I recently had a conversation with a woman about politics. She is a Republican, and I am not. Whether I am still a Democrat really has more to do with whether the party can get its head out of its collective rear and find a spine, more than my political and social beliefs. I don’t have anything against Republicans for the most part, and several of the people I care about and love are confirmed Republicans.
The real issue I have is not with Republicans, but with George W. Bush and his regime. I don’t think that there has been any president that was less deserving of the trust of the American people. He has repeatedly shown that he can not be trusted—whether it is political, moral, societal or fiscal in nature—to do what is in the best interests of the American people as a whole.
Politically, George W. Bush has done more to estrange the United States from the world at large. His unilateral policies have not earned the United States any favor abroad. Nor have his high-handed attempts to dictate to the world as a whole. His complete disregard for the international rule of law, as shown in the prison camps, prisoner abuse scandal and the CIA torture flights only increases America’s vulnerability to terrorist attack.
His attempts to interfere in personal relations and personal decisions, like that of the Terri Schiavo case, show that he has little regard for the rights of American citizens. The NSA wire-tap scandal and the use of military and police to spy on anti-war protest groups also shows his disdain for basic human rights outlined in our country’s Constitution. The Republican party claims it is “Pro-Life” yet they advocate the death penalty.
His continual misrepresentation of the truth to further his own administration’s goals is well documented. The war in Iraq is a prime example of this—where are the weapons of mass destruction; where is the proof of connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda; where are the nuclear materials Iraq was supposed to be acquiring—all of these were reasons to invade Iraq…yet none of them were based in truth or fact.
His treatment of the US economy is worse than that of most third-world dictators. His administration has gone from having one of the largest surpluses in US history to having the largest deficit in US history. Yet, the neo-conservatives claim that the Democrats are the party of big government. Historically, this has proven to be an outright lie as shown in this graph. (The graphic is from one of the blogs I read regularly, but I’ve forgotten which blog it was from…)
The way the White House has handled the recent incident with Dick Cheney is very typical of the Bush regime’s response to many events. First, say nothing and hope no one notices, if that fails you try to cover it up and hope no one notices, if that fails you blame the victim, then you say as little as possible and hope everyone will forget about it.
The other point of the Dick Cheney accidental shooting is the lack of responsibility. Last I checked, even though Whittington should have said he was moving into that area.—a man in a bright orange hunting vest is clearly not a quail—and Dick Cheney has some responsibility for shooting something so obviously not a game bird.
Most Republicans, as individuals, I have no problem with… it is their party, and the neo-conservative fascists that are in power currently that I take issue with.