PETER HAMILTON
Staff Writer
At the age of 68, John Dean hasn’t slowed down for anything. Dean is most known for being one of the major witnesses against President Nixon in the Watergate scandal of the ‘70s. His testimony of what happened in that scandal ultimately lead to the resignation of President Nixon, thus making Dean one of the most important and dynamic political figures in our time.
But Dean didn’t settle for his “fifteen minutes of fame.” He has become a major voice against conservatives today and namely George W. Bush and his administration.
Dean’s new book, entitled “Conservatives Without Conscience,” is on national book tour. He has appeared on such shows as “The Daily Show with John Stewart” and networks such as C-SPAN.
His book delves into the ideals of the GOP, who it is, and why modern conservatives make the decisions they do. It is not so much a purely informative book, but a book explaining what is wrong with the Republican Party and conservatives as a whole.
John Dean visited the newly built Santa Monica Library Oct. 12 to speak inside its Martin Luther King auditorium about his new book. Inside the neo-contemporary decorated courtyard of the library, people flooded the doors to hear Dean speak.
The large crowd, mostly ranging from the ages of 45 to 65, stood amid the simple and minimalist architecture that acted as a reminiscent of late ‘60s decor. It felt appropriate that Dean was there. And it felt appropriate that the same people that cheered his name in the ‘70s still had a voice left to cheer for him now.
Inside the auditorium, Dean’s voice was clear and his thoughts concise. His sentences were occasionally interrupted by a cheer and an “amen” of sorts by the supporting crowd. His movements were fluid and rehearsed. He had been in the spot light before. He knew what it was like to speak out and to protest.
Dean mainly focused on the presidency of George W. Bush and what the repercussions that it has had on America and the American people. He claimed that from the beginning, the Bush presidency has been one of secrecy and of control. He points out that people like Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove have been able to persuade Bush to make decisions reflecting a more authoritative government.
In his talk, he elaborated on un-warranted wiretapping of anyone who the government deems “suspicious.” He claimed that this is an impeachable offense, but somehow Bush has been able to get away with it. Dean said Bush has abused his power to override Congress, and deemed that unconstitutional.
Dean compared the Bush administration to the Nixon administration, but he said that decisions made in the Bush administration are far more detrimental.
“With Nixon’s abuse of power, no one has died. With Bush’s abuse of power, people have died,” he said. “The Bush administration is much, much worse than Watergate.”
He claimed that Bush is set out to have an authoritarian government. In his book he expands on the “profile of authoritarians” from a study done by behavioral science researcher Robert Altemeyer. He mentions Altemeyers results by writing that authoritarian right-wing Republicans have traits such as being amoral, pitiless, exploitive, manipulative, dishonest, mean-spirited, intolerant, dogmatic, and zealous.
His claim is that because these qualities are affluent in the American right and in the Bush administration, America is on its way to becoming intolerable nation bent on establishing one political view as our national point of view. Dean related these personality traits to the followers of Hitler and Mussolini.
“We might not be a fascist state right now,” Dean said. “But we are certainly on the road to becoming one.”
One of the real problems that he mentioned is that the Republicans of America have no problem with this authoritarian idea as long as it parallels what they believe. He blames much of the religious right for promoting this and says that the religious right believes it owns the only truth and that America should be confined to obeying these truths.
Dean received a standing ovation and a loud roar of clapping from the auditorium’s occupants. Dean stood proud and confident.
Deans book, “Conservatives Without Conservatives”, is sold in hard cover for about $25 and is published by Viking of New York.
10-31-2006