"I'm not here to say that the government is always right, but when the government tells you to do something, I'm sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do."(*) Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) arguing that telecoms following the Bush administration's instructions to break the law should receive immunity from civil suits.

"[W]henever any Form of(*)Government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…" Thomas Jefferson and other signatories, The Declaration of Independence.

"Authoritarianism…happens when the followers submit too much to the leaders, trust them too much, and give them too much leeway to do whatever they want…"(*) Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarians.

It's funny that Republicans claim to be traditionalists devoted to fulfilling the original intent of the framers of the United States Constitution.(*) The Republican mindset often directly contradicts the framers' intent.

During the ongoing debate about amending FISA to eviscerate the 4th Amendment by granting broad surveillance powers to the president while also absolving telecom companies who betrayed their customers by following government orders to break the law, one statement in particular jumped out at me.(*) It was Sen. Kit Bond's comment, quoted above.(*) He declared that, when the government tells us to do something, we must do it, even as he acknowledged that the government is not always right.

This is, or ought to be, a breathtaking declaration by an elected official in a democracy.(*) Our democracy was founded when leaders like Jefferson, Adams(es), Hancock, and others decided that their government was wrong, was unjust, and its instructions should not be followed.(*)(I ought to mention that, while I admire the founders of this country, I myself am not a revolutionary and do not advocate violence in any way.(*) I do advocate using speech to question the government).(*) The right to question the government is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, by the right to free speech, the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Professor Bob Altemeyer, who I also quote above, has done research on the authoritarian mindset, which he defines as a personality which submits to authority without questioning.(*) People with authoritarian mindsets will do what the government asks, as Sen. Bond desires, even if what the government asks is wrong, even if what the government asks is immoral.(*) These are authoritarian followers–there are also authoritarian leaders, like Bond, who want compliant citizens to follow their instructions without questioning.

I'm sure we can all think of times when government has asked citizens or subjects to do something that is wrong, immoral.(*) I don't want to go through a litany here.

Sen. Bond is not a maverick in his party.(*) Authoritarianism is part of the Republican party's DNA in 2008 (as John Dean has written, expanding on Altemeyer's work).(*) We see evidence of(*)authoritarian leadership(*)when Ari Fleischer told Americans to "watch what they say, watch what they do", (incredibly, Fleischer's warning still appears on the White House web site, without further comment–I would like to see an apology up there!), when Dick Cheney dismisses the opinion of a majority of Americans with a dismissive "so?", when we are told that supporting the troops means accepting the Bush administration's policies without questioning.

I began by referring to Thomas Jefferson and will close by remembering him again.(*)(*)Jefferson often wrote about the importance of a free press, once declaring that(*)he would prefer newspapers without a government to a government without newspapers.(*) Our democracy depends on a functioning media.(*) A functioning media would highlight Sen. Bond's shocking, authoritarian comment.(*) It would play video of his comment, over and over, on CNN and MSNBC, recognizing that his statement matters far more than what Rev. Wright ever had to say.(*) Its deans would denounce the comment as anti-democratic.(*) The media we have has been largely silent.(*) Bond's comment will likely be forgotten within a matter of weeks.(*)(*)




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