November 2, 2004

2004-09-05

Get Your Heads on Straight or You Are Going to Lose it All

The potential tragedy of the forthcoming election is painfully obvious to me.

Lurking beneath the campaign superficialities is the specter of an evil empire in ascendance. Born in the Nixon years and nourished in the subsequent Republican administrations by bits and pieces crudely chopped off of the very soul of public morality, the empire is powered by a well-trained cadre of mean-spirited but extremely clever manipulators who sustain themselves by gorging upon the emotional and intellectual inadequacies of a substantial segment of the electorate, a segment that endlessly regurgitates the lies and distortions of those manipulators in a sort of political bulemia.

Unable to distinguish between fact and fiction, this segment of the electorate, particularly the part of it that works the hardest for the least reward, not only appears to enjoy being economically, socially and politically trickled down to by a condescending but folksy leader, but actually licks the hand that feeds it dribbly bits, not realizing that it is the very same hand that conspires to hold it down while its owner tells them to "stand tall."

Mesmerized by the promise of tax cuts that are tiny portions of their hard-earned dollars while the real benefits go to the rich, folks in this highly vulnerable group lovingly support the monster government that is raping them - a kind of "battered life" syndrome best described as "step all over me, I love it."

Unbelievably, this "tough love" persists and its victims applaud while their amoral mentor, George W. Bush, and his immoral henchmen, Rove, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith et al., each a Dr. Strangelove in his own right, pour the country's wealth into a bottomless pit called Iraq thereby depriving their "lovers" of the educational, economic and health supports they so desperately need. At the same time, the Department of Defense and Donald Rumsfeld, the Prime Minister of Chuzpah, with congressional approval, engages in a frenzied high-tech Gallipoli, throwing weapon system after weapons system, soldier after soldier, into the insatiable maw of the military-industrial complex in order to satisfy a concept called "Peace through Power, a Republican euphemism for "we'll beat the shit out of you until you give up."

As the environment visibly destructs right outside of the corporate office windows, neighborhoods deteriorate beyond belief and more and more "average" citizens become homeless, the mean-spirited people in the Bush administration offer superficial remedies to a public in the throes of economic, educational and social famine, substituting quick and easy promises and unfunded commitments for long-range solutions.

There has to be an end to all of this and it has to come soon, lest we are all sucked into the vortex of self-centered meanness created by those with an inadequate sense of self and of other.

In short, folks, your government is crapping all over you and as a result our democracy is headed down the tubes unless we rise up and do something on November 2nd.

Liberalism, despite Republican rhetoric, is not a dirty word. As a political movement, it was born of a sense of fairness and a concern for equality for all. One would think that conservative Republicans who consistently retreat to the Constitution when it suits them, would be in the forefront of those supporting "Liberty and Justice for All." Not so.

You have to judge people by what they do, not by what they say. This Republican administration talks glibly about freedom and democracy, but in its every action seems to

be intent on changing the principles of "Liberty and Justice for All" to "Liberty and Justice only for those who agree with them."

Smart people, caring people, freedom loving people do not judge George W. Bush by what he says, how he smiles, how folksy he is, or by the lies he tells as if they were facts.

They judge him and his administration by what they have done or have not done.

Every American that cares for his country, for freedom, for justice, should be concerned about George Bush and his administration

- sending our kids to die in an illegal, meaningless war in Iraq, a war that had

nothing to do with fighting terrorism but actually hindered that fight. You

want more of the same, only this time with Iran, vote for Bush.

- failing to fund education for our young people. "No Child Left Behind" is just

a meaningless bunch of words because minimal funds have been provided

for education, schools are suffering and cities and towns are struggling to

find money for education. Want more of this? Vote for Bush.

- failing to provide jobs that pay decent wages. The economy is suffering badly,

crappy jobs are the only ones available, pay is low, the government is always

trying to bust unions, and the rich get all the benefits at the expense of the

survival of the rest of us. Wise up, all you hard-working-for low-pay folks

who seem to have a love-affair with Bush. Kiss him off. You don't have a

chance in Hell of bettering yourselves under a Republican administration like

this one. If Bush wins, it will get worse, far worse, not better.

- failing to protecting social security, the safety net of the poor. Instead of the

guaranteed income provided by the Social Security Act, Bush and his rich

financial buddies, those who give big bucks to his campaign, want to

privatize Social Security. They want us poor slobs to rely on playing the

stock market in order to earn money to provide for our retirement. They

pick up the big bucks running those privatized funds, while we take all of

the risks. Imagine if you had bought Enron or Polaroid stocks as your

safety net for retirement instead of having that nice guaranteed Social

Security check every month. Instead of working toward improving Social

Security, Bush and cohorts want to do away with it. They appear to want to

make your retired life one of misery. You love misery? Vote for Bush.

- failing to provide clean, safe, affordable housing. Housing, decent housing, is

in short supply. We could be pouring a lot of the billions that were thrown

away in Iraq (much of it to Halliburton and other Bush buddies) into better

housing and more reasonable housing for working people. We need a housing

industry that is continually working on better, cheaper, more energy efficient

places for people to live. Our slums are getting larger and in even worse

condition. Slums and poverty breed more slums and poverty. Drug use and

crime increases. Our jails are full. Minorities suffer the most. "Justice for

All" is becoming "Justice for the Rich." Want more of this? Vote for Bush.

