ustxtxb_obs_1991_12_13_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

RUSSELL LEE If the Democratic Party doesn’t start fighting for issues, domestic and international, more important than middleclass palliatives, I hope Henry Gonzalez runs for President on a third party ticket named “Liberty and Groceries.” Maury Maverick Jr. is a’ San Antonio lawyer and columnist for the San Antonio ExpressNews. Henry Gonzalez, the Movie By Robert Sherrill ing hot tub, hold my hand and tell me that the antidote to war is “liberty and groceries.” In the last week of his life he was still talking to me about “liberty and groceries.” And when he died at age 58 his doctor attributed his early death in part to what happened in the Argonne Forest. For some eight years during the Vietnam War, I, as a lawyer, represented conscientious objectors. In time I came to understand the difference between a Daniel Ortega or a Ho Chi Minh and an Adolph Hitler or a Joseph Stalin, between a World War II and Americans killing Third World people caught up in their own revolutions or trying to throw off the shackles of imperialism. With these thoughts about war, I came to the conclusion that no one in the Texas delegation to the U.S. Congress, beginning with the days of President Reagan, came within a country mile of having Gonzalez’s courage in opposing imperialistic wars. Henry’s resolution to impeach President Bush because of Desert Storm and his Aug. 20, 1990, letter to U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley will be something for the historians to deal with. In that letter to Foley Gonzalez wrote: “Do we or do we not have a Constitution? Will Congress maintain the integrity or will it impeach the integrity of its deliberations? … Do we have a President? A Caesar? A monarch? A potentate?” But there was more. Gonzalez sent a “peace letter” to various San Antonio “men of service. This not long before Desert Storm. Gonzalez told me the letter was not read. Those “men of God” ran out on peace. So did the press. So did the Democratic Party. It was a particularly lonely time for the congressman. Courage starts with one person saying “no.” In San Antonio, at San Pedro Springs Park, Sam Houston stood up and urged the people of St. Anthony’s old town not to quit the Union. With the same kind of courage Gonzalez said “no” to Desert Storm. THIS COUNTRY HAS given to the world two magnificent il lusions. One is the illusion of democracy: that the many ordi nary people have more politi cal power than the tiny minor ity who control most of .the property. The other is the illu sion of the indomitable under dog: that the individual if willing to fight hard enough for a just ALAN POGUE THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9