The End of History?

September 1, 2004
By Jim Wilkeson

I continue to be amazed, baffled, and saddened by the utter ignorance of people who still plan to vote for George W. Bush in the coming election.

I simply can't understand it. Why can't these people realize the harm this man and his administration have done to our country? Are they so easily duped, or are they just not paying attention?

To wit:

During his 2000 campaign, Bush claimed to be a "compassionate conservative." Since the day he took office, he and his staff have proceeded to be neither compassionate (massive tax cuts for the wealthy have caused the gap between the rich and the poor to grow daily) nor conservative (can you say largest debt EVER?).

Ah, and of course, there was the campaign claim that Bush is a "uniter, not a divider." Uh huh. Right.

After the tragedy of 9/11, the entire world (sans the animals who committed the crime) was on our side. Bush then proceeded to callously use that goodwill to further the goals of the war-loving, chicken-hawk neo-con wing of his administration, and in the process turned practically the entire world against us.

Instead of concentrating all of our military efforts on the enemy that brought down the twin towers, he attacked Iraq, which had ZERO culpability in the 9/11 attacks.

Bush then claimed that the information he received that justified a war with Iraq was "faulty intelligence" from top to bottom. Fine - let's give him the benefit of the doubt for argument's sake. But, it's a bit hard to sustain that doubt when not a SINGLE person responsible for that "faulty intelligence" was fired as a result of this country's largest military miscalculation ever.

Anyone who believes that the war in Iraq was started for reasons other than the control of that country's oil (along with the massive amounts of money being made by Bush contributors on war equipment) is simply choosing to ignore the obvious.

And anyone who believes that Bush didn't have the invasion of Iraq as a priority in his mind the day he took office is simply choosing to ignore the facts. He was going in - he just needed an excuse, no matter how thin.

While I could go on and on about the countless other missteps, manipulations and outright lies of this administration (Valerie Plame's outing, terror alerts for political gain, the Patriot Act, etc.), they pale to the latest sickening effort by the Bush administration to keep power in November.

This president, who avoided service in Vietnam by using his father's political connections to get a cushy appointment to the Texas National Guard, has the unmitigated gall to use a third-party surrogate group (the so-called Swift Boat Veterans For Truth) to viciously attack an opponent who, despite enjoying the same kind of privileged upbringing as Bush, volunteered to serve his country in Vietnam when he could have avoided combat just as easily as Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz did.

Despite the repeated denials, the evidence makes it obvious that people within the Bush administration orchestrated this disgusting smear campaign. This action in and of itself is appalling enough, but the fact that the entire attack on John Kerry has been proven to be a partisan lie, yet continues to be an election issue, is simply unbelievable.

In case those of you who voted for George Bush have forgotten (or more likely, have chosen to ignore), Bush not only avoided the war, but also was AWOL for a substantial period of time during his "service." Where was he? Why is THAT question not being asked on a daily basis?

So, what is the Bush voter's response to all of this? Oh - sorry. I forgot. George Bush seems like a likeable guy. Okay, fine. I guess that qualifies him to continue to destroy our country for the next four years. All that other evidence displaying the utter incompetence of this president is just noise. The nice guy thing is much more important.

Please. Give me a competent jerk over a likeable fool when it comes to running my country. I'll never have the opportunity to sit down and have a beer with the guy, so why the hell should I care if he's a nice guy or not?

I appeal to all of those people who plan to vote for George Bush on November 2 to take a good, hard look at the potential harm your vote will cause. History will prove that a four-year presidency of George Bush was one of the most corrupt and damaging ever. If he's given four more years, there may not be much history left.