The Importance of Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan is, quite simply, the single most important individual in American politics today. Her importance lies in the fact that she is NOT a politician; rather, she is the voice of one crying in the political wilderness. She represents the pangs of conscience.

No one who will eventually become a viable Republicrat-Democan Presidential candidate in 2008 will ever match Sheehan's moral credibility for the simple reason that, unlike them, she did not enter the public forum looking for votes--i.e., political power. She stepped out of the shadows of grieving motherhood and into the public eye to ask a moral question that no viable Republicrat-Democan presidential front-runner will ever dare to ask (much less answer candidly) without the pre-approval of his or her pollsters: "Tell me, Mr. President, what did my son die for?"

Imagine, if you will, Hillary Clinton, publicly admitting that the war she voted for and supported until her number crunchers told her to do otherwise was, from the very get-go, unjust, immoral, and in violation of international law--and that she knew (or had reason to believe), from the get-go, that such was the case. That is the unvarnished truth that will never pass Sen. Clinton's lips.

Some of those who love Cindy have urged her to remain "outside" politics--as if the moral high ground can never be reconciled with running a country. I understand this cautionary argument, but I do not agree with it. I was happy to hear that Cindy intends to enter California politics for two reasons:

(1) I think it will be great experience for her, and

(2) The contrast between Cindy's style and that of a seasoned Republicrat-Democan will suggest to the voting public an image of what a real democracy might look like.

I do not expect Cindy Sheehan to be elected to public office anytime soon. The Republicrat-Democan monopoly that torpedoed George McGovern's upstart candidacy in '72 and Ted Kennedy's insurgent run against the Carter Machine in '80 will prevail until the day comes when people of conscience in this country rise up and take the governance of "their" country out of the hands of the militarized plutocrats and re-write the Constitution--ending once and for all mono-party rule.

That would be an American Revolution worthy of the name. But a revolution worthy of the name (i.e., not one about taxes or states' rights) requires that there exist in the United States a critical mass of people of conscience--a significant percentage in the ruling class itself. Generations will pass before such a situation exists in these Benighted States.

In the meantime, we have Cindy Sheehan lighting the first candle for an America where conscience doesn't mean saying in public that Jesus is your favorite philosopher or even your "Lord and Savior"; conscience is being appalled by the people who lie and kill and steal in the name of Jesus or any other deity or ideology.