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by Rob Kall OpEdNews.Com

 

 

It's so easy to line up mindlessly behind the president, to follow orders and feel like you are doing your duty. It must be. There are millions who are taking that route. But I wonder where the true patriotic conservatives are.

 

The main bulk of American patriots voted for Al Gore and have been watching in shock and awe as the Bush Regime loots and destroys our country's  resources, defiles our values and pulverizes our economy. But, by now, it should be clear to real conservatives-- that the country is being run by fake neoconservatives-- radical right-wingers who are nothing like real conservatives.

 

Where are the true conservatives who value an honest America, a country where leaders tell the truth to the people. We are now being led by chronically lying  fundamentalist, recovering alcoholic, drug abuser with grandiose religious delusions who is advised by liars who believe that lying is good for the country. These advisors are not patriots. They are taking care of themselves and their special interests. They are setting up the US for the biggest fall it has ever taken.  Already, they've led us to a futile war in Afghanistan that did nothing but stir up and disperse the nest of Al Qaeda hornets to spread and hide throughout the world, inspiring thousands of new recruits.  The lies about WMD got us into Iraq, and now, Bush can hand out oil leases to his friends and set up long term military bases in the middle east. But it is looking more an more like we have ourselves our own cross between Vietnam and Lebanon. These are failed plans, in terms of  US interests.

 

We can expect to see our economy to continue to tank. This will hit us even harder locally, as states are forced to come up with local funds for anti-terrorism alerts and related expenses, and, as federal funding for all sorts of things like medicare and medicaid dry up. We are losing our buying power overseas. In the short run, we'll probably see our economic partners absorb the 15-20% drop in the value of the dollar. But eventually, they're going to have to charge for the exchange costs. Those cheap Chinese clothes and sneakers, made by prison laborers, will rise in price. This is all the result of the Bush regime's destruction of our economy. And it's not just happening inside the US, or through the exchange rate.

 

The globalization of trade has something to do with it to. You see, even though our dollar is worth less, it means less to us as a positive economic factor. Normally we'd take advantage of the drop in the dollar's value to sell more of our goods to the rest of the world, but,  because we no longer have as many hard goods to sell anymore, this advantage doesn't mean as much to us, except perhaps in farm goods. And there, we're at a disadvantage because our huge, federally subsidized farming corporations have converted to genetically altered foodstuffs which are unwanted in Europe, the best foreign market. Of course the US is using the WTO rules to bully its way around laws passed by voters in Europe.

 

Globalization, particularly ala the World Trade Organization, was signed on to by Clinton. He sold the US out on that one. Globalization has helped wipe out industries that were healthy in the US. Globalization allows the WTO to tell the US and any other country that laws we passed by voting are not allowed. The WTO can, by committee fiat, wipe out our laws as it has wiped out some of our industries.

 

The thing is, as the world's greatest economic power, the US could afford, in some ways, to let some things fall while becoming a player in the WTO. But that's all changing. We may be the world's biggest economy, but we are becoming the world's biggest loser state, financially. So let's look at how the WTO, the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund  (IMF) handles countries that lose, lose lose until their debt is so high they are drowning in it.

 

The WTO, WB, and IMF will always go to the rescue. But that rescue comes at a high price. The country being rescued must give up its resources. Privatization is the magic word. Sell the oil rights to a mega-corporation like Exxon or BP or Mobil. Privatize water, so people have to pay four times as much as when it was publicly held. Privatize the banks, the healthcare system, schools, the roads, the forests. If they could, they'd privatize the air. These three organizations are the RAPISTS of the world, of humanity.

 

And after the Bush regime's economic voodoo does its dirty work for another year or two, the US will be ripe and easy pickings for them. Already, BushCo has been doing the same thing to the US, privatizing wherever possible, handing out deals to the new Enrons of the planet-- corporations that put money and profits over humanity.

 

Where are the patriots among the republicans in the congress who can see that support for Bush is not support for the US? Senators Snow and Voinovich stood up to the Bush steamroller and they were viciously attacked. It's no wonder that it's not easy to find  republicans standing up to Bush's abuses. But if ever there was a time when the US needed true patriots, it's now.

 

People who are singing the Bush "rape America" song are the real traitors-- like the vichy French who went along with the Nazi invasion. The next time you face or are in contact with a Bush lover, envision a nazi lover, a person who would sell out the US for a tax discount (if he's a millionaire.) IF he's not a millionaire, then he's a  fool, hoodwinked, hypnotized, mob psychologized to stand and watch as the KKK crosses are burned on  our constitution's greenest lawns.

 

And you ask "What can I do?"  Think about what the American colonists did when they faced the fact that King George was screwing them. Do you think it was easy for them to leave their families, to face the risk of death? We need to raise our voices, to march and show ourselves-- not in Washington, but in our communities-- to show our neighbors that we are not accepting thecoup d' etat, the occupation of the US Whitehouse by a thief who stole the election. You can support the organizations that are taking risks, that are leading the fight. There is still a need for more such organizations to emerge. Help found them Help them emerge by funding them.  You can get ready to face the fact that the Bush regime has stolen the America you love and declared war on you, has already attacked you and has already done severe damage to you and your family. Take a look at your retirement savings, your kid's college savings and how they compare to what they were before Bush was elected. 

 

Take a look at your attitude towards going to an airport, at visiting foreign countries, or New York.  Have you ever thought to yourself, as you were in a stadium or movie megaplex or busy shopping mall on the weekend (or is it just me being paranoid?) "this would be a good terrorist target." There were terrorists for decades before Bush stole his way into power. But we were'nt attacked until Bush made it clear to the world how he was changing America, making it that much more toxic and hateful to the rest of the world. Think about what would happen if American dissenters started engaging in non-violent civil disobediance actions. it seems clear enough, with the way Tom DeLay abused the Homeland Security Act that such dissenters would risk being mistreated, of being investigated and having their constitutional rights violated by John Ashcroft or his SS minions.

 

If you don't think that the policies and actions that Bush is taking will cost you thousands of dollars... then do nothing. But if you can see through the smoke and mirrors, and you realize that you'll be paying more state and local taxes, that your assets will continue to depreciate (wait until the coming real estate collapse) then you'll realize that it pays to invest in supporting the people who are spearheading the fight against Bush and his army of demagogues and haters.

 

As I've written about before, we need to develop progressive think tanks that act as progressive command and control centers in the war against the rightwing takeover and destruction of America and democracy. Be ready to contribute the most you've ever given for a political cause. Be ready to sacrifice.