Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Handwriting's on the Wall (reprise)
One year ago exactly, I wrote the following entry. In the wake of the Democrats’ sweep of both houses of Congress, and a solid vote against the war in Iraq, corruption and creeping fascism, it was exactly what I thought would happen. I don’t often get to say “I told you so”, but...
It’s late evening, and the results are pouring in from today’s elections. What a difference a year makes.
People have finally gotten pissed off at what Bush and his cronies have been getting away with for the last 5 years. Poll after poll shows that on any area they care to poll on, from social and health policy to matters of finances and war, nobody trusts Bush and his pack of liars any more. By a margin of over 2-to-1, people now say that this country is going in the wrong direction.
‘Bout time - a lot of us have been screaming that for years. Wake up and smell the hubris, folks.
A few years ago we were respected - the sole remaining superpower, a beacon of democracy, the “light on the hill.”
Now look at us - a pathetic, staggering troll, serially menacing those who have the temerity to sit on “our” oil, who don’t follow “our” religion, who don’t toe our line.
Worst of all, it’s all self-inflicted:
The Republicans in Congress have shut out (sometimes literally) the Democrats from involvement in virtually every decision for years. They wouldn’t listen to debate, they controlled every committee, they wouldn’t allow Democrats to amend bills. They have blocked, delayed and whitewashed all serious inquiry into the workings of the Bush administration.
This rubber-stamp Congress has failed in their most important role - that of oversight - to follow up on the business of governance, thoughtfully considering all available options and advising the President on the country’s needs. This country is a republic, and Congress was designed to do the people’s business, not to do the bidding of corporations and Karl Rove. Are our elected representatives mere marionettes, dancing to the tune of Bush and Cheney?
I haven’t seen a single thing out of this Congress that hasn’t been to the benefit of the already rich and powerful. So many bills were cloaked in Orwellian names, bills that were designed to unravel the very thing they were supposedly about. Names like “Clean Skies”, “Healthy Forests” or the “Patriot Act” that repeals many of our Constitutional protections.
Bipartisanship? That must be for wimps and losers. Well, I guess it means that the flip side of that coin is we now know with complete certainty whose fault it is when things start to fall apart.
Bush and Cheney have railroaded the nation into an illegal and immoral preemptive war on the basis of a deliberate campaign of now-proven lies. They have trashed the reputation of the U.S. so badly that it may take decades for this country to be viewed as trustworthy, or even to be looked up to again.
We are now a pariah - in a recent UN vote against the use of torture, only the U.S., Israel and two tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific voted against the measure. 182 countries voted to outlaw torture. But Bush wants to “have the option.” It makes me want to puke.
They have stolen from the poor and given to the rich. They have pandered to wacko religious extremists in any way they can. They have mismanaged virtually everything they have touched. They have sold our air, water and other natural resources off to their biggest contributors, letting industry lobbyists write the new and largely unenforced rules. And they have handed the levers of government, power and no-bid guaranteed profit over to soulless corporate carpetbaggers.
It’s the Crony Channel - all cronies, all the time. With corruption for all…
They have committed so many crimes, in so many areas, it may be impossible to ever get to the bottom of it.
But then again, maybe we will…
My guess is that the Republicans in Congress will lift their faces from the trough of money and power long enough to suddenly notice that the voters are, indeed, pissed. Then many will start to break rank, fearing for their re-election chances next November. But it may be far too late.
Already, it seems that Bush’s last-minute “help” was the kiss of death in the Virginia governor’s race. And unless the congressional Republicans are willing to toss Bush’s entire budget and priorities out, they will be swept from office. If Bush has to face a Democratic House and Senate in 2007, there will be no one left to stonewall, protect and make excuses for him any more.
Chimpeachment, baby.
Payback’s a bitch…
Originally posted 11/8/05
