29 days
In just over four weeks now, we will be participating in the most important election of at least the last thirty or forty years and possibly for many years to come. It's important because right now we have a president that wants to change the fabric of this nation in drastic and devious ways.
I am not delving into the usual fear-mongering that others (and myself, to be honest) partake in when describing our feelings about current events. I don't need to. Bush is dangerous. Did you watch the debates? Even though the shit has hit the proverbial fan in Iraq, he is too arrogant and stubborn to admit that not only have things not gone well due to bad intelligence and a lack of crucial planning, but that strategies need to change. A good leader should be able to adapt to a changing world -- something that Bush likes to say in relation to 9/11 but something he doesn't like to practice in reality -- and Bush does not. At some point he got it into his head that we should invade Iraq and at that point his mind was set. Concrete. There's no changing it, there's no persuading him that maybe we should let the UN help us or maybe we should increase troop numbers or maybe pull out...he's right, always has been and always shall be. The president is supposedly a religious man, but it seems that he has forgotten that pride is one of the seven deadly sins.
In the name of "safety" he has taken it upon himself to rewrite the Constitution. He has made it easier for the government to spy on it's citizenry and worse, he has adapted the citizenry to accept government spying. It's not that he or his administration would necessarily spy on us, but it is most definitely an opening to some future administration in even more trying times to exploit his provisions and march us in jackboots down undesireable roads.
The future itself will be tarnished for many years as Bush has mortgaged our future. In the first part of 2001, when the tax cuts were first announced, it was bad enough but when he increased spending for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and spending on so-called "protection" at home (which doesn't include enough FBI staff to translate of audio transmissions, enough resources to check more than 5-7% of cargo containers entering our ports, or increase research in alternative fuels so that we're less dependent on a stable Middle East) his arrogance prevented him from stopping the tax cuts to pay for it all...resulting in the largest federal spending deficits in US history, deficits that our taxes paid in 2020 will prbably still be paying off.
Bush's arrogance prevents him for allowing stem cell research because, as he says, it leads to the destruction of possible fetuses. Never mind that those same fetuses are destroyed every time in vitro fertilization is utilized in helping couples become pregnant. He doesn't oppose IVF. Nobody opposes IVF. In the meantime, important medical research is being hampered by his supposed ethics.
I could go on and on and on, but I don't think I need to. Obviously, I do, as the polls still show that an insane number of Americans support Bush and his policies, but there's little that I can say.
There are those that have fallen trap to Cheney's assertion that a vote for Kerry is a vote for a terrorist atatck. To them I can only ask what are you thinking? Several attacks were thwarted during the Clinton administration and the Bush administration alike. Kerry is as anti-terrorism as Bush is. So is Nader and Badnarik and Peroutka and Cobb and Jay. It is a difference in approaches that each of these people has. Maybe you believe that Bush has a plan and you agree with it. Vote for him, by all means, I have yet to see it. But don't vote out of that sort of fear.
Perhaps you are one of the millions who vote on issues like abortion or gay marriage or one of those issues. Bush isn't going to get anything done about either. A constitutional amendment (which would be needed to outlaw gay marriage or abortion) is decades off...requiring a huge shift in the thinking of Americans which would bring the 2/3 vote in Congress and 3/4 of the states. To put that in more real numbers, abortion will not be outlawed until majorities of pro-life voters develop in enough Congressional districts to put 290 Representatives and enough states to put 67 Senators in office that are willing to put it up to a vote, then have majorities in either the state legislatures or public referendum (however each state might do it) of 38 states to ratify it. The same for gay marriage. The election of one man is not going to make any difference. "But Bush would appoint pro-life Supreme Court Justices" you might say. Not too likely given the democrats will have enough votes in the Senate to filibuster after this election, if not have control (as of right now, the senate seems to be headed to a 52-48 Democratic control). Any Supreme Court justices appointed in this next term (it could be as high as four), will most likely be rather moderate on these hot button issues.
I don't know. It just doesn't make sense to me that Bush has anything higher than a 23-24% approval rating (rich folk, religious extremists, and racist scum generally voting Republican) given his propenisty to be full of it. We need to get the guy out. We need him out in a bad bad way. He's destructive and bad for this country. I wish everyone would just see that. Though I'm not the hugest fan of Kerry and would ordinarily be going third party in this election just as I did in 2000, this isn't about ideology or direction. This election is much more important than that...and it's sad that it is. It's about damage control...like a mountain climber slipping down the face of Mt. Everest, digging his ice pick into the pack, trying desperately to slow himself down before he falls over the edge. It's not a time to think about trying for the peak again or much of anything else.
