Four
More Years Would Spell Disaster
January
14, 2004
By Doug Snider
What a difference a year makes. Or does it? One year ago
this week I took my first timid steps at activism, opposing
a war that I honestly believed could be stopped. My first
peace rally was soon followed a peace march that left my feet
blistered for weeks. During the ensuing weeks I wrote letters
to editors, web sites, legislators and friends hoping that
one more voice of reason might make the difference. I joined
an eloquent silent protest and witnessed the hateful treatment
that true patriots earn when they oppose a popular form of
lunacy.
This week, when it is statistically likely that we will
observe the 500th U.S. fatality of the war and the 600th coalition
death, I learned why my efforts had been doomed to failure
before they even began. The invasion of Iraq was set in irreversible
motion when the Supreme Court of the United States said "Game
Over" and an administration was put in power with war
at the top of its "to do" list. Former treasury
secretary Paul O'Neill's revelations make it clear now that
George Bush's elective war had far less to do with preemption
than it did with projecting American military power into the
heart of the world's oil reserves.
The myth of a nation united by the tragic events of 9-11
quickly gave way to the reality of a tragically divided nation.
The past twelve months have seen an alarming decline in civility
and a frightening escalation of hate mongering and fear mongering.
Questioning an administration whose own legitimacy is questionable
is cause for accusations of treason. Rights we have always
taken for granted are now in jeopardy and perhaps non-existent
for certain minorities. A year ago I stopped short of stating
that the symbols of our cherished freedoms were being usurped
as symbols of a tyranny based upon the well stoked fires of
fear. Now I have no doubt.
If we allow the Bush administration another four years to
complete their grand design, we will not recognize this country.
America the Beautiful is already the most hated and feared
power on earth, one that answers to no law and no standard
of international decency. One Nation Under God is now a nation
that enlists God in its persecution of those who stand in
its way. We have already seen an administration keen on constitutionalizing
the sacrament of marriage and proclaiming the president the
moral leader of our nation. We are dominated by a movement
that puts the life of an unborn fetus ahead of that of its
living mother but will not even acknowledge the innocent thousands
it has killed in the name of liberation.
We are appalled at how deeply the Sunnis and Shiites hate
each other but too many of us ignore the deepening enmity
among our own citizens. The United States is becoming parallel
universes where in one everyone sees a dangerous, arrogant,
bumbling, incompetent leader and in the other that same figure
is seen as a heroic man of the people. The evidence is mounting
that the former is reality, but will the rest wake up in time?
As the Bush administration utters a classic Emily Litella
"never mind" over its bogus justifications to invade
another nation, we will see an increasing barrage of distractions
from the critical truth. The Bush Space Initiative is a laudable
diversion and an eloquent testimony to the historic role that
chimps have played in the American space program, but it will
only get off the ground if some genius finds a way to fuel
rockets with red ink.
George Bush is inviting foreign workers to swarm to our
cities while real jobs are fleeing like rats leaving a sinking
ship. From now on out it's all politics and anyone who thinks
Bush has suddenly become a real president is watching too
much junk television. It's the kind of politics that should
have us all concerned. When the incumbent and so far unchallenged
president needs over two hundred million dollars from the
beneficiaries of his outlandish tax cuts, you know this will
be an election that will trash democracy like none before.
I made my first ever contribution to a presidential campaign
this year and I feel as inadequate as all those junk e-mails
want me to feel. Size matters, and my small contribution doesn't
carry the weight of a corporate heavy hitter's at a Bush fund-raising
love fest. We are in a vicious cycle of power buying even
more power.
I have some fears about the next Bush presidency that hit
very close to home. My biggest fear, one that I first expressed
when Bush won by a single vote in the Supreme Court, is that
my two sons will be forced to serve and possibly die for the
madness of Dick Cheney and his Neo-con high priests. The reinstatement
of the military draft is already in progress but will receive
little real attention until it is once again the law of the
land. The civil liberties that have disappeared in just two
years are just a hint of what is to come if Bush rides back
into office, this time on the strength of the votes of nineteen
suicidal hijackers. Local law enforcement agencies have already
been asked to keep an eye on people like me who make their
dissent public. In 2005 homeland security will likely go way
beyond today's already invasive surveillance.
Last year's anger and hope have given way to outrage and
disgust. I am outraged that the crimes of George Bush have
been applauded by so many Americans and I am disgusted that
the only vision Bush offers my children is a lifetime of war
and terror.
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