I wasn’t going to get into politics right away, but the calendar snuck up and forced my hand. So I’m here to say to the rest of the world–I’m really, really sorry. We Americans elected him who should not be named–well, that or we let him steal the election again–it’s hard to say, with all of the voting chicanery that seems to have taken place in Ohio and Florida (surprise! surprise!).
So many millions of us tried so hard to get Bush (oops! I wasn’t supposed to name him!) out of the White House, and we failed. But we’re not out, even if we’re down, and progressive America is far better organized than ever before. There’s hope–if we make it through the next four years.
It’s pretty much been said before, so I’m not going to try to rehash it all here. But what really bothers me most, I think, is the divide that has opened in America, particularly along religious lines. I just cannot by God (and I mean that literally) fathom why people who profess to vote as Christians would stand for this administration. Let’s do a little thought experiment:
Which of the following most represents faithful Christian thinking?
1. Lying to lead the nation into a preemptive war–and killing or maiming over a thousand of our own people, as well as upward of a hundred thousand Iraqis
2. Filling the coffers of the already wealthy (Halliburton and Enron, anyone?), while bleeding our school systems and jacking up an enormous deficit
3. Rampaging against the environmental protections that have been painstakingly put in place over decades
4. Destroying our standing in the international community through unrelenting arrogance
5. Refusing to tolerate dissent within the administration on matters crucial to world security
6. Dismissing the Geneva conventions as irrelevant
7. Uh…none of the above?
I don’t get it. Not that he does these things, because he’s a lying, cheating, conniving fraud–but that anyone, and in particular, sincere Christians, would follow him. Deception, deception, all is deception.
Anonymous
Good rant, but you make the mistake in personalizing the problems with Bush. He is just a puppet and directing your rant against him is part of the problem. He has been put forward to take the heat off the oil and business interests that control him and this government.
Jeffrey A. Carver
The commenter makes a good point — it’s far more than just Bush at work here, and not just Cheney and Rumsfeld, either. Oil interests, shadowy connections to the Saudis, and a lot more. But that doesn’t absolve Bush of personal responsibility, either. He’s in the button seat, he’s the commander in chief, and he’s the one who sent the troops. He may be a puppet, but he has the power to say no.