I’m presently reading a book by Seymour Hersch, “The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House,” which is focused on Henry Kissinger and his years in the Nixon administration.  Just another attempt on my part to grasp a better understanding of “how we got here” in relation to this America I love which seems to be self-destructing.  I still remember JFK warning us about the “enemy within” and that is precisely what will undo our standing as the “leader of the free world” if “we the people” don’t soon come to our senses and reverse the “tilting” to the “right” which began under Nixon but hit “full throttle” with the election of Ronald Reagan.  Studying the Nixon administration is VERY interesting and Hersch does a great (and thorough – over 1000 e pages) job laying out all the details that went into the Nixon White House.  As I’m reading the book (I’m about half way through at this point) I can’t help but feel that everything I’ve read in the past suggesting it was the CIA that “did Nixon in” is true.  Nixon AND Kissinger were motivated by “self” and they both appear to me, as I’m reading this, as  being paranoid to the “nth” degree.

In fact, Kissinger’s self-serving manipulation of people REALLY reminds me of what I’ve read about Dick Cheney.  It’s really a bit scary the more I find out about some of the people who’ve been “in charge” of our nation in the past 40 years.  I can see clearly why the “founders” were so adamant about putting “checks and balances” into the constitution and it worries me more as I wonder how many Americans really understand that the present day republican strategy is to circumvent those checks and balances any way they can.  Their beliefs will NEVER garner a majority without somehow “jobbing” the system – and, the expertise in doing that seems to have gained serious momentum during the Nixon years.  In the Nixon White House both the President and Kissinger were not only terribly disingenuous with “we the people” but, also with their own cabinet members.  It’s really much easier for me to see where Nixon could have received the mantra “Tricky Dick” from his own team members!

Take for example Viet Nam.  Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I have to admit that by the time Nixon took the oath of office I was officially part of the “anti-war” group that he so despised.  I had actually enlisted in the Marines in 1967 only to be discharged after the doctor took a second look at my shattered knee during the final physical.  It took me about another year to realize that the United States was lying about every part of this “fiasco” and, as my high school classmates began to die in Nam I became a member of the protesting students of the “day.”  As I read this book and see the evidence of how Nixon and Kissinger manipulated the media, their own associates, and anyone else interested into thinking they were extracting us from the ill-advised “war” all the while as they were ordering expansion into Cambodia and Laos which only accomplished accelerating the number of human victims to their quest for a political saving grace I feel a return of the anger which engulfed me in the late sixties and early seventies.  Despite the fact I was medically discharged from the Marines without participating in the war, Vietnam had a profound impact on my life.  It angers me to this day that Kissinger and Nixon were not only lying to the American public, they were lying to a large portion of their own cabinet.  The hundreds of thousands of lives lost were nothing more to them than “collateral damage.”

Nixon was so paranoid that he was wiretapping EVERYONE including HIMSELF!  Of course, it was the public’s learning of the “White House tapes” that ultimately did Nixon in – regarding his legal confrontation over the Watergate break-in and ensuing coverup – but, based on all I’ve read over the past few years, it’s reasonable to me to conclude that the CIA (in cahoots with the elite Eastern “oil” establishment) were at the very least “anxious” to get Nixon out of the White House.  Nixon had his close inner circle while important members of his cabinet – Secretary’s of Defense and State, for example – were reduced to superficial roles that included periodic humiliation at the hands of Nixon and Kissinger during any type of significant negotiation – it seems as if both Nixon and Kissinger were more worried about making sure they got credit for any successes than the successes themselves.  Neither man was shy about taking credit for someone else’s idea and they weren’t shy about finding out what others were thinking.  Not only was Nixon wiretapping his own cabinet members and their assistants, but he was wiretapping news reporters and Kissinger suspected Nixon was wiretapping him as well.

Additionally, as has seemingly become American custom, members of Nixon’s cabinet (and Nixon himself) considered political survival and expediency over principal in virtually every tough situation they faced.  For example, it’s hard to estimate how many human beings died as the result of Nixon and Kissinger’s attempt to “save face” in Viet Nam – in a war they were obligated to end (based on their own “promises” and the voters “wishes”).  (Remind you of anything??? ie Iraq and Afghanistan?)  Nixon and Kissinger were involved with the SALT 1 negotiations which were attempting to curb the spread of nuclear weapons – where they ended up accelerating the “arms race” instead of curbing it, they were involved in actually blocking Soviet Union and Egyptian attempts to create peace in the Middle East (anything that The Soviet Union was involved with was “taboo” – again, sound familiar?), they were actively pursuing the overthrow of democratically elected governments around the world (ie Salvador Allende in Chile – this seems like a broken American “record” – as today we are apparently doing the same thing in Ukraine – that is, supporting a tyrant in order to block a democratically elected government that is unresponsive to “our” wishes – some estimates suggest our CIA undermining as many as 50 elected governments since WW II), and, at home, they were doing everything in their power to curb the rights of protestors to freely assemble and express their frustration with the “Military Industrial Complex.”

