On the eve of this mid-term election, I'm getting on my knees and begging all my readers (and then some) to go to the polls tomorrow and vote to change the direction of this country. Yes, that's what it ultimately comes down to – either your support the direction and policies of the Bush Administration, or you don't. If you don't, you MUST cast your vote for the Democrat on your ballot.
Just in case you're ambivalent about the direction the Bush Administration has taken our country, let's have with a short review, shall we...
Iraq
Clearly, this is one of the Bush Administrations biggest failures, in every sense of the word. From the very beginning, well before the initial attack in March of 2003, right up until present day, this venture/project/conquest/invasion/debacle/quagmire has been screwed up in every way imaginable. Volumes have been written on just this subject alone, so I won't even attempt to speak from authority or experience. However, those who do have the knowledge and experience have clearly spoken their minds with clarity and consistency.
Worse than the way the post-invasion was handled, in my opinion, was the justification for going to war in the first place. The Bush minions sold us on the danger of Sadaam Hussein & his infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction, and scared us into believing that "... the smoking gun [might be a] mushroom cloud...". The operative question in this is whether the Bush Administration was provided faulty intelligence or they fabricated the faulty intelligence. Those of us who've been paying attention know that the myriad of evidence turned up since the post-invasion period, have pointed to the very real fact, that the Bush Administration deliberately fabricated the intelligence to draw us into this disaster of disasters.
Hurricane Katrina
What started out as a natural disaster turned into a very unnatural catastrophe as Bush and his government's response to this disaster was utterly catastrophic. In the process much was learned by the ignorant among us. Those of us paying attention over the last 6 years have been keen to the loyalty-based, conflict-of-interest, under-qualified appoints Bush made to positions of responsibility in his administration (though Brownie did a heckuva job). We've been keen to Bush's disdain for the middle class and working class Americans in this country. We've been keen to Bush's leadership style of do-nothing, ignore, deny and avert accepting responsibility. And, we've been keen to George W. Bush's hypocrisy, lying, arrogance, and lack of sound judgment. Bush's reaction to this difficult period in American history was a classic revelation of his character. But like I said – those of us who HAVE been paying attention were not surprised.
The United States Constitution & Bill of Rights
This was the last straw for me. It was bad enough that Bush was deregulating every industry and letting big business write its own legislation. It was bad enough that Bush pulled the US out of every significant treaty and pissed off so many international leaders so as to single-handedly escalate the nuclear arms race. It was bad enough that Bush gave outrageous tax breaks to rich people and unruly corporations so as to balloon the deficit and national debt and literally bankrupt our treasury. But, when he started f**king with the Constitution and knowingly breaking the law, I just lost it.
Between the torturing of detainees, the warrant-less wiretapping of phone calls & electronic communication, the decimation of Habeas Corpus, the No-fly list, the USA Patriot Act, and the theft of both the 2000 & 2004 elections, we truly live in fear in this country. However, the ones we fear are not the terrorists. It's not Osama or al Qaeda. No. We fear our own government. We fear for our children's future in a country which will be forever re-paying for the greed of this administration. We fear about paying for our children's education, filling our gas tanks, trying to make ends meet, and honoring our obligations. We fear about breathing clean air, climate change, and the future of our planet. We fear about our jobs, our careers, and staying gainfully employed in the wake of the devastating recession of 2001/2. We fear about traveling abroad knowing that so many people in so many countries despise us. We fear that our sons & daughters in the military may not come home to us because our government carelessly put them into harm's way out of greed & arrogance, and without sufficient equipment, training, preparation, planning, & justification.
The United States Constitution is THE most important thing in our country. It's more important then any of the people or artifacts. It's more important then any of the buildings or monuments. It's more important then any of the religious icons. Simply put, the Constitution is absolutely paramount because it defines our way of life. It's what our ancestors and predecessors have been fighting and dying for for hundreds of years. It's the reason that we SHOULDN'T live in fear, because it provides us rights & protections from our government.
I certainly don't mean to belittle the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Without a doubt the loss of nearly 3000 people and the subsequent damage to the property and health of those involved in the aftermath is not to be taken lightly. Furthermore, it is certainly important that we as a country act on this vicious attack and punish those responsible. And, it's important that we protect ourselves from future & further attacks by those who would want to harm us.
