Dignity is nonnegotiable - Where Are They Now?

Several months ago, I remember reading the statement: It's going to get ugly out there. At the time I had no idea just how ugly it was going to get, and perhaps it would be wise to remember that it could even get uglier in the near future.  

It is difficult at best to watch the Democratic Party lose it's dignity, but that is what is happening. We are at the precipice of a moment in time where we are about to find out exactly who we are, what our real core values are and if we are willing to defend them or let them fall over the cliff into the crashing waves of the abyss.  

Robert W. Fuller gives an excellent definition of how dignity acts as a cohesive core value in our body politic:

The disparate interest groups that make up the Democratic Party will not be able to unite until they have identified their common foe. That foe is not conservatives or conservatism. It is indignity.

What is the source of indignity? The precise and universal cause of indignity is the abuse of power. Make a list of the most distressing issues of recent years: corporate corruption, the Katrina catastrophe, sexual abuse by clergy, Abu Ghraib, domestic spying, persistent poverty, etc. Every one of them can be traced to an abuse of power by individuals entrusted with high rank.

Where is the the dignity of our Leaders when they allow the continued swift boating of Senator Barack Obama? It wasn't very long ago that we heard these words:

John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, made an extraordinary intervention on behalf of Barack Obama yesterday, accusing his opponents of stooping to "Swiftboat" smear tactics to destroy the senator's presidential ambitions.

Kerry, whose presidential bid was wrecked by innuendo and lies about his Vietnam service as a Swiftboat officer on the Mekong river, did not name the Clintons but they appeared to be the main target of his outburst.

"The fight is just heating up. We won't let them steal this election with lies and distortions," he said.

WHERE IS JOHN KERRY NOW WHEN IT MATTERS MOST?

I remember this statement by Ted Kennedy too:

"When John Kennedy thought of going to the moon, he didn't say no, it was too far, maybe we couldn't get there and shouldn't even try," he said.
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"I am convinced we can reach our goals only if we are not petty when our cause is so great -- only if we find a way past the stale ideas and stalemate of our times -- only if we replace the politics of fear with the politics of hope -- and only if we have the courage to choose change.

"Barack Obama is the one person running for president who can bring us that change. Barack Obama is the one person running for president who can be that change."

only if we replace the politics of fear

Yes, Senator Kennedy, and the politics of fear needs to be spoken about today because that is what is devouring our party.

WHERE IS TED KENNEDY WHEN IT MATTERS MOST?

Lest we forget Senator Dodd:

"I don't want a campaign that is divisive here, and there's a danger in that," Dodd said, although he denied he was nudging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to end her candidacy.

Dodd said Obama was "ready to be president and I am ready to support him in this campaign."

Ready to support him?

WHERE IS CHRIS DODD WHEN IT MATTERS MOST?

And from John Edwards:

Tonight showed that if you’re willing to have a little backbone, a little courage, and stand up to corporate greed, we will be unstoppable – no matter how much money is spent," Edwards continued. "The Clinton campaign thought big money would make them inevitable – but despite being dramatically outspent by not one, but two celebrity candidates, we finished a strong second. And now we move on to New Hampshire and the other early states, where the voters will choose who is best suited to bring about the change this country so desperately needs."

Well, how about a little bit of back bone now Senator Edwards?

WHERE IS JOHN EDWARDS WHEN IT MATTERS MOST?

More importantly, where is the dignity and integrity of these Democrats?

I have learned something over the past several days: that courage seems to be a rare commodity in the Democratic party these days.

But I know at least one Senator that has this quality and has shamed the others by showing his courage and dignity are intact, and indeed visible for all the world to see, and that is Barack H. Obama.

Carry on.