By Mary Beth Harrell

The bumper sticker read “Blind Faith in Bad Leaders is Not Patriotism”. Wow.
So when I got to my law office, I googled it. Utah’s Salt Lake City Mayor “Rocky”Anderson said that in an August 30, 2006 speech outside city hall while President George W. Bush was visiting some other part of his town. Salt Lake City? Home to Mitt Romney? Not normally thought of as a hot bed of radicalism.

Rocky’s speech came with the advent of the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. He did not invoke the “support the troops” mantra, often used to silence popular criticism of the incompetent execution of the then three-year-old undeclared and unnecessary war in Iraq. He did not raise the specter of a “global war on terrorism” as a new crusade to help us forget the absent WMDs, Iraq’s non-existent links to Al Qaida and 9/11, or that we had yet to win the war in Afghanistan.

Instead, Rocky spoke truth to power, he dissented:

“Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism. A patriot does not tell people who are intensely concerned about their country to just sit down and be quiet; to refrain from speaking out in the name of politeness or for the sake of being a good host; to show slavish, blind obedience and deference….

That is not a patriot. Rather, that person is a sycophant. That person is a member of a frightening culture of obedience–a culture where falling in line with authority is more important than choosing what is right, even if it is not easy, safe, or popular. “

But Rocky gave that speech two years ago, and things have changed, right? Before you answer that question, watch your local Congressman on C-Span or visit his website. How many are still saying, “Stay the Course”? Isn’t war still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Yes, things have changed. They’ve gotten worse in virtually every category. But, they say, we haven’t been attacked again, and in the next breath, they will tell you we are being “invaded” along the Mexican border so we must build a wall. They promise to keep you safe at any price.
Do promises of security and prosperity really require your blind obedience in return? Ben Franklin observed that “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”

So we must be part of the problem, right? Well, it seems axiomatic that leaders must have followers, that’s you and me. Are you a patriot or sycophant? You know what’s right with our country and what’s wrong with it. Don’t we deserve leaders who understand the greatness of our country? Those who will serve only to promote and protect the common good? As Abraham Lincoln said, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth” – these United States of America.

Faith should be reserved for God, a higher power. Faith should be reserved for a Savior, not mere leaders. Mere mortals need only earn our trust and respect. So we must not only hold them, but also ourselves, accountable.

Boston lawyer Joseph Welch speaking to Senator Joseph McCarthy on June 9, 1954: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness….  You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?  Have you left no sense of decency?”

It is my hope, my prayer, that Limbaugh, O’Reilly and their ilk, will have such a moment of reckoning.  Perhaps not so much for them, as for their followers. That they will recognize the cruelty and recklessness of their rhetoric. That, in a chilling moment of clarity, their followers will turn their backs on those talk show hosts who spew hatred, fear, ridicule and anger – so much anger.

Senator McCarthy used the Soviet-American Cold War to launch a witch hunt for ‘godless Communists’ in the federal government.  He used public hearings and the power of television to demonize, ridicule and ruin average, blameless Americans with little or no evidence, merely to feed his political ambition.

Today’s arch conservative talk show hosts use the post-9/11 Cold War to launch their own crusade against - the silent majority of Americans.  They claim the moral high ground while demonizing and ridiculing Independents, Democrats, liberals, moderates, Republicans, civil libertarians, a free media, and anyone who disagrees with them. These pretenders who have never worn a uniform viciously attack Republican and Democratic veterans who continue to serve their country in public office.

These are not defenders of the faith, but merely snake oil salesmen lining their own pockets with the money of angry, scared followers.  They feel no remorse in taking their money. They believe in that old adage, ‘never give a sucker an even break.’

“Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” is often misquoted as ‘have you no sense of shame?’  This fits here as well, perhaps, even better.  Many of these glib peddlers of hate and anger have been exposed for their double standards – drug addiction and prescription fraud, sexual harassment – yet they have no shame.  They’re not embarrassed nor humiliated, not disgraced nor discredited. 

How sad that their followers do not feel any shame for them.  They are a mob that follows the bully until he is shown to be the coward, as bullies always are.

Following that exchange with Mr. Welch on June 9, 1954, Senator McCarthy was eventually rebuked by his colleagues, shunned by his party, and ignored by the public and the press.  Three years later he died at the age of 48, a broken man.

McCarthy’s cruel and reckless rhetoric was finally silenced simply because no one would listen.  But his reign of terror remains an important and relevant history lesson, a warning to those now – if only they would listen.