Editor's Note: As George W. Bush and Dick Cheney ratchet up the "you're with us or you're with the terrorists" rhetoric, it's important to remember the American principles that are at stake in this momentous political battle.
What Bush and Cheney have in mind is a permanent restructuring of the U.S. constitutional system under an authoritarian executive who can waive any law and any freedom for anyone he deems an "enemy combatant" or a "bad guy." Dissent, too, will be dealt with harshly through a right-wing media built to destroy the reputations of anyone who resists.
Yet there are positive signs, too, of a bipartisan uprising of Americans who care deeply about the principles that have guided this democratic republic for more than two centuries. As representative of this trend, we are publishing this guest essay by William Frey, a founder of Republicans for Humility who seeks to return his party and the U.S. government to a more traditional path:
This essay explores many of the issues that led me personally to the recognition that the policies I was supporting in Iraq were not consistent with the justifications made for the invasion in the spring of 2003, that implicit in our post-invasion actions was the goal of permanent occupation, which would ensure endless war and the resultant degradation of our liberty, our security, and our moral authority.
For me, recognizing that I could no longer support the President for whom I voted, and the occupation of a land we had invaded, remains personally painful.
I have learned that while it is difficult to admit being wrong, such recognition is a prerequisite for redemptive action, necessary both for individual growth and for the healing of our nation.
It is in this spirit that I submit these reflections.
The smarter ones are starting to come around. Pack your lunch and go read.
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