[Peace-discuss] Thinly sourced allegations against Alex Morse are an anti-war issue

[Robert Naiman]

In the last week, Democratic anti-war candidate Alex Morse, who is
primarying Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal in Massachusetts’ First
Congressional District, has been the target of thinly-sourced anonymous
allegations of sexual misconduct, printed in a college newspaper and then
echoed in legacy media. The primary is September 1, but because of early
voting and mail-in voting, we could say that the election is already
underway. I live in a different Congressional district in Massachusetts,
and I received my mail-in ballot today.

It is well-known that there has been an erosion of due process culture
among left-liberals in recent years, particularly with respect to sexual
misconduct allegations. A sharp example of this is what happened to Senator
Al Franken. Here’s why the Al Franken case is a particularly sharp example:

1. When Senator Franken was accused of sexual misconduct and some
Democratic Senators demanded that he resign, he tried to insist on a due
process right, which was a hearing in front of the Senate Ethics Committee.

2. Senator Franken’s insistence on a due process right was ignored, calls
by Congressional Democrats for his resignation escalated, and he felt
compelled to resign, which he did.

3. Later, Democratic Senators expressed regret about their role in not
defending Senator Franken’s due process rights.

4. At the time of the allegations, Senator Franken was a national liberal
political leader beloved by many liberals.

5. Senator Franken’s resignation was a loss to the anti-war movement,
because he had been a vocal advocate for diplomacy with Iran and against
U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen. Franken was the second
Democratic Senator, after Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, to take a
leadership role in trying to end the Yemen war.

The first three elements are prima facie evidence of a railroad: someone
accused of something tried to assert due process rights, that request was
ignored, later, people most responsible for honoring the due process
request expressed regret that they had not done so. The fourth element
makes it a spectacular case - the drama played out in front of all American
liberals, and reverberations were felt even in the recent Democratic
Presidential primary, when a candidate associated with the railroad was
shunned by Democratic liberal donors who were still bitter about the
railroad. The fifth element is strong evidence that anti-war people should
care about these dynamics, even if only out of self-interest.

Historically, left-liberals associated with peace and anti-war movements
have felt a special responsibility to defend due process rights, because of
the historical experience of the McCarthy period, when the due process
rights of critics of the Cold War with the Soviet Union were violated. My
grandfather Max Naiman was “blacklisted” during the McCarthy period. He
lost his livelihood as a lawyer, and went into the rug cleaning business.
So he didn’t die. But the blacklisting of critics of the Cold War -
particularly in the labor movement, Hollywood, and academia - largely
destroyed the peace movement at the time and facilitated the Korea and
Vietnam wars. In some ways the peace movement in the United States has
never fully recovered from its persecution during the McCarthy period.

This legacy compels me to try to speak up about the Alex Morse situation,
in defense of his due process rights. In the peace movement, the
entry-level activity when you see something unjust is “be a witness.” So
that’s what I’m trying to do.
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