The War Party

With Dick Cheney squawking his chicken-hawk song, I thought this quote, from nearly one hundred years ago, by the founder of what is now The Progressive magazine, was appropriate.

"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. It is commercial, imperialistic, ruthless. It tolerates no opposition. It is just as despotic in London, or in Washington, as in Berlin. The American Jingo is twin to the German Junker.

In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparations for war. As soon as prepared for war, it insists on making war. If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another, possibly more effective, pretext after war is on.

Today,...federal officials are rankly abusing their authority on every hand. People are being unlawfully arrested, thrown into jail, denied the right to employ counsel, or to communicate with their friends, or even to inform their families of their whereabouts, subjected to unlawful search, threatened, intimidated, examined and cross-examined. The most sacred constitutional rights...are violated in the name of democracy."

Robert M. La Follette, June 1917.