Trespasses on our very essence threaten health of our democracy

As we approach the July 4th weekend with its embrace of patriotic flag waving, perhaps it is a propitious moment to look at some of the defining aspects that our Founding Fathers sought to establish in our democracy. This, given the present harsh red/blue divisions and the choice by the present administration, through propaganda and the marketing of "fear" to justify the erosions of many of those principles that have defined us as a special democracy for more than 200 years. Justice Louis D. Brandeis said; "The makers of our constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of men’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions, and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be left alone–the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized man." Shockingly, today’s extreme right-wing Republicans like our Congressman Frank LoBiondo claim there is no right to privacy in the Constitution . . . no right to privacy in one’s bedroom, hospital, doctor’s office, phone calls, emails . . . . With Republicans in control of the Presidency and Congress we have abandoned any notion of limited government. We now have NSA wiretapping and E-mail snooping without warrants that would require a need for probable cause. There are the Terri Schiavo case and other Republican intrusions into personal medical decisions. Add to this the abandonment of fiscal restraint; tax breaks for the super-rich during a time of massive war expenditures (off the books) and unfunded new programs like Medicare D – all equaling a massive federal deficit and the loss of the checks and balances inherent in our structure of governance as embraced by our Founders. These trespasses on our very essence, now conspire to threaten the safety and health of our great democracy. As we pause to celebrate those principles, it seems apparent to more and more of us, that on international relations, the environment and long-term finance, we are facing critical consequences because of unilateral, short-term and religious-based actions implemented in the last five years by this Republican administration and its obsequious lap dogs in Congress, like LoBiondo. The unnecessary Bush war LoBiondo has supported through every revelation of mismanagement and manipulated intelligence. Torture prisons set up outside our borders to avoid due process is seen by the world as a betrayal of the principles we hold dear. As we celebrate our principles this 4th, the crass marketing by Bush and LoBiondo of progress in the Middle East shows a complete lack of comprehension of the foundation of our democratic principles. As though mere elections in Iraq or Afghanistan were the essence of democracy. On this Day of our Independence, it is in the checks and balances of shared power based on a foundation of inalienable rights for all; including as Brandeis notes "the right to be left alone," ‘by government,’ which today’s Republicans have betrayed. Our obligation as citizens and inheritors of the wisdom of our Founders is noted in what used to be a core value for Republicans before they were captured by evangelicals and a culture of personal materialistic greed . . . a distrust of government. The pamphleteer Tom Paine articulated it best; "The duty of a patriot is to love his country and protect it from its government." Larry Angel, Mullica Twp Published in the Hammonton News July 6, 2006