Dr. Steven Jonas

JUNKIE: Dr. Jonas’ article today is a rerun of his perspectives of Sen. Dick Durbin’s speech on the floor of the US Senate in summer of 2005 questioning Bush’s inhumane treatment of prisoners at Gitmo and comparing the treatment to the techniques used by the Soviet Union. Sen. Durbin was roundly attacked by Republicans and their allies in the press at the time for daring to compare Bush’s policies to those of the Soviet Union. Dr. Jonas’ article published in TPJ can be found at this hyperlink, “THE DICK DURBIN DISASTER.”

The point Dr. Jonas so clearly made was that there are “sides” in the fight to preserve constitutional democracy. My take on his article at the time was that Dr. Jonas was making a critical point. Does the Democratic Party really want to win and maintain constitutional democracy in the United States?

Dr. Jonas wrote this follow-up article, which has been slightly edited for republication, making the case that there are but two sides; and Americans have to choose.

There are many perspectives circulating on Lamont’s victory over Sen. Lieberman on Tuesday. We invite you to reread Dr. Jonas’ article below in the context of the choices that citizens of Connecticut made on Tuesday.

Last week I in this space, I published a lengthy column on what I called “The Dick Durbin Disaster.”

Stephen Gheen kindly introduced my article with the following words [slightly amended]:

“Dr. Steven Jonas authors an article today that [puts in bold letters] the problem that threatens the vitality and reemergence of the Democratic Party. Dr. Jonas frames the issues with simple perfection: ‘Do we want to win? Do we really want to restore and preserve our precious constitutional democracy and above it, the Rule of Law? [If we do], the first thing we have to do is recognize that there are sides in this battle and then recognize who is on which side.’ [In his column] Dr. Jonas draws the sides and provides some critical [recommendations] for Democrats.”

Over the years since 9/11 and the Georgites’ response to and use of it to undertake in earnest their long planned full assault on Constitutional democracy in the Untied States, I have occasionally thought of a union song from the 1930s by a woman named Florence Reese. Although we in the upper middle-class, left-wing, Depression/New-Deal Era households of the type in which I grew up, in New York City had not-too-much in-depth knowledge of, and certainly no direct experience with, the events, or even the type of events, to which it referred, the song was a staple.

The song was about the situation in the coal-mining county of Harlan, Kentucky that came to be known as the “Harlan War,” during which the county came to be known as “Bloody Harlan.” The “J.H. Blair” referred to in it was the local sheriff who, after he had his men violently break up a local meeting of the National Mineworkers Union, famously said: “The Red revolt in Harlan County has been crushed!” For a further brief history of the period, I refer you to http://www.carlestes.com/bloodyharlan.html.

Let me share with you the lyrics of that song, which often bring tears to my eyes when I think of them, and do now as I write this. Will we need to have a book entitled Cry the Beloved Country written about our glorious land too? For me, these words just resonate so well down to our own time, sadly on so much larger a scale.

“They say in Harlan County there are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a union man or a thug for J.H. Blair.

“My daddy was miner and I'm a miner's son
And I'll stick with the union 'til every battle's done.

Come all you good workers, I have good news for you
I'll tell of how our union has come in here to dwell.

“Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can;
Will you be a lousy scab or will you be a man?
Don't scab for the bosses, don't listen to their lies
Us poor folks haven't got a chance unless we organize.

In defense of the Constitution, there are only two sides. Just as on the slavery question, there is no middle ground. You are either for it, or agin’ it, as they would say in the hills of Kentucky, and North Carolina too, for that matter. The only question now is: is our side going to organize for its defense and protection before it is destroyed by the Republican Religious Right, lead by the Georgites, and win the battle through organizing and electoral politics? Or will we have to fight for its Restoration after they have completed the campaign of total destruction leading to theocratic fascism they are currently engaged in?

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Dr. Steven Jonas is a contributing author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net). He is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author of over twenty books. Dr. Jonas is one of America's most perceptive Democratic political analysts.

In his book The New Americanism, Dr. Jonas presents his proposal for that “new vision and mission” for the Democratic Party that so many, for so many years, have been urging it to find. A new vision and mission are obviously needed with increasing urgency as with increasing speed and determination the Georgites drive our nation towards frank theocratic fascism. Dr. Jonas finds the needed vision and mission in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. "The New Americanism: How the Democratic Party Can Win the Presidency is available from Amazon.com (go to "Books;" enter the title) and BarnesandNoble.com (same).

He is also the author of The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Under the pseudonym "Jonathan Westminster" this book was originally published in 1996. It was republished with a New Introduction in 2004. Under Georgite rule, the “fictional non-fiction” scenario of this work of “future history” is, most unfortunately, becoming all too real, now almost day-by-day. The 2004 edition is available at www.barnesandnoble.com (search with the book title) and www.xlibris.com (click on “Bookstore,” then “Search” with the title). Both versions are available at www.amazon.com (go to "Books;" search with the title).

Dr. Jonas is also a Contributing Editor for the Weblog http://planetarymovement.org/blog/, produced by The Planetary Movement Ltd. UK (http://planetarymovement.org/blog/), TPJ's own Michael Carmichael, President and Chief Executive Officer, a Contributing Columnist for the Project for the Old American Century, POAC (http://www.oldamericancentury.org/), on which his TPJ columns appear regularly, and a Columnist for the webmagazine BuzzFlash (http://www.buzzflash.com/) on which short(er) articles are published once a week or so. By invitation, Dr. J's TPJ columns are also posted periodically on the weblog Thomas Paine's Corner (http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/).