Bean Soup

 

Is there a recipe for Bean Soup for the Soul?  I start the search at our kitchen table in Delaware as Bill recounts a rare memory of visiting the US Senate with his father who had served as a clerk. They ordered bean soup for lunch. That taste memory sent us on a quest up the Amazon, and there on our doorstep appears a case of Dominique’s U.S. Senate Bean soup, a recipe served to sitting Senators since the turn of the century.

 

But is this the Bean Soup for the Soul? The impeachment of a president, the senatorial responsibility of impartial judgement is enough to chill the blind statue of Justice. The cold winds of war (Iraq/Iran) and its rumors take the shiver down to the bone.

 

Perhaps it’s time to check the records of the body that has been bean fed since 1900.  The best history of the Senate was written by one of its own, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, The Senate:1789-1989. It’s on hand because Byrd was one of Almost Heaven’s finest left-handed fiddle player and politician. It’s also on the shelf because it was a Christmas gift to our son when he was working on his MA in Political Science. Most importantly it’s the work of a man transformed by his service in the Senate. “Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Senator Byrd went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and many other pieces of seminal legislation that advanced the civil rights and liberties of our country.

 

An honorable body, then, sharing soup and service, the Senate, forged by dreams of democracy and moral virtues of reasoned debate and principled compromise for the public good. Surely what the Senate serves, be it soup or statutes, should be good for the American soul. But if history is written by the winners, then a cautionary quote from the losing side is needed. I let the Senate’s historian, the Senator from West Virginia speak.

 

We Stand Passively Mute Wednesday 12 February 2003

To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent — ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.

And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.

This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption — the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future — is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self-defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our — or some other nation’s — hit list. High level Administration figures recently refused to take nuclear weapons off of the table when discussing a possible attack against Iraq. What could be more destabilizing and unwise than this type of uncertainty, particularly in a world where globalism has tied the vital economic and security interests of many nations so closely together? There are huge cracks emerging in our time-honored alliances, and U.S. intentions are suddenly subject to damaging worldwide speculation. Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11…

We are truly “sleepwalking through history.”

 

Sleepwalking through history.  Iraq. Iran. Afghanistan. Impeachment papers submitted to the Senate. Perhaps I should back up and read Byrd’s history of The Senate of the Roman Republic. It might help answer a question, “Are we still a republic?”  I settle for his closed-door impeachment statement that was released into Congressional Record, February 12, 1999

 

“Mr. Chief Justice:

Be assured that there will be no winners on this vote. The vote cast by every Senator will be criticized harshly by various individuals and sundry interest groups. Yet, it is well for the critics to remember that each Senator has not only taken a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution, but also to do ‘impartial justice’ to Mr. Clinton and to the nation, ‘So help me, God’. The critics and the cynics have not taken that oath; only Senators have done so. Carrying out that oath has not been easy. That oath does not say anything about political party; politics should have nothing to do with it.

The frenzy of pro-and-con opinions on every aspect of this case emanating from every conceivable source in the land has made coming to any sort of ‘impartial’ conclusion akin to performing brain surgery in a noisy, rowdy football stadium. It will be easy for the cynics and the critics who do not have to vote, to stand on the sidelines and berate us. But only those of us who have to cast the votes will bear the judgment of history.

Mr. Chief Justice, none of us knows whether the attitudes of the American people will take a different turn after this trial is over and this drab chapter is closed. ‘Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; those who cheer today may curse tomorrow; only one thing endures–character!’ It is the character of the Senate that will count. And while the politics of destruction may be satisfying to some, the rubble of political ruin provides a dangerous and unstable foundation for the nation.

And yet we must move ahead. The nation is faced with potential dangers abroad. No one can foresee what will happen in Russia or in North Korea or in Kosovo or in Iraq. To remove Mr. Clinton at this time could create an unstable condition for our nation in the face of unforeseen and potentially dangerous happenings overseas.

Preceding Senators have sounded the clarion note of separation of powers! I have sounded that same trumpet many times when the line item veto was before the Senate, but to no avail. Some of the voices that have rung throughout this chamber in these deliberations, were curiously still on that occasion. The Supreme Court of the United States saved the Constitution and struck that law down. But the Supreme Court has no voice in the decision that confronts the Senate at this hour. It is for the Senate alone to make. When these Senate doors are flung open, we must hope that the vote that follows will strengthen, not weaken, our nation.

Let there be no preening and posturing and gloating on the White House lawn this time when the voting is over and done. The House of Representatives has already inflicted upon the President the greatest censure, the greatest condemnation, that the House can inflict upon any President. And it is called impeachment! That was an indelible judgment which can never be withdrawn. It will run throughout the pages of history and its deep stain can never be eradicated from the eyes and memories of man. God can forgive us all, but history may not.

Within a few hours, the mechanics of this matter will finally be concluded. But it will not yet be over. For the nation must still digest the unpleasant residue of these events. Mr. Chief Justice, hatred is an ugly thing. It can seize the psyche and twist sound reasoning. I have seen it unleashed in all its mindless fury too many times in my own life. In a charged political atmosphere, it can destroy all in its path with the blind fury of a whirlwind. I hear its ominous rumble and see its destructive funnel on the horizon in our land today. I fear for our nation if its turbulent winds are not calmed and its storm clouds somehow dispersed. In the days to come, we must do all that we can to stop the feeding of its vengeful fires. Let us heap no more coals to fan the flames. Public passion has been aroused to a fever pitch, and we as leaders must come together to heal the open wounds, bind up the damaged trust, and, by our example, again unite our people.”

“For the nation must still digest the unpleasant residue of these events.” It will take more than bean soup to heal these open wounds, but we can stop feeding hatred’s fire.