- failing to enforce and even undoing all of the regulations enacted to protect the

environment. The Bush administration's actions regarding the environment

can only be called a disaster. Regulations designed to protect workers from

injury have been changed to protect industry not the worker. Regulations

regarding cleaning up of pollution have been revised in order to ease the

financial burden on businesses. Polluters seem to be encouraged to pollute.

Clean water, clean air, clean living conditions are not a concern of this

administration. Protecting parks, public facilities where a family can go and

enjoy the outdoors is no longer a priority as Bush opens up public lands to

the logging industry. Oil is the major priority of this administration with coal a

close second. Clean energy is low priority. Clean energy means people

breathe clean air, but what's clean air to this administration when it's big

money contributors can make another buck? You want big business to

continue dumping on you, polluting your air, poisoning your food, making

your workplace more dangerous, vote for Bush.

- failing to provide adequate health care for needy citizens. A huge proportion of

the population either has no health insurance or inadequate health insurance.

Some businesses have legitimate concerns about being able to afford to cover

their employees health benefits. A healthy work force is a better work force, a

more efficient work force. A healthy student is a better student. Healthy

elderly people are less of a drain on medical facilities whose costs are running

rampant. In the long run, a healthy population saves business and government

billions of dollars in dealing with the effects of poor health. The situation is

crying for creative solution, yet the Bush administration offers only the tired

solution of privatizing of health care. Why? Because owners of private

health care facilities are among the largest supporters of the administration.

Drug companies are allowed to run rampant regarding the pricing of their

products while Bush works to protect them and tries to prevent citizens from

getting their drugs from other sources such as Canada. Too much emphasis is

being placed on drugging the population and not enough on eliminating the

need for over-medication by focusing on preventive health techniques.

We have a sick society, both politically and with respect to the physical and

mental health of the population. Want more of the same, vote Bush.

And so it goes, in almost every area of importance to a democratic way of life that one can think of, fairness, equality and freedom all have become meaningless words, not

government policies.

And most important of all, our system of justice is being changed almost without it being noticed by the public. Judges are being appointed who have public records that indicate that they are basically unfair people. Bigoted judges are being appointed. Some of them have records so bad, in terms of fairness, that they wouldn't have been approved by the Congress of the United States, even a Republican dominated congress, so George W. Bush took the low road by appointing them while congress was not in session. George's version of the old Scottish song "Loch Lomond" is "I'll talk the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll pack the courts 'afore ye." The Bush Administration seems to travel

on two roads with regard to almost all of its dealing with the public. There's an upper level for the special interest folks and a long, dark tunnel leading to oblivion for the rest of us. If you like long, dark tunnels (assuredly in poor repair), your vote for Bush will get that for you.

So where are we, with only two months to go, if getting back to fairness and equality for ALL is our goal? WE, meaning WE THE PEOPLE, have to turn around an entire "democratic" process that has become subverted by the evil empire to its own ends . . . no mean task. There is only one way to start.

Begin by wising up... getting informed...reading more than you've ever read before, thinking about your future, your kid's futures, your job, the economy, education, needless wars, thousands of lives destroyed, terrorism and how to really fight it, by deeds, not words. We now have a government run by false prophets for real profits. Money instead of human rights reigns supreme.

Think about all of this so that after you enter the voting booth on November 2nd you can take a few seconds to give thought to the direction in which you want this country to go and to the critical importance of your decision. If this Republican administration is re-elected, there is absolutely no doubt that freedom will suffer, education will suffer, the economy will suffer, and we will have more senseless wars as well as an increase in terrorism.

Think! Do we continue to destroy fairness and equality, openness and honesty, ethics and morality and basic human decency and concern for others and, thus, honor the legacy of Nixon, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr. and their misanthropic henchmen (and women) or do we, as a caring nation, rise up and re-order our priorities so as to restore our country to the one envisioned by the Founding Fathers?

Osama Bin Laden eagerly awaits a Bush victory so that he can resume exploiting the public fears aroused by this administration's responses to terrorism and goad it into even greater follies than Iraq, thereby insuring this country's image as an enemy not only of Islam but of the rest of the civilized world. Ariel Sharon chomps impatiently at the bit, waiting to test further not only his ethnic cleansing of Palestine, but also his intellectual dominance of George W. Bush and the U. S. Congress.

By a pull of a lever, an X in a box or the press of a button, you, YOU, can stop the democracy-threatening trend we now face or you can help continue it. The Founding Fathers await your decision with interest. They have provided you with a unique institution within which you can make the choice for freedom in a free and uninhibited fashion. Even the choice to do away with the democratic way of life they have provided for you is yours. It is an awesome responsibility, not to be taken lightly and not be to be equated in dollars and cents.

And remember, when you do take the awesome responsiblility of voting, the spirits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt will be right there with you, looking over your shoulder, hoping that you will make the right choice to preserve the great experiment in democracy that they cherished so deeply.

It all boils down to this:

A vote for Bush is a rejection of Freedom and Justice for All.

A vote for Kerry at the very least expresses a desire to return to the basic fundamentals of democracy.

It's up to you. The country is in the worse shape it has ever been in politically. Democracy is threatened. If it fails and you voted for Bush, you are responsible.

Bernard J. Fine