We Must Listen to the Madman!

Today in my Modern East Asian history class, we analyzed a Chinese short story from 1918 written by Lu Hsun entitled “A Madman’s Diary.” It is a criticism of the traditional and feudal values of Chinese culture, and was a great influence among the citizenry—credited with being a main cause of the May Fourth Movement and the rise of the peasantry. The protagonist of the story looks at Chinese history and calls it a story of “people eating people”—a metaphor for the primitive and cannibalistic tradition of China that was destroying itself. People called him a “madman”—he was disregarded and ignored, even though he was right. Today a new “madman” has surfaced—in fact, he is a man running for the presidency of the United States of America.

His name is Mike Gravel (GRAH-vel), and has been labeled by the media as the “skunk of the pack” and the “crazy uncle” of the candidates. He is running for the Democratic nomination, yet he blasts Hillary and Obama for taking lobbyist money and not doing enough to stop the War in Iraq. He is fresh and energetic in the debates and has brought to light the hypocrisy and lies that come from his fellow running mates—he speaks truth and tells the American people how it is. But why has former Senator Mike Gravel remained one of the darkest of the dark-horse candidates?

The issues Gravel brings up today are nearly identical to the ones he brought up in the 70s as a Senator of Alaska. For those who are wondering who to thank for not being drafted into military service, you can thank Mike Gravel. In 1971, he led a one-man filibuster against the reinstatement of the Draft (a filibuster is a way to delay or completely prevent a vote on a piece of legislation). No one else stood up. Gravel kept the filibuster going day after day for 5 months, and the Draft was expired. Also in ’71, the rogue Senator put the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record. These were Top Secret government documents detailing the lies and deceit of U.S. foreign policy in South-East Asia—essentially confirming the immoral and unjust nature of the Vietnam War. Gravel could have gone to prison, but he exposed the documents nonetheless. Here is Gravel and his emotional response to the report:



Gravel exposed a corrupt foreign policy and ended the Draft—all against the will of most of his colleagues and his Party. He refused to let up, and he beat the system. They called him crazy. He was the “skunk” and the “nutty Senator from Alaska.” His own Party took away his nomination for re-election in 1981—they were concerned over his unwillingness to conform to Party ideology. Mike Gravel left politics that year—heartbroken and disgusted over a truly corrupt system. He left and didn’t look back. But now he has returned—this time to fix America for good.

The former Senator now finds himself in a strikingly familiar situation. There is a terrible war going on—a war that never had an honest purpose and has dragged on for far too long. Our leaders manipulate fear as an instrument to drive policy. Corruption and K-Street politics are rampant. Congress is crippled. Gravel wants to fix these things. He wants to use diplomacy. He wants to get us off the oil. He wants to empower the citizenry to pass laws and override Congress—a way to keep the system in check “by the People.”

Just like traditional China, the system of the United States has become a system of “people eating people.” Let us not accept politics as usual. Let us not forget that the people have the power in this country. Gravel was considered an outcast in the 70s just as he is now. But people look back at what Gravel did and applaud his accomplishments—they say, “Wow, that Gravel really had guts.” Today he is doing the same thing. Don’t let Mike Gravel get scurried under the rug by the media. Remember what he has done and listen to what he has to say. We must not ignore Mike Gravel—this time we must listen to the “madman.”