However, none of that is as important as our Constitution. No action should be taken (or should have been taken), in the wake or aftermath of September 11, 2001, to undermine or roll back any rights or protections afforded to our citizens by the Constitution of the United States. Too many people have died for it, and we've worked too hard to evolve it to where it is now, or at least where it was before the Bush regime declared war on it.
In conclusion
As my mother-in-law always used to say - "So there you have it". There you have your choice. Either we stay the course, not just in Iraq, but in the way this country has been run (into the gutter), OR we send the message that we want a different direction for our country. Either we're happy with the decisions this decider has been making, OR we put checks-&-balances back into the Federal government. Either we continue to give Bush and his cabal of neo-conservative extremists a blank check to rape our country (and several others), or we pull in the reigns of oversight.
http://scottshuster.blogspot.com
Scott Shuster is a progressive columnist, publishing since May of 2005. His liberal ideology is a refreshing diversion from 'politics as usual' in Washington.
Our "Representative Government" has passed the Patriot Act, Patriot Act II (Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003), Real ID Act, "Domestic Spying" Act and Military Commissions Act, Defense Authorization Act.
The dems have voted xxx-0 to continue the war. They are 100% behind the illegal war in Iraq for oil and Israel. They vote 100% for Israel on their actions of terrorism and agression on Lebanon and the Palestinians. The dems vote to destablize the middle east consistantly. They are little better than the neocons. Biden, Clinton, Kerry, Pelosi, Schumer, et. al. have no interest in limiting war, the military-industrial complex or any plan for peace and prey on fear of terrorism when the US has performed terrorism around the globe killing millions especially since the creation of the NSA.
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Jim Reinhart (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 60 comments)
on Monday, November 6, 2006 at 10:56:01 AM
I can not agree more with Scott Shuster or disagree more with Madrino. Even if he were correct in his 100% nonsense which any examination og the votes shows is not true the fact remains that while the republicans control the house there is no chance of any kind of oversight. Even if the oversight is by a bunch of namby pamby political hacks they are at least capable of reigning in the administration if they have a majority. In the minority they can do nothing and so the don't. The don't bother to vote brigade is actually exactly the mentality of the democrats that side with the republicans in the house They figure why rock the boat when it makes no difference "Ill just vote the way that looks safest for my seat". Anyone who thinks that equation will look the same to them when they are in the majority is kidding themselves. When the tide turns you can bet your political hacks will be flowing with the tide. Leave the tide on the republican side and you empower them even more. As I have said elsewhere if you want to change the opposition JOIN the party and change it don't faf around with silly third part movements in a first past the post electoral system. The grassroots of the party are small organizations that can be changed with a couple of dozen or less members. Even one good speaker could change a parties direction. If you want to change something GET INVOLVED!! The argument that "it makes no difference, ones as bad as the other" is nothing more than a pathetic excuse of the terminally lazy to do nothing and then say "it wasn't my fault".
Wake up abd hold your nose and vote for the pathetically inadequate Dems. Then get in there and make them adequate.
For heavens sake stop this "don't bother to vote" mentality your country is being stolen right now and the only thing that can even begin to slow down the theft is a democratic house any other pipe dreams will have to wait no matter how bad you think your democratic candidate is.
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Aubrey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Monday, November 6, 2006 at 12:13:33 PM
... on to the situation facing America but I think and so do a lot of people I would add, that Bush is a desperate man unable to accept change or criticism.
Lets remember that with the removal of Posse Comitatus, he is now pretty much free to plant America in the thralls of martial law and it matters not who is in the Houses because Bush has six months before he has to relinquish to a vote.
I do not agree though that a piece of paper, how much an idea it may convey is worth more than a human life, this leads to religious zealotry where we see Muslim against Christian over texts written centuries ago and people die for these words when they are wrongly interpreted. Human life is paramount and without the people of America there can not be a constitiution, it is an equal partnership or none.
Thanks for responding to my article. I appreciate your comment and perspective.
I can understand your feelings about the value of human life. I'm a big fan of that myself. But, the point I'd like to make is that our Constitution is not just a piece of paper. I look at our Constitution as the symbol of our way of life. Our constitution represents our freedom, our liberties, our rights, & our protections. Countless people have fought and died for our freedom and rights over the last two centuries. Was our freedom & liberties worth dying for? And are they still worth dying for?
Scott Shuster
by
Scott Shuster (47 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Monday, November 6, 2006 at 8:54:42 PM
4 comments
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