Hightower Warns Progressives-
Don't Confuse Patriotism with
Conformity

Jim Hightower: "Do not confuse patriotism with Conformity"

Bush's flag-waving cows progressives
By John Nichols

November 6, 2001
<http://www.captimes.com/opinion/column/nichols/7422.php>

WASHINGTON - It is no secret that George W. Bush's current poll
ratings - transient though they may be - have caused many Washington
progressives to lose their nerve. As a ridiculously complacent
broadcast media tries to fit every D.C. dispute into an "America
Strikes Back" frame, too many labor, environmental and civil liberties
groups since the Sept. 11 attacks have chosen the path of least
resistance.

The kid gloves approach has allowed the Bush administration and its
congressional allies to roll over opposition and common sense on the
$15 billion airline CEO bailout, federalization of airport security,
diminution of civil liberties with the "anti- terrorism" bill and a
host of other critical matters. Confusing patriotism with complicity,
the loyal opposition - in Congress and out - has proved so loyal on so
many issues that it cannot truly be said to be an opposition.

All of this has Jim Hightower worried. Indeed, says the veteran
activist, Sept. 11 and its aftermath have seen "a crisis for our
democracy."

"Among the people, there is an awakening to the fact that there is
something bigger going on in the world than what we've been told
about," he explained. "But, in Washington, too many members of
Congress and activist groups have been too quiet. They have let George
W. Bush do all the talking."

The Texas populist's home state experience with the Bush family and
its political operatives makes him something of an expert on how to
deal with America's political aristocracy - he earned election twice
as the Lone Star State's agriculture secretary and was once seen as a
possible contender for the governorship GW eventually won. To
Hightower's view, sitting on the sidelines is the worst possible
response when George W. Bush is riding high in the polls.

"The American people do not confuse patriotism with conformity. Yet
that's what a lot of our groups are doing," Hightower argued,
referring to reports that mainstream environmental advocacy groups and
other organizations had tempered their criticism of Bush
administration initiatives in order to avoid appearing to threaten
national unity.

"Too many of our groups have said, 'sit down, shut up.' If the meek
ever inherit the earth, these guys are going to be land barons,"
Hightower said. "For us to be quiet now, when our voices are most
needed, is to reject not just our heritage but our responsibility in a
democracy."

Hightower made his remarks at a gathering marking the 30th anniversary
of Public Citizen, the Washington- based group founded in 1971 by
Ralph Nader to advocate for safe products and workplaces, a healthy
environment, clean energy and corporate responsibility. In recent
weeks, as many D.C. groups have been lying low, Public Citizen has
been loudly challenging Bush administration initiatives to limit
access to information, use tax policy and government grants to enrich
multinational corporations, and secure "fast track" negotiating
authority to expand free trade.

Hightower expressed pride in the unflinching activism of the group,
one of the few in Washington to which he has lent his name - as a
member of the board of directors. Public Citizen, he said, "is still
doing the kind of work that helps us take our democracy back from the
greedheads and the boneheads."

As Public Citizen backers celebrated three decades of activism over
the weekend, Nader noted that the group faces more challenges now than
perhaps at any time in its history. "Citizen groups have,
increasingly, been shut out in this town," said Nader, noting that
even before the current crisis, the growing influence of special
interests over Congress and federal agencies, and the collapse of
major media's watchdog role, had reduced the ability of citizen-based
advocacy groups to influence the process. "It is an extremely
inhospitable environment here in D.C. these days, and we have to think
seriously about how to reinvent ourselves," Nader said.

Reinvention, renewal, that's all fine, countered Hightower. Just so
long as it challenges those in power

- no matter what their political affiliation. "Public Citizen has
always given us the ammunition we need for agitation in this country,"
Hightower said.

But, in these troubled times, he added, something more than
traditional activism is needed. "We have been progressive for a long
time," Hightower explained. "Now we've got to be aggressive."