It pisses me off that that's what this election has come to, that that's what American politics have come to, but that's what it is.
I am not delving into the usual fear-mongering that others (and myself, to be honest) partake in when describing our feelings about current events. I don't need to. Bush is dangerous. Did you watch the debates? Even though the shit has hit the proverbial fan in Iraq, he is too arrogant and stubborn to admit that not only have things not gone well due to bad intelligence and a lack of crucial planning, but that strategies need to change. A good leader should be able to adapt to a changing world -- something that Bush likes to say in relation to 9/11 but something he doesn't like to practice in reality -- and Bush does not. At some point he got it into his head that we should invade Iraq and at that point his mind was set. Concrete. There's no changing it, there's no persuading him that maybe we should let the UN help us or maybe we should increase troop numbers or maybe pull out...he's right, always has been and always shall be. The president is supposedly a religious man, but it seems that he has forgotten that pride is one of the seven deadly sins.
In the name of "safety" he has taken it upon himself to rewrite the Constitution. He has made it easier for the government to spy on it's citizenry and worse, he has adapted the citizenry to accept government spying. It's not that he or his administration would necessarily spy on us, but it is most definitely an opening to some future administration in even more trying times to exploit his provisions and march us in jackboots down undesireable roads.
The future itself will be tarnished for many years as Bush has mortgaged our future. In the first part of 2001, when the tax cuts were first announced, it was bad enough but when he increased spending for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and spending on so-called "protection" at home (which doesn't include enough FBI staff to translate of audio transmissions, enough resources to check more than 5-7% of cargo containers entering our ports, or increase research in alternative fuels so that we're less dependent on a stable Middle East) his arrogance prevented him from stopping the tax cuts to pay for it all...resulting in the largest federal spending deficits in US history, deficits that our taxes paid in 2020 will prbably still be paying off.
Bush's arrogance prevents him for allowing stem cell research because, as he says, it leads to the destruction of possible fetuses. Never mind that those same fetuses are destroyed every time in vitro fertilization is utilized in helping couples become pregnant. He doesn't oppose IVF. Nobody opposes IVF. In the meantime, important medical research is being hampered by his supposed ethics.
I could go on and on and on, but I don't think I need to. Obviously, I do, as the polls still show that an insane number of Americans support Bush and his policies, but there's little that I can say.
There are those that have fallen trap to Cheney's assertion that a vote for Kerry is a vote for a terrorist atatck. To them I can only ask what are you thinking? Several attacks were thwarted during the Clinton administration and the Bush administration alike. Kerry is as anti-terrorism as Bush is. So is Nader and Badnarik and Peroutka and Cobb and Jay. It is a difference in approaches that each of these people has. Maybe you believe that Bush has a plan and you agree with it. Vote for him, by all means, I have yet to see it. But don't vote out of that sort of fear.
Perhaps you are one of the millions who vote on issues like abortion or gay marriage or one of those issues. Bush isn't going to get anything done about either. A constitutional amendment (which would be needed to outlaw gay marriage or abortion) is decades off...requiring a huge shift in the thinking of Americans which would bring the 2/3 vote in Congress and 3/4 of the states. To put that in more real numbers, abortion will not be outlawed until majorities of pro-life voters develop in enough Congressional districts to put 290 Representatives and enough states to put 67 Senators in office that are willing to put it up to a vote, then have majorities in either the state legislatures or public referendum (however each state might do it) of 38 states to ratify it. The same for gay marriage. The election of one man is not going to make any difference. "But Bush would appoint pro-life Supreme Court Justices" you might say. Not too likely given the democrats will have enough votes in the Senate to filibuster after this election, if not have control (as of right now, the senate seems to be headed to a 52-48 Democratic control). Any Supreme Court justices appointed in this next term (it could be as high as four), will most likely be rather moderate on these hot button issues.
I don't know. It just doesn't make sense to me that Bush has anything higher than a 23-24% approval rating (rich folk, religious extremists, and racist scum generally voting Republican) given his propenisty to be full of it. We need to get the guy out. We need him out in a bad bad way. He's destructive and bad for this country. I wish everyone would just see that. Though I'm not the hugest fan of Kerry and would ordinarily be going third party in this election just as I did in 2000, this isn't about ideology or direction. This election is much more important than that...and it's sad that it is. It's about damage control...like a mountain climber slipping down the face of Mt. Everest, digging his ice pick into the pack, trying desperately to slow himself down before he falls over the edge. It's not a time to think about trying for the peak again or much of anything else.
It pisses me off that that's what this election has come to, that that's what American politics have come to, but that's what it is.
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