Many of the “operatives” who were getting their “feet wet” in the Nixon White House are among the right wing extremists who are taking America further “down the drain” as I write this piece tonight.  One of the most powerful is Roger Ailes who has become the head of GOP TV – sometimes referred to as Fox “news.”  I guess it will be up to History to determine the damage this one member of Nixon’s “dirty tricks” team has been able to cause over the years.  Fox is, as far as I can tell, (as a leader of the republican “sound machine) a proponent of the Joseph Goebbels’ “Big Lie Theory” which was the propaganda scheme which propelled the Third Reich into power in 1930’s Germany.  The philosophy: if you repeat a LIE over and over enough times, people will believe it’s the truth – is clearly the basis of Fox’s “reporting” and, unfortunately, the American public STILL has too many unsuspecting dupes to cause a backlash that will (I believe eventually it will happen) put Fox, and those associated with it, out of business.

In Nixon’s quest for a “second term” – it seems reelection was the motivation behind almost every decision (and, yes, I “get” that our system is “infected” by acceptance of that “strategy”)- led to fiasco’s around the world that were almost as disgusting as the Nixon/Kissinger actions re Viet Nam.  For example the Nixon/Kissinger fear of the Soviet Union led them to make terrible decisions regarding the Middle East (Jordan) and Africa leading to many unnecessary casualties and turning many people against America (needlessly).  Then there was Pakistan and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Bengali’s in the early 1070’s as Nixon and Kissinger turned a “blind eye” to what the Pakistani leader Aghar Khan was doing because he was their “conduit” into China – which Nixon and Kissinger felt was critical to winning the 1972 election.  One decision after another led to massive casualties in places most Americans would never even imagine being, and it was all based on political expediency.  I’m sure many in America today would argue that this was simply “politics as usual.”  I would argue that the Nixon/Kissinger belief that the “end justifies the means” is morally bankrupt and the very image of America around the world, as other “leaders” have followed the same “strategy,”  has been undermined regarding our standing as the “leader of the free world.”

It was during the Nixon/Kissinger years – I believe – that the expertise in manipulating the press became routine in American politics.  It was the attempt to control “leaks” which led to much of the illegal wiretapping that was ordered out of the White House and carried out by our FBI and, unfortunately, I believe The Bush/Cheney regime took up where Nixon/Kissinger left off and we’re seeing remnants of that same policy today under the presidency of Barack Obama – as “whistleblowers” are attacked by our Justice department.  This is the Justice Department that was clearly targeted during the George W Bush/Dick Cheney regime (again, many of the Nixon “holdovers” were in that administration) as a potential political “ally” instead of being the non-partisan source of impartial justice it was designed to be – and, I haven’t seen much evidence that the department has been “fixed” under Obama/Holder.  It doesn’t seem to matter what party controls the White House, but the word “transparency” seems to be nothing more than the hope of us naive liberals.  It’s almost as if a willingness to accept DISHONESTY is a requirement for participation in America’s government.  (what the people don’t know can’t hurt them – right?)

So, in the quest for a second term President Nixon pissed off just about everyone (including Kissinger, based on his memoirs).  Both Nixon and Kissinger were busy trying to take credit for all the “great” decisions that led to the 1972 electoral landslide win for Nixon.  In fact, it was Kissinger’s enormous ambition that led Nixon to “turn” on him as they “sparred” over who should get credit for their “foreign policy successes.”  Of course, when all the “you know what” hit the fan after Watergate, neither Nixon nor Kissinger were so eager to take credit for many of the REAL decisions as they became public.  (like the wiretapping) All the taping exposed what was REALLY going on in their White House, and it wasn’t “pretty.”

