Candid And Unfettered Advice

I often hear, in reference to the refusal of the White House to allow information about its advisors and its decision-making process to come to light, that "for the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice," to quote White House Counsel Fred Fielding, and that the prospect of having to testify under oath about that advice could have a chilling effect and make such advisors "reluctant to communicate openly and honestly." This rationale has been repeated so many times that reporters seem to gloss right over it on auto-pilot, like it's just some boilerplate they have to include next to station identification and the weather.

What kind of advice is the president getting that the American people need to remain ignorant of it? If there are people advising the president who are afraid of having their ideas attributed to them, I've got news for you, those people should not be influencing policy. Are there any secret signatures on the Declaration of Independence? Are there any articles of the Constitution whose validity is dependent on their authorship? Why should we, as Americans, be so respectful of the desire for privacy of those who are guiding our ship of state? It's our country, "We the people" isn't just a cute phrase, it's a guiding principle, that this representative democracy, this republic, derives its power from the people, through the people, and for the people.

I know I'm getting carried away here, but this is pretty outrageous stuff. Should we allow ourselves to be ruled by those who lack the courage of their convictions? Given that this nation was created and birthed by men and women who were willing to die, to be tortured, to give up all they had in the world for the ideas of freedom and justice for all, does it not follow that the maintenance and furtherance of the grand ideals that underpin the United States of America should be undertaken by people of similar strength of character? That the governance of this nation should be an enterprise to which one would be proud to have one's name attached?

I recognize that a good decision-maker, especially one responsible for so much, needs to have access to all available options, and sometimes must make difficult and perhaps Machiavellian choices about things. And if we're talking about information that must be kept secret to ensure the security of the country, then telling it on the mountain is not appropriate. But when we're talking about internal politics, about the basic nuts and bolts administration of national policy, such a deference to secrecy is not right, and it's certainly not our way of doing things. We the people believe in open and honest government, and those qualities are not fueled by shadows, smoke, and mirrors. If the Congress is asking the president a question, then the people represented by the Congress (that's us! you and me!) are asking the president a question, and if he is indeed upholding the ideals that he most solemnly swore to uphold, then he cannot but answer truthfully. That is a basic fact of our system of government. To do any less is un-American, and must be dealt with harshly and with all available haste.

Another Turd In The Punchbowl, or "All Your Laws Are Belong To Us"

We're going to start by assuming that Americans are not too stupid to figure out when and how they are being abused by their leaders. I know, but bear with me. We're going to continue by stipulating that the failure of the American people to overthrow their current government stems from their ignorance of the seriousness of the situation. We're blaming the delinquency of the press for that. By way of remedy, right here and now, we at the Fiery Sword are going to try to put President Bush's statement on Monday in a format that the proud and sturdy yeoman farmers of de Tocqueville's journals can understand and digest:

Oh noes! I'm in ur x-ecootiv, bailin' out ur felonz!

There. It's done. I can hear the torches lighting now, the sharpening of the pitchforks. Like Paul Revere before me, I have alerted the citizenry. Remember, when casting your bronze plaques, to spell my name correctly.

American Idyll

The United States is staggeringly, ineffably huge. From geography to ideology to finance to architecture, there is only so much commonality of experience to be found. The states assert their limited sovereignty, the regional industries delineate their fiefdoms, churches, news organs, and even restaurant chains stake out their territories in the minds and municipalities of their adherents. The city mouse and the country mouse are only vaguely aware of how the other half lives.

So if one were to aspire to lead this country, to be the central, chief executive, how would one craft a message that would cut across these divisions, that would ignite the fire of support in enough people to elevate one to the top job? Because this is America, not Great Britain, there is no division between the avatar and the manager of this country. Taking the reins of power means accepting all the trappings of national cultural identity.

There is one school that takes after the Oracle at Delphi, striving mightily to keep the message vague enough that people can hear only what they want to hear. This is the path of darkness. With candidates campaigning from afar, through television and cattle-calls, carefully scripted to avoid the collective embarrassment of the entire field of contenders, there is a serious danger that the Bromide Candidate can seize the mantle of cultural identity without ever demonstrating the skills necessary for government. The catastrophe that results from this quirk of the American electoral process is evident.

So keep your eyes open, countrymen, and keep your minds sharp. If the words of a politician pass through you like a phantom, leaving no discernible trace, take that as evidence of the substance of said candidate's character. Stay vigilant against those who describe that quality as "electability," for they seek to deceive you. This is one nation, indivisible, but like the A-Team, it is our differences that make us strong. If someone comes to you claiming to bring vague, unifying ideas, cast him aside. If someone comes to you with strong ideas, the kind of vigorous thought that challenges and threatens, engage him directly and plumb the depth of his intellect, because this nation was not raised on the bending and scraping of pandering sycophants, but on the clash and conflict of new and dangerous hallucinations.