The Truth Hurts
April 9, 2004
By Vicky Davis

When Senator Ted Kennedy said that Iraq is George Bush's Viet Nam, he struck a nerve. The Republicans have been squealing like stuck pigs ever since. The truth hurts.

Obviously the reasons for the two wars were different. What is not different is that we are once again trying to force our way of life on people who don't want it. And what is it that we think we have that is so great anyway?

When our Leaders talk about the gift of democracy and freedom that we are bringing to the Iraqis, they call forth the vision of our Founding Fathers: a democratic republic with a constitutional framework which limits the powers of the federal government, while providing guarantees of freedom for the citizens. What greater gift could there be than a government "of the people, by the people and for the people"?

There may have been a time when we had that, but no longer. A look around at the changes taking place in our country makes one wonder if the men and women who are entrusted with the responsibility for upholding the Rule of Law and the Constitution even think about the principles upon which this country was founded. By their actions, one would have to say they don't.

When we look at our Congress, we see wealthy men and women who sell their votes to the highest bidders. Corporate vote buying in Congress has become so institutionalized that it is not even clear that they recognize how corrupt they really are. In fact, it is so commonplace that one congressman actually mentioned in public that he was offered a bribe for his vote on the Medicare bill. Ultimately he accepted the bribe and is now under investigation by the FBI.

One hundred and fifty members of the U.S. House of Representatives belong to IndiaPAC. IndiaPAC represents the interests of India. Twenty senators recently started their own chapter of IndiaPAC. The Indians have lots of money to buy the votes of Congress since they are draining a significant portion of our economy. Impoverished Americans can vote of course - at least they think they can. It all depends on how many of the hackable computerized voting systems get installed before the next election.

Even the Supreme Court - the ultimate limiting factor on abuses of power in government - has been tarnished. Three of the Supremes gave a presentation some months ago in which they talked about globalization. They said that in one of their cases they used international law as the basis for a decision. Their powers derive from the Constitution. By going outside the bounds of the Constitution to make a decision, they violated it.

Watching George Bush, one sees the carefully cultivated image of a Texas good ol' boy. A friendly, folksy kind of guy, that lies through his teeth with every word spoken and is robbing you blind as he is shaking your hand. He cares so much about protecting the American people that he is implementing a police state to watch their every move. At the same time, he is cutting the budget of the border patrol and port security.

He is installing a corporate government and trading away our national sovereignty. His Labor Department is making it easier for corporations to treat their employees like slave labor - even giving them a How-To guide. He is setting up a federal employment agency for foreigners - to make it easier for corporations to avoid hiring American citizens altogether.

The lies of the Bush Administration even extend to the treatment of our men and women in the military. While George Bush waves the flag and lands on aircraft carriers he cuts the hazardous duty pay of the soldiers, closes veteran's hospitals, cuts the budget for medical care and orders that the bodies be flown home under the cover of darkness. So callous and uncaring is he that he can make jokes about the fact that the war was based on lies. There were no WMD. They knew it - and so far, they have gotten away with it.

Every action of George Bush's administration has been to enrich the wealthy few, empower and subsidize corporations and crush the American people - financially, emotionally and spiritually. The middle class people who support him just haven't been run over by the Bush bulldozer - yet. How Bush and his cronies must laugh at their success at fooling half the people with their lies and fraud, and at the terror and panic felt by the other half of the people who see through them. He and his cronies are laughing all the way to the bank as they pull off the biggest heist in the history of the world - the wealth of our country, the Iraqi oil and our national sovereignty. Revenge is sweet, isn't it George?

We are attempting to impose on the Iraqis what we have - the fa�ade of a democratic republic. Underneath the fa�ade are the decay and stench of a corporate government that cares nothing about people. They care only about money and power. Iraq is indeed George Bush's Viet Nam. They see what our government is, and they are going to fight it to the bitter end. The truth does indeed hurt.

Contact Vicky at [email protected]