“Conservatives” were unhappy with the rapprochement with China because they felt we “gave away” Taiwan, the SALT 1 treaty with The Soviet Union actually accelerated the arms race, they (Nixon/Kissinger) blew a chance for an Egyptian/Israeli peace accord because of their paranoia re The Soviet Union,  hundreds of thousands of people around the world lost their lives because of Nixon and Kissinger’s willingness to support tyrants, and, as all the wiretapping evidence emerged, even members of their own party had a hard time supporting them.  Sadly, the “Nixon tapes” showed Nixon to be a racist, anti-Semitic, and alcoholic, and seemingly a paranoid “madman.”  It’s really kind of scary reading about some of the possible scenarios that were considered in the meetings with his closest advisers.  I guess ambition is a required “quality” of people who reach the highest levels of our government – but, what I’m most tired of is the lack of moral principal from people who publicly profess their self righteousness as the reason people should support them.  (I “get” that this is truly a bipartisan issue)

We need more reporters like Seymour Hersch who meticulously investigate and report what they find – accurately.  I checked on other books he’s written (I’ve read “Chain of Command” and heartily recommend it) and see there is one that delves into the private life of President Kennedy – apparently not so complimentary.  It will soon be in the pile of books next to my bed on the  “to read list.”  If you’ve been around my blog much, you know that I have been a strong ANTI-REPUBLICAN proponent since the day George W Bush ordered troops into Iraq.  However, you won’t find me arguing in favor of many democrats either. I’m coming to grips with the reality that my main motivation to argue against the republican party is that its “base” seems to be the “Christian ‘Right'” which really gives me pause.  I have a hard time understanding how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can support a political party that stands for what the republican party stands for – I believe most of the “rank and file” Christians have no idea what republican “leaders” are really up to.  (I’ve got to emphasize again, I’m not arguing in favor of the democratic party!)

To me, Iraq was Deja Vu all over again regarding Viet Nam.  In fact, as it’s turned out Bush initiated TWO Viet Nam type fiasco’s that are taking MANY years to get out of (the old “peace with honor” routine America seems to think is a “right” and was the driving force behind the Nixon/Kissinger “strategy” in Viet Nam) – as I’m writing this, we (America) have been MIRED in Afghanistan for 13 LONG years – and counting.  The “leading characters” in the Bush war “machine” were men who got their “feet wet” in the Nixon White House – Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney (among others).  It’s almost as if they learned NOTHING.  Not only did the Iraq and Afghanistan wars bring back bad memories for me, but they (the Bush/Cheney regime) included the wiretapping and the attacks on the press (and the war protestors) as well.   Amid all the lawbreaking, Nixon famously said, “If the President does it, it MUST be legal.”  It took a major effort to prove him wrong, but Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t seem to “get the message.”  The Bush/Cheney administration took the lawbreaking to new heights and, of course, (with the infamous words, “we’re looking forward instead of back”)  Barack Obama set “we the people” back 40+ years in our attempt to hold our leaders to the same standard that we hold ourselves.  (do you find it as ironic as I do that republicans are complaining that Obama’s not enforcing the laws?  That’s one issue where I can certainly agree with them!)

The bottom line here, to me, is that the “dirty tricks” of the Nixon administration (I didn’t even write about the “Plumbers” – the operatives hired to secretly break into places they shouldn’t be) have become routine in American politics.  The philosophy of “The end justifies the means” is simply normal republican operating procedure.  Since the days of Nixon/Kissinger the illegal activity of the republican party has mushroomed.  From Iran/Contra to outing a CIA agent to authorizing TORTURE to MULTIPLE examples of LYING to Congress (Kissinger was not shy about that one) the Nixon administration set the tone for a party that seems almost Mafioso to me.

Again, I’m finally gaining some clarity in my own thinking;  How can someone who believes in Jesus support an organization with those credentials (republicans)? However, Barack Obama’s first “Chief of Staff,” Rahm Emanuel, referred to LIBERALS as “f@#*ing retards.”  Those of us who think in terms of Jesus have a struggle to find a political philosophy – in today’s America – that is inspirational.  Personally, I refer back to the days of the “New Deal” and see a nation whose government was working from the “bottom up.”  That would be a very welcome sight to me after enduring almost 45 years of the (top down) “Trickle Down” philosophy of government.  People like Elizabeth Warren,  Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, and Alan Grayson are out there (and they’re democrats) but they are even fighting the leaders of their own party who are basically (at least in my eyes) a little bit less “corporatist” than their republican brethren.  If that doesn’t change, I fear for our (my) nation!