Book: Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency by Senator Robert C. Byrd.

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Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant

Presidency by Senator Robert C. Byrd

 

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At 87, Robert Byrd is an unlikely Jeremiah. But in the

months leading up to the Iraq War, the fiddle player

from West Virginia, having served for 45 years as a

United States Senator, became the Congressional moral

conscience and protector of the Constitution. As

younger senators fell in line behind the intimidation,

bullying, lies, and media coercion of the Bush

administration, Byrd, a scholar of ancient history,

repeatedly warned that the White House was on a

reckless binge, endangering the very foundations of

our democracy.

 

As a recent newspaper article noted:

 

When he rose on Feb. 12, 2003, to speak against the

Bush administration's request for congressional

authorization, his words ricocheted around the world.

He chided his colleagues for standing " passively mute

.. . . paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly

stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. " He attacked

the idea of pre-emptive war, calling Iraq " the first

test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an

extraordinary way at an unfortunate time . . . in

contravention of international law. "

 

His speech struck a chord, or maybe it filled a need.

Whatever the cause, Byrd's clarion call against the

war was reprinted in several languages, showcased on

many news Web sites.

 

Suddenly, this lion in winter who confessed that he

had been wrong to support the Vietnam War, this man of

rage who accused the Bush administration of arrogant

disregard for the public will, this senior senator who

carried a worn copy of the Constitution in his breast

pocket at all times, was a favorite of young war

protesters. And now, as the presidential campaign

heats up, he has written a book he hopes will topple a

" power-grabbing administration, a bunch of super hawks

who took George W. Bush prisoner. " [Daily Mail]

 

Byrd is an old school orator, lacing his speeches with

quotes from antiquity and the founding fathers. But

he's well aware of the contemporary threats posed by

ideological fanatics running roughshod over the

Constitution. He is long past fearing political

retribution or concerned about revenge from the White

House. When was the last time you read a book by a

Democratic Senator that cites the infamous quotation

by Hermann Goering on how to sell a war to the masses?

That's how Byrd begins Chapter 8 of his book. The guy

is a fearless octogenarian and a patriot.

 

It is said that Byrd wants his legacy to be that he

assumed the role of a modern day Paul Revere, alerting

America to the threats posed by an arrogant

administration usurping Constitutional powers not

delegated to it.

 

Too bad so many younger Democratic Senators were

blinded by ambition and fear (with the exception of

Paul Wellstone and a few others).

 

But then again, perhaps only Robert Byrd has the

wisdom of his age to write:

 

" Outrageous statements by the president and key

officials [about the reasons for attacking Iraq] went

unchallenged. An unprovoked U.S. attack on a sovereign

nation was the talk of the world while the United

States Senate stood by in silence -- a silence that

was bonechilling.

 

Was courage such a rare commodity? I thought of

the Roman Senator Helvidius Priscus, who was at odds

with the emperor Vespasian and was stopped by the

emperor outside the Roman Senate and told not to

enter. "

 

Helvidius Priscus? No one but Robert Byrd could pull

off a historical reference like that, as he warns

Americans of the enemy within.

 

Book Description | " Losing America " | back to top

 

A ringing call to action by one of the country's

longest serving and most respected legislators.

 

In the months and years following September 11,

Senator Robert C. Byrd has viewed with alarm what he

considers to be a " slow unraveling of the people's

liberties, " when all dissenting voices were stilled

and awesome power swung suddenly to the president to

fight a " war on terror. "

 

This path violates historic American principles—it

shows no regard for the balance of powers or the role

of the Congress; it invades our privacy; and it

eliminates public participation in and understanding

of government. Swept along, we have entered a war

without proper consideration and rushed dangerous

legislation through Congress.

 

Now is the time to regain the Constitution, to return

to the values and processes that made America great.

Byrd does not shrink from speaking the truth to an

ever more aggressive and imperial White House.

 

Author | " Losing America " | back to top

 

Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, author of a

four-volume history of the U.S. Senate, has served in

the Congress for fifty-one years, forty-five of them

as a senator.

 

Book Details | " Losing America " | back to top

 

Hardcover: 270 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x

8.64 x 5.66

& Company; (July 2004)

ISBN: 0393059421