indeed." That is indeed sick.
I wonder if it has dawned on you how perfectly your phraseology, style, and presentation match the author of this little vapid piece. I mean really, you could have wrote it. That is the thing that is so apparent about you leftists, you march in lock-step with each other, repeating slogans to each other, and agreeing with each other about what amounts to patent nonsense.
The when a conservative posts an article here, leftists pop out of the woodwork and shout some more slogans, as if your little bumper sticker phrases are self evidently true. "Bush is a liar, he's helping out his oil buddies, the Republicans are going to starve the elderly, homopobes, bigots, Halliburton, Carl Rove…"
See, I can do it and sound just like you. It isn't hard. It requires no thought, no analysis, no logic. I have asked you so many times to cite examples, to document your assertions, to name even one source that proves any of your endless parade of accusations, but you yet to do so.
Ok, continue to hide from the real world, if that is what you want. The rest of us who love life, who will fight for liberty, who recognize that there are evil people in the world who must be stopped, we will still go about our daily lives with joy, pursuing our private, legal, community-benefitting interests, while refusing to bow down to the god of government.
Comment by Mountain Man | October 6, 2006
I clicked on the link she had for the world can't wait web site, they are Insane. It's the most frightening stuff I have ever read on the web, not that it is true, but that these people believe it.
Comment by GARY1836 | October 15, 2006