I heard the following on the Real Time with Bill Mar show: �if Reagan was President now � based on what Reagan said about torture � President Reagan would be trying Vice President Cheney for violations of U.S. and international law!" In other words, Reagan agreed that torture is an international crime and that the U.S. should never torture.

This is a important political �line� � drawn by the icon of Republicans � that the Left should discuss. In my opinion, Reagan has marked political differences between �republicans� and fascists. Arguably there is no linear �line.� Politics is multi-dimensional and we are wrong to describe it as if there is a single linear continuum. The reality of the human phenomenon is also such that almost all measures of human physical and mental conditions fall on a �normal probability distribution� � some times known as the Bell Curve - rather than on a straight line distribution; consequently, I disdain participating in arguments about any single �line� that demarcates human differences. There are absolutely no easily made lines between any two humans or any two groups of humans. All human measurements, mental or physical, depend on maturation time, perspective, and the �framing� of the measurement apparatus.� So, for purposes of this discussion, I stipulate that we are talking about extrapolations of reality.� Reagan drew this line between himself and such folk as Cheney who legitimize torture; I am musing that it also differentiates �republicans� and fascists.

Given the real mixture of authoritarianism, Calvinism, fundamentalism, and fascism generally evident in Republican political philosophy, this is not a great leap. Without believing that Reagan is a pacifist or in any way opposed to using force, we can say that his brand of republicanism only goes so far. Reagan draws his line at torturing other human beings for any reason. In other words, he accepts that there is a human species of which we are all apart and there is universal law that we should all obey.� It is a unacceptable crime to torture another human being.

For me � without going into a lot of explanation � species recognition and respect comes from a very deep place. These instinctual responses � which our mental processes attempt to justify � surface in consciousness with a �spiritual� cast.� Psycho-historically the human tribes determined who was �in� and who was �out� based partly on �harmony� in and with a homeland environment. Those not of �our� land were suspect. Reagan�s republicanism � from this perspective � is expandable beyond the boundaries of the U.S. since he makes no exceptions as to who may be tortured. It should obviously follow that the torture of those of his homeland, the USA, would be the most egregious. Not surprisingly, the de-humanization of Native Americans and African-Americans is the mental fiction that Reagan republicans must fashion to live with the various forms of torture and oppression that do take place in the USA. They must also maintain the fiction of individual culpability rather than systemic agency as the cause of hardship. There is no both/and in Reagan�s republicanism; there is a fierce clinging to either/or.

This is a republicanism that is not just an identifiable ideology but one that still has some �threads� that are still intertwined with the instinctual concepts of land and clan. It is not purely logical. These are republicans with real roots in this land. Their roots will not go back as far or evidence the deep intensity of other groups; but they seem to have on-going bodily and �spiritual� instincts that hold those human emotions of �place� and ties to �homeland.�

Cheney�s political philosophy, obviously, does not permit such limitations or sensibilities. For him �the other� is not recognized as from his same species. This is the stark �blindness�� and un-naturalness of fascism and militarism. This is the Dark Lord. This is the Seth Lord whose only allegiance is to himself.

Following the leadership of a fascist means...simply...following behind the banner of �my� fascists against the fascists �over there�...and...you (the people) are the �ammunition� that the militants and the fascists are using to battle each other.

According to Reagan, Cheney is not a true Republican; he is a criminal. What a complicated world we live in.

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator and former Oakland, CA City Council Member Wilson Riles, has been serving the people of Oakland and the Bay Area in countless ways. He was the Regional Director of the American Friends Service Committee for over nine years and administered a $1.4 million budget supporting programs which addressed issues of economic justice in the African American community; non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the plight of farm workers, homelessness, progressive reform of the criminal justice system, Native American and Asian Pacific Islander community concerns, and youth empowerment. Click here to contact Mr. Riles.