June 26, 2005 -- With the emergence of the "Downing Street Memos," proof emerged that the "Crime of the Century" had factually taken place. The Bush administration is now known to have overtly lied to the American people and employed Madison Avenue hype and Old Testament religious coercion to lead the people into a pre-meditated, preemptory and unquestionably immoral war against Iraq (Michael Green, Common Dreams, Axis of Logic, May 15, 2005).

The release of the “Downing Street Memos," for many Americans, stood in sharp contrast to their memories of the religious fervor of the Bush administration in hyping the American people for a war against Saddam Hussein, his WMD and his al Qaida connections, a war that the Bush administration had already declared. The war against Iraq was immoral before the fact, and now everyone knows it was immoral after the fact. Cheney's projected American self-concept as "Liberators" walking victoriously down the flower-petaled streets of Baghdad, is no longer an option.

Nothing like this has ever happened in America. Never before have the American people been told overt lies and led into unprovoked war against other people. That would be bad enough but then there is the aftermath of the Bush administration's actions in Iraq, the massive human death toll, the massive social disruption and the massive cost of it all in creating a breeding ground for additional terrorism. There is the massive loss of respect for America in the eyes of the educated world and there is the fact that Osama bin Laden, the majority of 9/11 hijackers and the majority of Iraqi insurgents are home-grown in Saudi Arabia.

Despite efforts to make the Crime of the Century into a national issue deserving national action (manifest as calls for impeachment of the entire Bush administration), little of substance has and can be accomplished without the assistance of the American press.

The press properly serves as the people's primary source of factual information relevant to comprehension and decision-making. This is not the kind of information that the American press has been providing the people. In the face of the "Crime of the Century," the American press remains paralyzed from the neck up.

The question is this, "Why is the American press paralyzed?" The answer is this, "The press is confronted by the Crime of the Century."

What the Bush administration has done to the American people and to the values that gave America birth is simply beyond knowledgeable comprehension and belief. That it has done so in the name of democracy and Christianity and the American people is simply beyond comprehension and belief. That it has done so in the interest of Old Testament apocalyptic fundamentalism and greed-driven crony capitalism is simply beyond comprehension and belief. The conservative press will not believe it and the liberal press can't believe it.

That is precisely why the press remains paralyzed and unable to be the friend of the people. The press is unable to provide an honest viewpoint around which the people can rally and take action, because that would be to admit that the chosen "American way" of competitive capitalism has been wrong all along, that Americans have failed as a people and that America has failed as a democracy.

Dealing with that fact would require change so massive and so far removed from the values of religious capitalism as to threaten everything America has believed over the past half century. The American press is simply not in a position to deal with any of this, not on intellectual ground and certainly not on fiscal ground.

Like everything American, the press is largely revenue-dependent upon the corporate aristocracy that Jefferson and Franklin correctly feared would usurp the power of the people and destroy American democracy. Given this revenue-dependence upon the competitive sociopolitical system that has, since World War II, denigrated the concepts of human rights, fairness and equality, rekindled class warfare and made America the most unfair nation on earth, the American press has no idea whatsoever how to deal with the challenge of utter national dysfunction.

Like everything American, the onus comes back to the people. Having responsibility always dumped back on the people may sound unfair in a republic of elected representatives, but "the people" are where the true power of America has always resided. The locus of authority and responsibility in the world must be in the same place in a government of, by and for the people.

While one could hope that the American press would simply do its job without higher intervention, it is self-evident that the American people are going to have to demand an honest, nonpolitical, democratic press, one that brings the real issues to the fore so that the people have the option of making decisions with their collective voice if not through their elected representatives. Until then, the "Crime of the Century" will continue to have counts added as a result of Bush administration SOP.

For half a century, Americans have entrusted their duties as citizens in a democracy to elected representatives who were increasingly compromised by an "influence for a fee" corporate government. It simply has not worked. If the people take American government back into their own hands, it ought surprise no one. Long live the people.

© Copyright 2005 by AxisofLogic.com

Dr. Gerry Lower is an Axis of Logic columnist and this past year has relocated from Black Hills, South Dakota to Eugene, Oregon. His book, Jefferson's Eyes, has become a favorite among Axis of Logic readers. It provides a logical derivation of the values of natural philosophy, nascent Christianity and democracy. Dr. Lower also has a website where more of his work can be enjoyed on subjects of global philosophy, Deism, dialectic human values, democracy and Jeffersonian thought. He can still be reached at tisland@blackhills.com.