Taking Mike Gravel Seriously

I really like Mike Gravel. He filibustered the military draft to death in '71. He was instrumental in bringing the Pentagon Papers to light. To watch the talking heads naysay and belittle him makes me like him even more, they being mere tools of their corporate paymasters. If we had Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation in this allegedly democratic nation, I would surely vote for him, because I dread having to vote for the vile, corrupt HRC or the DLC machine candidate Obama.--Pete

By Matt Hutaff
Jun 26, 2007

In my last column I promoted no-nonsense presidential candidate Ron Paul, Republican Congressman from Texas. He's the Internet's champion (and recipient of the coveted "Colbert Bump"), and his platform—abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, ending our wars abroad, and canceling a host of bloated social programs the government is ill-suited to operate—is something a lot of war-weary Americans can agree with.

But what if you like subsidized health care and Social Security? What if, God forbid, intractable fears of voting outside party lines force you to look at Democratic candidates? Well, friends, you're still in luck. Mike Gravel, former senator from Alaska, has the credentials to bring reform to the steps of Capitol Hill without abandoning the New Deal society that's emerged from the ashes of World War II.

Students of history recall Gravel as the man who both single-handedly filibustered an end to the military draft in 1971 and brought the Pentagon Papers (which Wikipedia laughably reduces to "a large collection of secret government documents pertaining to the Vietnam War") the widespread attention it deserved. An ardent opponent of war, Gravel has signaled his intent to bring American troops home and secure our borders from invasion and illegal immigration. He has no love for the IRS, either; expect it to fall by the wayside should he win the presidency.

But while Gravel and Ron Paul agree on many things, they differ on the role of government in everyday life. Like many classical Republicans, Paul believes in a strictly limited government that doesn't interfere with how foreign nations conduct themselves or how we as citizens manage our health. To him, government should be limited to essential services only a federal body can provide, leaving states the right of self-determination on issues ranging from education and welfare to abortion.

Many people, fairly, don't like that. Having birthed three generations since Roosevelt forged his social compact, the United States has accepted welfare, Medicaid, and Social Security as a part of life. And, ideally, these programs sound pretty great: federally-secure pensions, managed health care, education for children, and food and housing assistance for the poor. But we don't live in an ideal world, and Gravel acknowledges these programs are in disarray. His agenda to repair the tattered fabric of America, then, includes:

• Universal Health Care vouchers giving every American the ability to seek medical care on their own terms, from whomever they want, relieving businesses and individuals of the costs;
• Restructuring NAFTA to clear up trade imbalances that have led to unprecedented illegal immigration over the past decade;
• Instituting a Fair Tax that generates revenue from a progressive national Sales Tax on new products and services;
• Funding Veterans Affairs so, for once, they're treated like human beings by the government they've given their lives to defend;
• Decriminalizing marijuana;
• Granting same-sex unions the same privileges given to normative couples;
• Upholding abortion rights granted under both the 14th Amendment and Roe v. Wade; and
• Ceasing war with Iraq, and opposing future conflicts in the Middle East (namely, Iran).

It's an impressive list of goals, to be certain. And I like the candor Gravel promotes when talking about these issues. Frankly, I'd like to live in the world he talks about, and if you do, too, he's definitely worth a moment of your consideration.

The cynic in me, however, dismisses Mike Gravel because it just sounds too good, too broad in scope to imagine coming to fruition. And I have serious issues with his stance on gun registration, global warming, and taxation, to say the least. But I confess, if Gravel can pull off even a fraction of what he wants to do—namely, give equal rights to the gay and transgendered, roll back our military/industrial complex, and treat our veterans with the respect they deserve—I'll applaud him.

The battle for the Democratic nomination is an embarrassing hodgepodge of career politicians who've done little but prop up the status quo until it suits them to levy charges against it. I'd more or less written off the group, but Gravel's recent pounding on Hillary Clinton, "Why Hillary Scares Me," shows there are Big Government proponents with a soul. As Gravel says himself:

...[W]e can continue to compartmentalize ourselves from the truth, remove the troops and blame the rubble on the Iraqis. We can feed the collective fantasy that our good intentions and heroic efforts were thwarted by the cowardice and incompetence of others. But if that's what we take from our experience in Iraq, we will never learn the true lessons and we will be condemned to repeat the same mistakes. The inability to admit a mistake and assume responsibility is not just a morally bankrupt way to walk through life; it is a dangerous and deadly way to lead a nation.

Gravel's fellow contenders may have the polling numbers, but they're prepared to continue the U.S. on its current trajectory, one where core values are abandoned in favor of ruthless bloodshed and religious demagoguery. Social programs favored by Democrats are bankrupt financially and morally because they refused to make a stand against the executive office. Mike Gravel is an outsider, a maverick politician from a bygone era that recognized government should better our lives, not itself. Of those running on the Democratic ticket, he's the only one who doesn't see Janus when he looks in the mirror.

It boils down to this: Popular candidates are not in our best interests. They weren't in high school, and they sure aren't in Washingtonian politics. Ron Paul and Mike Gravel are taking the difficult stance that the United States is wrong, and we need to make it right quickly. If you think the best way to go about this involves retooling our limitless supply of socialist programs, let Mike Gravel lead the way. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be media darlings, but they're dangerously disconnected from what makes a good leader, and they certainly have no clue what it takes to implement broad stroke visions like, oh, ending the war in Iraq.

Or making gays feel like regular citizens.

Or even picking campaign songs that don't bring bile to the tip of your tongue. (Although they do have what it takes to make picking a campaign song into a newsworthy event.)

Mike Gravel is a true Democrat. If that's how you vote, he should be your only choice.

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