Quote:
Originally posted by Ustwo
Bush has done more in his first 3.15 years then any president in my lifetime. You might not agree with anything he does, but your hate only makes you look childish, much like the Shrub comments.
|
Bush has certainly done a lot in his first years in office, but that doesn't mean any of it is good for us as common citizens. I contend that he has done more damage to the principles that I belive define what the American democratic experiment stands for.
I believe in an America that tells it's citizens that they can do anything, not in an America that tells them they can't. We should seek more freedom, and not to restrict anyone's choices. I am deeply disturbed by this morning's news of Bush backing an ammendment to ban gay marriage. After centuries of working to undo racism and discrimination in our nation's highest law, that conservatives seek to persecute anyone based on beliefs that do not pose any physical harm to anyone is truly unamerican.
This administration has done more to restrict personal and civil liberties than any other in modern history. They have done it in the name of patriotism, which disgusts me. They have gotten away with it by exploiting our deepest fears, and the only people who have benefited are the corporations that have contributed to the Bush campaign. American taxpayers bought the bombs, and we're footing the entire bill for the reconstruction and we are in more danger now than we have ever been. It infuriates me that Americans (who are so pathetic in their knowledge of world geography that 80% of our school children don't even know that the Tigris is a river, much less where it is) would seek to dictate terms of existence to any culture at gunpoint because we do it better than they do.
The America of 8 years ago was a role model to the world of an open economy and free mindset that was emulated by western nations. today those nations fear us instead of respect us because our foreign policy is that of a bully instead of a champion.
Now before you go slamming me with knee jerk democrat slurs, let me say right up front that I like republicans. I like republicans who stand for small government and do not seek to legislate morality. I like republicans that belive in the concept of the republic and let state governments operate in confederation with the federal government. When you start thinking about what the republican party is supposed to stand for, and then you see what the republican party is really standing for, all you registered repubicans out there should really questioning your party hard. Today's republicans aren't representing the true ideology of the party in any sense. They are representing the ideology of facist oligarchy, and the Bush dynasty is evidence of a modified form of hereditary assumption of power. That's right, folks... they are actively recreating the exact form of government that we revolted against more than 200 years ago. And without appropriate checks and balances from the other two branches of government, they disturbingly begin to resemble the regimes we have helped to dismantle in the past 50 years.
To say that the democrats will not defend the nation is ridiculous. Charles Krautheimer, a noted conservative columnist who actually thinks and reasons rather than march in lock step with the PR machine like so many other pundits, beautifully explains away this falicy: Everyone believes in use of force for self defense - liberal, conservative, democrat or republican. Liberals, however, balk at any armed intervention that seeks to promote the national interest because they equate the national interest with the self interest of the administration that is in power. They do however support armed intervention for humanitarian reaons, which explains the many military actions of the Clinton administration. Liberals are tolerant of forms of government other than american democracy, but conservatives find them a threat and seek to supplant regimes with those they can control.
Consider all of this in light of the War on Terror, which like the war on drugs is really only a war on American taxpayers. It was sold to us as critical for our national defense, and when that turned out to be untrue, it was recouched as a humanitarian intervention. But it was too late to sway anyone but the most fanatical supporters of the administration.
And why do those people support the administration? Because your taxes went down? Unless you make in the neighborhood of $250,000 a year, your taxes did not go down, and if you think they did, you are not paying attention to the details. Your taxes have been restructured, and the middle class is actually shouldering more burden than ever and getting less service for their money. Where are all those tax dollars going? Into non competitive contracts for companies that are mired in the CEO and tax accounting scandals.
Wake up America! Your government is bigger! You are less secure! You have less liberty! We are putting a debt burden on our children that would make credit card companies like MBNA salivate (they were a major campaign donor to Bush, btw).
I have to end this rant, but I'm going to do it with this quote, which I hope you will ponder:
"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
It was said by Hermann Goering during his trial at Nuremberg. The angriest person is the one who suddenly realizes that they have been taken advantage of. If you are a rebublican and you aren't pissed as hell, you have no idea of what a republican really is.