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The
Great Divider
January
31, 2004
By Bryan M. Russell
When George W. Bush ascended to the Presidency he pledged
to unite Americans together regardless of their party affiliations.
In the nearly four years of his presidency Bush has done the
exact opposite. Because of his arrogant foreign policy, ridiculous
domestic policy, and complete and utter disregard for the
environment, Bush has caused this nation to become bitterly
divided, something we haven’t seen since the Vietnam War.
The bitter division Bush has created within our country during
his tenure as President culminated in this year’s State of
the Union address, which showed a very divided Congress, with
Republicans applauding and cheering for everything that came
out of the President’s mouth, while the Democrats stayed in
their seats and grimaced. Right wingers in this country parallel
many of the Republicans in Congress. Bush is allowing people’s
constitutional rights to be thrown out the window by installing
the Patriot Act? They stand and applaud. Bush is trying to
weaken the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and attack the environment
in every way possible? They cheer louder. They hear that the
President has contributed to the loss of 3 million jobs in
his short tenure and has moved many more to places like China
and India and they shout for joy. Perhaps the real problem
in our great division is the fact that conservatives rarely
take off their Bush-blinders for a moment and try to see how
horribly this administration has failed us, as Americans,
in a variety of categories. I am thankful that my fellow Democrats,
many Independents, and quite a few fed-up Republicans have
been able to open their eyes and see George W. Bush for what
he really is.
Bush has failed us, the American people, in many ways. The
first, and probably the most notable failure was the war in
Iraq. We were told that the reason our troops would be invading
Iraq was because Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass
destruction that he planned to use on his enemies, including
us. Many Americans, including myself, heard these dangers
and quickly supported the war, until a few months later when
the WMD were still unable to be found. Now, inspectors have
given up hope of finding any WMD; they are simply not there.
So basically, the Bush campaign greatly exaggerated the threat
of Iraq and its weapons program and lied to the American people
to enhance his own agenda and personal vendetta to capture
Saddam Hussein. Now the administration has switched the focus
of Iraq, to “capturing Saddam Hussein, who was a really bad
guy”, when the original focus was disabling the WMD that Hussein
was supposedly very anxious to use against us. There are many
“bad guys” in the world, so I guess since we go around spending
billions of dollars per country rescuing poor souls from “bad
guys” we should just ignore the real “bad guys” who crashed
into our buildings and killed thousands of our
countrymen. This is exactly what the Bush administration is
doing. There is a difference between a possible threat (Hussein)
and an actual threat (Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda). The logical
progression would be to disable Bin Laden and Al Qaeda completely
first and then proceed, with the help of the United Nations
and other nations, to Saddam Hussein. But you can’t count
on George W. Bush to think logically.
George W. Bush’s arrogant foreign policy has alienated us
from nearly every other nation in the world. To Bush, it’s
“us against them”, Americans versus every Muslim on the face
of the planet. Plus he showed an utter disregard for the help
of other countries and the United Nations, instead plunging
us into war without a set plan to help restore Iraq after
America had overthrown the regime. Bush’s policies here at
home are also highly questionable. Millions of jobs have been
lost since Bush took office and his recent pardon for illegal
immigrants has many Americans, both Democrats and Republicans,
outraged. Bush likes to act like he is tough on national security,
yet he proposed opening up our borders and dressed it up as
a worker program. If Bush’s twin daughters went to school
in Brownsville instead of New Haven and Austin, I doubt he
would even consider this program. Yet, Bush is content to
live in his middle of WASP-ville ranch in Crawford and doesn’t
really feel like venturing anywhere near the border to see
what life there is like on a daily basis. This program is
also a slap in the face to immigrants who actually worked
and came to this country legally.
The third issue many Americans are divided on involves the
environment. George W. Bush will be remembered as the worst
American President on environmental issues in the history
of our country. Since he came into office, he’s looked out
for his buddies in big business and attacked every single
bit of environmental legislation ever passed. He proposed
reshaping the Clean Air Act so it would allow polluting companies
more loopholes for their emissions standards and has attacked
the Clean Water Act, proposing to cut back from looking out
for our non-navigable rivers and streams, which would allow
polluters to have leeway into our nation’s isolated wetlands.
Bush called his redone Clean Air Act plan the “Clear Skies
Initiative” once again misleading the American people. Then
again, perhaps letting power plants triple their toxic mercury
emissions and double their sulfur emissions into the atmosphere
is his idea of a “clear sky.”(Let us not forget that Houston
became the nation’s most polluted city in 1999 and 2000 under
a certain Texas governor’s watch) Bush also helped out his
big industry pals by encouraging mountain top removal mining
in Appalachia and other areas around the country. This process
would allow big mining companies to reduce their waste cleanup
costs greatly by simply blowing off the tops of mountains
and dumping the millions of tons of waste and rock into streams
and rivers below. Previously, the companies had to remain
a certain number of feet away from the rivers, yet Bush wants
the mining companies to simply dump all of the waste right
into the rivers, reducing costs and terminating the waterway’s
flow completely.
This country will remain divided until we can find a President
who doesn’t cater to one side and alienate the other entirely.
What America needs is a President who will build one America,
not two separate entities within America. This nation needs
a President who will stand up for people who keep losing jobs
every single day. This nation needs a President who will strive
to protect the constitutional rights of Americans from all
walks of life, from all races, belief systems, backgrounds,
and sexual orientations. We need a President who will earn
the respect of other nations across the globe, not shun them
for personal interests. For the sake of America, let’s elect
someone in 2004 who can unite us and not divide us.
Bryan M. Russell is a junior in high school who is also a
freelance political and sports writer. Send him your questions
and comments at bmrcane@comcast.net.
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