We have a group in control of most of the government that believes they were "swept" into office (by the SMALLEST majority since Herbert Hoover and we all KNOW what a truly dismal President he was). It's so funny, Reagan campaigned in 1980 on a "fically responsible" theme, calling Jimmy Carter's budget deficit ($43 billion) "criminal" and "obscene". He never saw one even as low as THREE times that amount. Apologists have explained that he was saddled with a Democratic-controlled Congress--yeah, for the first 2 years, after that the Republicans either had parity or a majority, yet the budget deficits ballooned. Bush the first (ridiculed by the same Reagan for his "voodoo economics"), followed the same pattern. In Reagan's first term, the Federal Deficit for that term alone exceeded the deficits run up by ALL previous presidents, more than a trillion. He repeated this feat in his second term, actually racking up even more. Then Bush I added another trillion, and after 12 years in office, the Republicans left us over $4 TRILLION in debt.
Along comes the much-maligned, mostly unfairly, Clinton, and GUESS WHAT?....he got government spending under control, and he even ended his term WITH THE GOVERNMENTS BUDGET IN THE BLACK!!!!! Imagine that, and with all those "good" Republicans screaming for his head, too boot. Could you function, make good decisions, keep on course, if EVERY DAY dozens of people were loudly accusing you of misdeeds, many of which were blatantly untrue, if not outright lies? I sincerely doubt it!
Then, wow!, we get Bush II, in an election right out of 1984, complete with spurious intervention by the Supreme Court and a complete disregard of American Ideals, not to mention "fair play", and suddenly the Republicans, who have long denounced the Electoral College and called for it's abolition, were in the hypocritical position of having to not only endorse but enthusiastically support it. What did we get from our newly "elected" president? A lot of vacation time, for him, and not much else, for the first nine months.
Maybe that is why, when his aide came in to tell him of the first plane slamming into the WTC, he just sat there, used as he was to inaction, and continued to SIT there, even after the SECOND plane hit, for seven full minutes. Now, perhaps it is too much to expect of anyone that they would instantly galvanize into inspired and approriate action, but c'mon now, SEVEN MINUTES? Then, does he fly to some place of command, to begin assessing the damage and marshalling the forces in order to formulate a response? Nooooo, he flies around the country, not surfacing until evening, not going on TV to speak as the Commander -In-Chief, to rally American Spirit and morale (Yes, I know he is the MOST inarticulate American President of all time). It is frankly hard to imagine Kennedy, or Roosevelt (a cripple! after all), or even Nixon, or, shudder, Reagan, being so craven. Those were the actions of a draft-dodger rather than a hero, and do not deserve merit. To make matters worse, he invades Iraq, a 4th-rate backwater nothing of a country that Reagan and Bush I gave tons of arms to, even though there WERE NO IRAQIS among the terrorists of 9/11. Even though there WERE NO ties to al-Kaeda. Even though there WERE NO WMDs, nor any other rational reason to expend 1,300 (and counting) young lives.
All that AND the attacks on personal liberties that boggle the mind. Now, in the second term, we get as nominee for Attorney General the guy who opined that the US did not have to abide by the Geneva Convention, a decision met with astonished dismay by most veterans. The shining light of America's conduct in world affairs has always been to set the Gold Standard for behavior in the treatment of those who oppose us. Ashcroft was bad enough, another hypocrite to "traditional" Republican values, those of the Federal Government NOT interfering in the rights of states self-determination. Of course, these people really are NOT Republicans. They are most likely the "Boys From Brazil", come to real life, descendents af the escaped Nazis....after all, many of the provisions of the so-called (means "mis-named") Patriot Act verge on outright totalitarianism. Lincoln, MacKinley, Coolidge, Eisenhower, the other stellar lights of the traditional Republican Party are doubtlessly spinning in their graves.
Meantime, Bush II's deficit is outstripping BOTH his daddy's and Reagan’s....his only accomplishment. You, me and all the rest of America get LESS for our money, so that $300 tax refund is worth even less with each passing day. Someday the bill willcome due, and you know what the response will be from those who most benefited, they'll do what they've always done, pass the buck.
2 comments:
Funny, I haven't talked about the election for weeks, and I have made the same comment on two different journals today. That comment is this: The margin of victory satistics are not all that easy to reconcile. According to the official record, Bush won the 2000 election even though he received almost 500,000 fewer votes than Gore. I think -0.5% is smaller than the 3% gap in the 2004 election. Also, the 92 and 96 elections should have been much closer than they were, but Ross Perot split the Republican vote. In fact, if it wasn't for Perot, Bush Sr. would have won the 92 election handily, and if you add Perot's votes to the Republican tally in 96, Clinton would have won by less than 200,000 votes. That's pretty close! The result in 76 was also decided by less than 1% difference in the popular vote. In fact, George W. won this election by a significantly greater margin of victory than JFK won his. So your comment that it is the smallest majority since Hoover isn't really all that factual.
This, of course, is to be expected. With a population the size of the USA, the results will almost always be dead even. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not supporting Bush. Frankly, the man gives me the willies. I am, however, rather a stickler for honesty and sticking to the facts.
I just dont' see the logic in attacking Iraq. or how gay people gettine married threatens anyone, or why it should be anyone's business if a woman contiues a pregnacy or not, how passing No Child Left Behind will make kids read better, but hey, I guess that's just me, an old bleeding heart liberal femmo-nazi!
I truly enjoyed reading this entry.
Marti
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