{"id":220,"date":"2009-04-13T15:49:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-13T15:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/more-evidence-on-conservative-tribalism-and-liberal-citizenship.html"},"modified":"2009-04-13T15:49:39","modified_gmt":"2009-04-13T15:49:39","slug":"more-evidence-on-conservative-tribalism-and-liberal-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/more-evidence-on-conservative-tribalism-and-liberal-citizenship.html","title":{"rendered":"More Evidence on Conservative Tribalism and Liberal Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Obama’s endorsement of George Bush’s contempt for the rule of law, his Nixonian claims for executive authority on civil liberties and Presidential power, and violation of campaign promises<\/a>, gives us a wonderful test of a claim I recently made that Republican Right Wingers had abandoned citizenship for tribalism, and had ceased being decent citizens in the process.<\/p>\n

Keith Olbermann, Glenn Greenwald, Russ Feingold, Nancy Pelosi, among others, have strongly criticized, and even condemned the Obama administrations sorry record on civil liberties and the rule of law, just as they had done with George Bush.  <\/p>\n


\n
\nOlbermann said<\/a><\/p>\n

President Obama’s Justice Department now is not just
\ndefending Bush officials from lawsuits surrounding National Security
\nAgency domestic spying, but seeking to expand the government’s
\nauthority by making it immune from any legal challenge regarding
\nwiretapping–ever.  Welcome to change you cannot believe in or sue
\nover.nnThis is how citizens act.  They uphold the principles their
\ncountry is founded on above even the political convenience of their own
\nside.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nNancy Pelosi said<\/a><\/p>\n

we can never have a repetition of what was done under the Bush administration or a continuation of that.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nSenator Russ Feingold has said<\/a> <\/p>\n

I am troubled that once again the Obama administration has
\ndecided to invoke the state secrets privilege in a case challenging the
\nprevious administration’s alleged misconduct. The Obama
\nadministration’s action, on top of Congress’s mistaken decision last
\nyear to give immunity to the telecommunications companies that
\nallegedly participated in the warrantless wiretapping program, will
\nmake it even harder for courts to rule on the legality of that program.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nAnd there are a great many more examples.<\/p>\n

Anyone with a memory will recognize there was virtually no equivalent
\nconcern by any elected Republicans and their many media hacks when Bush
\nwas acting like a little caesar.  They were too busy wrapping
\nthemselves in a flag they did not respect and attacking any loyal
\ncitizens who took the constitution seriously.<\/p>\n

This is what separates a great many liberals and Democrats from almost
\nall Republicans and conservatives.  They actually put the interests of
\ntheir country ahead of holding power when the issues are significant. 
\nThey aren’t saints of course, none of us are, but they can distinguish
\nbetween the little games politicians always play to hold power, like
\ngerrymandering, and wholesale attacks on the basic underpinnings of a
\nfree society and the constitution that supports it.<\/p>\n

When I blogged on right-wing and Republican tribalism, I hit a nerve
\namong some of my conservative readers.  They tried to disparage my
\ncomments by arguing one sided adoration of the Dear Leader<\/a>
\nwas not really tribalism, or that Democrats do it as well.  Now we see
\nthat they are wrong, yet again.  There is a deep difference in the
\ncenter of gravity between those today called liberals and those called
\nconservatives.  The former are much more likely to know how to act as a
\ngood citizen.<\/p>\n

If the conservatives and Republicans want to give up citizenship for
\ntribalism, fine.  We can’t stop them.  But they should have the
\nintegrity to admit that is what they are doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Obama’s endorsement of George Bush’s contempt for the rule of law, his Nixonian claims for executive authority on civil liberties and Presidential power, and violation of campaign promises, gives us a wonderful test of a claim I recently made that Republican Right Wingers had abandoned citizenship for tribalism, and had ceased being decent citizens…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\nMore Evidence on Conservative Tribalism and Liberal Citizenship - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/more-evidence-on-conservative-tribalism-and-liberal-citizenship.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More Evidence on Conservative Tribalism and Liberal Citizenship - 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