Sept 2004
Well, we're post Republican Convention. We received two-day doses
of McCain, Giuliani, Arnold and Laura Bush proclaiming mostly the great war-time president/protector who, it seems, stands
between us and all those things we are encouraged to be afraid of.
Then we got a day of Zell and Dick telling us why John Kerry is unfit
to take the place of he who stands between us and you-know-what.
Included among all that patriotizing were references to all our historical
war-presidents back to Honest Abe.
Not included and glaringly absent were any substantive declarations
about any other issue besides George standing between you-know-who and you-know-what.
Substantive declarations about all the issues including the only
horse (a warhorse of course) St. George could ride in on were left to the bring-em-on, mission-accomplished-perhaps, captain
of compassionate conservatism to proclaim.
America is at War!
American lives need to be lived in a wartime environment.
American citizens need to practice a total deferral to the self-defined
patriotism of the elect.
American citizens absolutely must trust their future to those few
at the top of the power pole who, by the way, have no combat experience but definitely know who is fit and unfit to lead a
military venture based on experience.
Right.
So if I'm to be a real patriot practicing the socially approved public
patriotism espoused eloquently by John McCain and with cowardly relish by Zell Miller, I must accept St. George's and the
Republican Party's prescription for national security and safety.
Given the urgency and importance of the need for a coherent national
security objective guided by wise, strong, stubborn and insensitive leadership, I must accept all this in another context.
George Bush, Dick Chaney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, the RNC dingbats
and Mr. I'd-Challenge-You-To-A-Duel Miller all ask; no they demand that you let them prosecute the pursuit of
national security and self defense but in the following context:
(1) We must fight the war on terror while remaining strictly
stuck with the Republican Tax Cut Experiment which has not helped Mr. Bush avoid being a president who not only did not create
one new job in 4 years, but will have a net job loss in excess of several million. We are then left to hope for the best
but continue to expect the worst and that middle class taxes are going to continue paying for our prosecution of the war on
terror.
(2) We will prosecute the war on terror in a pay-off-the-national-debt
circumstance created by this administration that will be an ongoing burden on our grandchildren. 3+ trillion dollars of debt
generated by a Republican party that has always labeled Democrats as taxers and spenders is not something Leno and Maher can
make jokes about.
(3) We will prosecute the war on terror while Mr. Bush and gang are
baiting us with the phrase "ownership society" which in reality is a switch to another means of generating - you guessed it
- more profits for business. "Owning" health care, retirement, education and hours of wage-earning only happens when you "buy"
something or "invest" in something to own. This proposal stinks almost as bad as Zell Miller's patriotic metaphors.
(4) We will prosecute the war on terror while an ungodly number of
us go without access to adequate health care. That's one thing 45 million Americans could use ownership of. Of course the
rest of we middle classers do "own" always-increasing health care premiums. Somehow I fail to see how this helps the troops,
keeps terrorists at bay, or will make it easier when we invade Iran in order to secure whatever the neocons think needs securing.
(5) We will prosecute the war on terror in a context of profits for
HMO's and Pharmaceuticals at the expense of fixed income retiree's and elderly citizens who may not live to see the victory
that Mr. Bush said we wouldn't have and then flip-flopped to say, "Oh yes we will." That Medicare legislation is the biggest
medical white elephant seen in this country in I don't know how many years. Oh, and by the way. Our elderly just yesterday
received notice that their Medicare Supplement premium went up by $11 a month. For a fixed income couple that's a loss of
a bag of rice and a can of coffee every month. But it seems to be the new Republican definition of the American Way.
(6) We will prosecute the war on terror while the Republicans - probably
under the guise of "ownership society”- gut the Social Security System and preside over corporate reductions and/or
eliminations of pension funds. Why is it that we must be patriotic and support the current commander-in-chief under this circumstance?
Come on John, Rudy and Dick! Tell us why this is somehow for our own good?
(7) We will prosecute the war on terror while Bush postures as some
kind of "education President" who, despite the compassionate self-label, has left children behind, imposed terrible burdens
on public schools, and failed to provide the necessaries to make his compassionate promises come true. Talk is cheap Sir Bush,
and regarding education, yours has been among the cheapest shots.
(8) We will prosecute the war on terror while George Bush has given
us middle class workers, as he put it - More time to be with our kids, take care of our elderly parents and educate ourselves.
Yeah right. Without the demands of working overtime - assuming our employers who won't be paying overtime don't force us to
work those hours anyway - we'll need to use that so-called freed up time to look for a second or third job with which to pay
health care premiums, child-care or drug companies.
(9) We will prosecute the war on terror while George Bush, who IS
the Christian Right, works hand in glove with the Christian Zionists to encourage Israel to widen it's borders in order to
look like the Israel of prophesy so Jesus and his Armageddon Asteroid can End the Times and leave all of us more liberal-minded
Christians Left Behind.
(10) We will prosecute the war on terror with the neocon foreign
policy dingbats fully embedded in the governance of every what-to-do next. Our "war on terror" will camouflage an absolute
conviction on the part of Kristol and company that American might is the brave new world of the future - that American might
will facilitate our continued consumption of an inordinate share of energy reserves. Why? Because we can, that's why. Under
the neocons, we will prosecute an ongoing string of military adventures that will continue to cost the precious blood of our
children. They ignorantly and naively assume that the poor and middle class of this country constitute a willing and unlimited
supply of military manpower for decades to come. For them, American foreign policy (Bush adopted the PNAC policy as his outline
for America's objectives back in 2000) is nothing more than a giant game of Risk. Our military troops are nothing more to
them than the games little colored wooden pieces, swept off the board as casually as they are replaced through a draft and
deceptive recruitment. Are we going to be dumb enough to authorize that?
These things are what the Republicans did not and will not tell you.
They want to prosecute the war on terrorism and do it in terms of maintaining their own discredited and - when it comes
to corporate welfare - dishonest domestic economic theories. It does not matter what you and I think so long as
they are in power. Only you and I can take this out of their hands. They are not going to maintain the current foreign policy
while changing economic approaches. They want both to remain unchanged. They will not change things unless we intervene.
So all you self-styled economic sophisticates who have bought into
Republican capitalism worship and cannot see that many corporations in this country are only showing profits primarily through
government intervention and bail-outs - you go ahead and vote the less-government-more-free- enterprise ticket. Grover Norquist
may someday buy you a latte from Starbucks after the government becomes so small it goes down the bathtub drain. Of course
you may be standing behind the Starbucks counter brewing and serving the latte yourself. Grover won't mind. He's smarter than
you in a really dumb way.
So all you righteous Christians who see George Bush as led by God
to export war and death to all evil-doers as we impose a neocon Pax Americana on the world go ahead and vote your narrow
morality. Just don't tell me that Jesus would vote the same way, would advocate for George Bush on FOX and Limbaugh's programs
- even the 700 Club - and would go along with the deaths of civilian men, women and children in Iraq or anywhere else as "acceptable
collateral damage."
If you believe everything that McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger,
Falwell and Robertson tell you about why America needs George Bush, you haven't done your homework. You may just deserve being
harangued by Zell Miller.
Arthur Ruger, Publisher - The American Choice
