Losing Respect for America?

I am not a scholar of government, but I am someone who has lived through the administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and this last Bush to ever hold office. I was taught that it is my duty as a citizen to pay attention to current events and to speak out when I find injustice. Each of the Presidential administrations through which I have lived has had its up moments and its down, but never, in my life, have I seen such blatant disregard for the electorate and Constitution of this country as has been exhibited by the current President.

There is a lot of rancor being directed toward the Democrats in the US Congress right now. This anger comes from their not having found a way to force this President to compromise on any attempt to end the war in Iraq by including timelines for withdrawal. I understand the anger, but let us not attack those who are trying to curtail the unlimited powers that this President has taken outright and been given otherwise by the Republican-controlled Congress of the previous six years.

The Republicans who blindly followed and the leader have done a lot of damage in six years. We can not expect a current opposition-controlled Senate with a one vote majority to overcome the Bush political machine when he vows to veto everything that goes against his agenda. It takes a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress to override a veto and this so-called mandate that we have given our Democratically-controlled Congress is not yet capable of this task. It is only a mandate in a civilized world where the leader of the country listens and adheres to the will of the people. Our real mandate will have to come from the election in 2008 by voting out any and everyone else that supported this President and his administration and who gave our right to self-determination to a tyrant. As a North Carolinian, I will be voting against Senators Dole and Burr as soon as I have the option.

If we look at the machinations of this administration, we can see clear evidence of a number of potentially impeachable offenses. Not a single blow-job is on the list, but some hearty screwing of the electorate certainly is. Investigation of these items could not even begin under the Republican-led congress of the 2000-2007. I am sure that I have not been able to think of everything egregious that this President and his cronies have done. If you think of more, add them to this list in comments. Here are the ones I could enumerate:

• Withdrawal from the Kyoto Accords while suppressing data and warnings from the scientific community about global warming.
  
• Pursuit of an administration of secrecy and deceit.
  
• Manipulation of the Judicial Branch of Government.
  
• Ineptitude of disaster relief post-Hurricane Katrina.
  
• Suspension of Habeas Corpus such that it could apply to US Citizens.
  
• Lying about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
  
• Misleading the public on the role of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
  
• Pre-emptive invasion of a sovereign nation.
  
• Ignoring advice that his war would make terrorism worse.
  
• Knowing now that his war has made terrorism worse.
  
• Elimination of the US government budget surplus.
  
• Creation of the largest US government deficit in history.
  
• Voter fraud allegations in Florida and Ohio.
  
• The use of torture by the US.
  
• Setting up prisons outside the US to circumnavigate US and international law.
  
• Attempting to circumvent the Geneva Convention thereby encouraging others to do so too.
  
• Forcing religious beliefs into public policy and government support of faith-based initiatives thereby confusing church and state boundaries.
  
• Applying “abstinence-only” conditions to AIDS relief efforts in the developing world.
  
• Applauding the fall of a wall while supporting building a fence.
  
• Creating a climate of fear not seen since McCarthyism worked so well.
  
• Discharging Farsi- and Arabic-speaking translators in the military because they are gay or lesbian when we have a shortage of translators who can decode Iraqi and Iranian messages. This alone endangers our national security.

This President has done a lot of damage to the standing of our nation in the world community in just about every arena where we had the option of being beacons of right and light. This Congress can begin the fight, but it will have to continue working for many years to override all of the missteps, lies and crimes of this administration.

I would like to appeal to the Democratic leadership to start taking back their power. This can be done by repealing some of the laws passed that gave Bush his relatively-unlimited power. If this President continues to hold Congress, the US Constitution and the American people in disdain, then, unlike a blowjob, his action should merit impeachment proceedings and conviction. He, Cheney, and Rumsfeld might even be guilty of war crimes according to some. In the words of Bush himself…”bring it on”. To the Democrats and any Republicans who want their party to remain relevant in the future, I say that we should let it be so.

Categories: politics Republicans Democrats US+Congress impeachment tyrant George+W+Bush worst+president+ever