Now that the election is over, and the Democrats are left to clean up another series of republican messes, I thought it would be good to be reminded of what there is to 'fix'. My friend and a reader here, Anne, gives us another great essay:
by Anne — November 3, 2006
A few thoughts before I have to cede the computer to husband…
When the president of the United States tells us to go shopping and go about our business so the terrorists don’t win, he also gives us permission to be selfish, to think of ourselves and not the people in NY and DC and PA.
When the POTUS refuses to allow coverage of caskets coming back to the US, he allows us to ignore the death and the grief and to downplay the magnitude of the war.
When the POTUS doesn’t bother to interrupt his vacation time to even speak to the nation about Katrina, he gives us all permission not to care too much.
When the POTUS gives Medals of Freedom to people who were directly involved in getting us into a war we had no business waging, he tells us what his values and his priorities really are.
This president may say that he cares and that he grieves, but his actions tell a different story. He has conducted himself much like a lot of these evangelicals who think God has set them on a course to be rich, and so whatever it takes to get there is just swell. They can preach about fidelity and cheat on their spouses. They can preach against drugs and alcohol and be seriously addicted. They can preach morals and ethics and be cheating and stealing and lying. They can preach against homosexual sex and be soliciting for it.
For six years we have watched one Republican after another go hip deep into corruption and crime, and waited for them to pay some price. We watched the Enron boys fleece billions from their stockholders and their employees. We watched lobbyists corrupt the system and corrupt the Congress. And like sports figures and Hollywood stars, they became role models for a lot of people. It was all about getting what people felt was due them, and if Jack Abramoff could do it, why not us ordinary folk?
We have also watched as one administration official after another screwed up and got rewarded for it. Almost no one has suffered any consequence for their actions - apparently, it was okay for us to suffer the consequences of their poor decisions, their lies and their distortions.
They don’t call it a culture of corruption for nothing, and that culture has bred indifference and intolerance and selfishness.
Thank you, George Bush.
8 comments:
Anne, maybe your husband should cede the computer to you more often.
I think that ALL the time about Anne's writing Marc. Nice to 'see' you.
Thanks, to both of you for your kind comments. Sometimes I get so worked up it's a wonder the keys don't smoke!
Naw, Anne, only Bushies, poor hapless thangs, end up smoking and gasping when YOU get all worked up. BRAVA and ENCORE!
And thanks so much for sharing Anne with us, swim.
It is frequently "reported" in the corporate media that GWB is sincere in his faith and feels he was annointed by God to be POTUS. I have a very hard time believing that his religiosity is not a cynical act designed to appeal to the voting block he absolutely had to have, as instructed by Karl Rove.
Reading John Dean's "Conservatives Without Conscience" made things "click" for me in the parts about the amorality of the authoritarian leader. Maybe he does believe his own evangelical schtick, but feels himself to be on the entitled end of the pyramid, thus not bound by the same strictures as the schmuck followers.
Look at those Yiddish words in a rant about evangelicals.
Great stuff again, Anne. Thanks.
Lets not forget we need to undo the so-called Patriot Act, restore privacy and writ of habeas corpus and on and on. We're a long way from being done with these monsters. Much work ahead. Thanks again for your contributions.
Thanks Swimdeep, always enjoy coming here and reading your blogs. You are one very intelligent lady. Keep up the great work!
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