Falling between great
disappointment and utter horror, the first Bush term as U.S President can only be adequately apprized from a long term perspective. The historic significance will be written in the future, while the real world reality
must be endured today. Partisan politics have become meaningless, and political
rhetoric insulting. The propaganda spin machine never stops and the twenty-four
hour newspeak cycle never rests. Events march on to perdition, as consumers fill
their carts as if tomorrow will never come. The slog continues as people revert
to fantasy land and take comfort in their disillusions.
Bush is
honored or reviled not for substance, but for perception. By any objective standards
his administration has been a total failure. The decline in the purchasing value
of the dollar, the inordinate rise in the trade deficit, the record debt in public expenditures, the explosive growth in public
programs, the accelerated exodus of domestic industry, the transfer of service jobs overseas, the huge increase in stealth
taxes and the proliferation of bureaucratic regulation has all contributed to a very uncertain future.
The price
of empire is concealed with each injured veteran and ignored by every body bag. The
legacy of hubris weakens substantive security and breeds sprawling resentment. Denial
fuels the engines of destruction and deceit feeds the appetite for permanent global dominance.
NeoCons betray innocent citizens and champion a treacherous foreign regime. Transnational
syndicates drive the positioning of the next garrison, while drilling dry holes through your local community.
George
W. Bush preaches a sober gospel, while unleashing a biblical flood of retribution. The
lies about 911 provide the excuse and diversion from the fundamental reasons of a failed foreign policy. The response has little to do with taming the infidel, but has everything to do with wiping out the sovereign
individual. The only patriotism in the Patriotic Act is devoted to a police state. The fraud that your government must eradicate your birth rights to protect your servitude
is absurd. If the world has forever changed because of September 11, 2001, it
is not because of terrorism from aboard, but from within.
Republicans
have abandoned every principle that deserves defending. Middle America merits
their freedom and independence from a central government jihad. Urban metropolises
warrant the wrath of God for the torture they inflict upon the land of the free. Bush
is a divider, which would be an admirable quality if he truly represented the common man from the greed of the elites. However, there is nothing ordinary about the policies that his term has imposed. The assault against our heritage is the only tradition the Bush presidency has upheld. While projecting a man of action determined to slay the dragon, the net result of
his crusade is to multiply the seeds of generations sown in future retaliation.
An eye
for and eye, causes blindness in all parties. What a way to safe guard the homeland. Pre-empted strategy, translates into perpetual conflict. The embedded message that fails to be heard by naïve and dim-witted supporters defies common sense and
rational scrutiny. In an age of excess and denial, any pretext that avoids confronting
suspect authority is deemed as patriotic. Jingoism is considered a virtue, while
sealing our own borders is regarded as xenophobic.
Take no
comfort in any faction of the loyal opposition. The prime directive is the selling
out of the nation, just by diverse means and different scams. The plight that
faces regular souls is the fate of a docile citizen. Accepting that outlook is
the test of loyalty, not just to Bush but to the entire established order. The
first Bush presidency has taught that persistent and vocal dissent runs the risk of intrusive scrutiny or worse. Just who is the terrorist, the civil libertarian or the mercenary stooge in service of the State?
Technological
capabilities have outstripped the will to restrict what is possible by what is moral.
Bush presides over a mechanism that fosters top down demands with no liability or accountability for malicious deeds. The road to serfdom speeds on a network of superhighways. The political culture patrols for moving violations and is eager to enforce un-inspected vehicles. King George walks down that yellow paved road as a tin man with a supposed lion heart,
but his path only leads to a castle on OZ.
The public
has allowed the transformation of our country into an armed camp of paranoid court jesters.
Devoid of balance and depleted of real self-interest the model of self-governance has been discarded for the practice
of contrived arrogance. The goal was once self-determination, now it is overt
compliance and strict obedience. The Bush presidency has dealt a severe blow
to proponents of individual freedom and replaced that heritage with a brute force interventionism that benefits only the State/Capitalist
perversion that masquerades as free enterprise. Our foreign relations are in
shambles, the direction of our involvements is lethal and our moral authority is bankrupt.
Just wait,
the next four years will only get worse, so don’t be surprised.
SARTRE
– January 20, 2005
