WE WILL NOT FORGET - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Sun Dec-10-06 09:14 PM
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WE WILL NOT FORGET

Edited on Sun Dec-10-06 09:51 PM by NanceGreggs

WE WILL NOT FORGET
By Nancy Greggs

I have no doubt that when the current crop of elected Republicans bow their heads these days, their most fervent prayer is that we, the People, will lapse into a state of collective amnesia – and the sooner, the better.

Having watched their former colleagues pack up their offices over the past few weeks, ready to head out of DC in the aftermath of the mid-term elections, I am confident there isn’t a GOP senator or congressman who isn’t thinking that this, but for the grace of God and a forgetful citizenry, will be their fate when their own terms expire and they face the now-dreaded prospect of campaigning for re-election.

As the GOPers try desperately to distance themselves from BushCo and its obvious failures, I am reminded of Richard Dreyfuss’ line in Jaws, as he looked into the cold stare of the merciless shark for the first time: “We’re going to need a bigger boat”. And so it seems the Republicans still in office are going to need a bigger bandwagon, as they attempt to get on-board with the current we-never-supported-this-whacked-out-administration stance they are presently adopting quicker than you can say “cut-and-run”.

The pebbles that have started slipping, seemingly unnoticed, down the mountainside – like the ‘sudden’ realization that maybe invading Iraq wasn’t such a great idea after all – are merely the precursor to the inevitable avalanche of desperate Republicans who will, over the course of the next few months, denounce the actions of the very president whose praises they could not sing loud enough over the past six disastrous years.

In the spirit of bi-partisanship the Republicans are now so enamored of pursuing, I will proffer the following – lest they be lulled into a false sense of security about their future political prospects: We, the People, will not forget – not now, not two years from now, not ever.

We will not forget how, as you sent our troops into combat, you voted to cut their pay and their benefits at the same time you handed billions of dollars to war-profiteers like Halliburton without a modicum of accountability.

We will not forget that our soldiers went into battle without sufficient body armor while billions of taxpayers’ dollars went ‘missing’ without a single question being raised.

We will not forget the times we were called “Godless” as you condoned torture, “unpatriotic” as you allowed this president to ignore the Constitution without consequence, “bereft of moral values” as you protected the corrupt among you, or “defeatists” as we embraced reality rather than the propaganda you spewed in an attempt to garner support for what you knew, or ought to have known, was a lost cause in Iraq.

We will not forget the handouts to the wealthy, the tax-breaks to the corporations, the outsourcing of our jobs, nor the debt you incurred at the expense of our children and our grandchildrens' future.

We will not forget the destruction of our environment for the sake of corporate profits, the kow-towing to religious leaders whose undue influence on our government was ignored in hopes of capturing a voting block that would keep you in office.

We will not forget the Bankruptcy Bill that lined the pockets of the credit card companies and financial institutions at the expense of hard-working middle-class citizens, nor the policies that funneled billions into the accounts of the pharmaceutical industry while our most vulnerable citizens sickened and died because they could not afford life-saving medication.

We will not forget the children whose ability to compete in the global job market has now been diminished by your lack of oversight of our public educational system, nor the deterioration of our infrastructure as our treasury funds a winless war of choice and energy power-brokers reap the benefits of “secret meetings” with this administration.

We will not forget the cronyism that elevated the incompetent to positions that required decision-making in situations that literally meant the difference between life and death.

We will not forget the homeless you have ignored, the jobless you have created, the numbers of uninsured you have contributed to.

We will not forget the victims of Katrina, those who fell below the poverty level during your tenure in office, nor the corruption that led to the investigation, indictment and imprisonment of your own party members whose greed literally knew no bounds.

We will not forget the arrogance of your self-righteousness, your support of an administration you knew to be inept and totally uninterested in the well-being of our nation and its citizens, nor the fact that you put the interests of your corporate contributors above the interests of your country.

We will not forget that as you debated non-issues like flag-burning, everything our flag symbolizes – democracy, freedom, working together for the common good of the country – was being dragged through the mud. We will not forget that you were all too willing to turn a blind eye to things like signing statements and executive actions contrary to law, while rubber-stamping every whim of the petulant, immature idiot you placed in the White House under questionable, if not outright fraudulent, circumstances.

We will not forget that as that president broke the laws of the land, spied on American citizens, lied the country into war and then displayed an ineptitude in conducting that war and governing the nation literally unsurpassed in the annals of our history, you not only gave your unwavering support, but had the audacity to question the loyalty of those who demanded a return to the very freedoms this democracy was founded upon.

So if you are still living with the ridiculous notion that we will forget, I would point to the countless reminders we will live with for years to come: the permanently handicapped soldiers who will be among us, the sad anniversaries marked by our neighbors and friends of the death of a son, a daughter, a spouse, a parent in Iraq or Afghanistan; the heroes who fought so tirelessly who now beg for quarters on our street corners; the devastation still evident on the streets of New Orleans; the headlines that tout the ever-growing profits of oil companies that continue to prosper under the policies you endorsed; the bankrupt, the evicted, the homeless, the dead.

So as you ponder your political future, remember this above all: We, the People, will never forget.