You know, I’m really starting to get fed up with this whole Presidential election. I just can’t escape it. My favorite TV show is the Daily Show, which is sadly the best place to get your news anymore. I consider myself a moderate libertarian, a mix of (old) Republican fiscal policy (not this newfangled sign up for every damn credit card offer you get in the mail, insurmountable debt problem that plagues millions in this country and now our government), and a smaller government that does not restrict our freedoms, but also semi-liberal on social issues. I don’t think the government should give handouts to everyone, but I think it does need to help promote a better America by reducing the cost of healthcare, whether this is by subsidizing health insurance for those who cannot afford it, or by legislating new bills that would reduce the litigation that has overtaken this country with the sue first, ask questions later mentality. I’m not a big fan of John Kerry, but I cannot stand George W. Bush and his unethical entourage. Cheney is about as vile a person to “grace” the White House as Nixon.
What George W. Bush has accomplished in the past 4 years:
- Vacationing more than any president in the history of America
- Reading “The Pet Goat” while America was under attack
- Taking a united country’s trust and pulling the largest bait in switch in history
- Signing a $350 billion tax cut
- Turning the largest budget surplus in history into the largest deficit in history
- “Creating” a net loss of jobs
- Dividing the country into partisan bashing over a war that happened 35 years ago.
That looks like a pretty good resume to me. I would definitely like to re-elect someone with such a wonderful track record. (Not that Kerry’s senate record is without its own problems, but that is a whole separate issue.)
While the economy was taking a dive and terrorists plotted against the U.S., Bush was vacationing in Texas for a month leading up to 9/11. Maybe he was working, maybe he was planning the invasion of Iraq, maybe he was practicing his reading for that fateful day, noone knows. In the days that followed, America was united again, behind a President that campaigned as “a uniter, not a divider” and so I guess he decided “Mission Accomplished,” and crossed that off his list of things to do. After finally finishing his reading, Bush responded and began his mission as commander in chief, leading our troops into Afghanistan and vanquishing the Taliban.
So far, so good, except we didn’t finish the job. You know that 6 foot 5 inch Saudi guy on a dialysis machine? He is still out there somewhere, roaming around the caves while most of our troops are fighting against Iraqi rebels. Which leads us to the dumbing down of America. Whose idea was it to concentrate on finding those weapons of mass destruction that our wonderful CIA chief George Tenet said were a “slam dunk”? “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” Tenet was the same man whose CIA failed to properly follow up on intelligence that indicated New York was the target of a terrorist plot. Instead of reprimanding the CIA chief or firing him, he allows him to cultivate a story that throws the majority of our troops into a country that just happened to be an unfinished job from daddy Bush’s days in office. Forget the fact that 15 of the 19 (79%) terrorists were from Saudi Arabia (our “friends”), lets go invade a country that isn’t particularly connected to al-Qaeda instead of finding the people responsible for bankrolling terrorist operations. While we’re at it, lets declare a preemptive “Mission Accomplished” before the war is anywhere near finished.
Bush got his $350 billion tax cut from the Republican congress, and promised that it would stimulate the economy. I wasn’t an economics major, but I can pretend. So the average family got about $500 back from the tax cut. That’s less than $1.50 per day, or about a quarter an hour raise for a full time worker. I wouldn’t normally complain about “free” money, but then again I didn’t see any of that since I have yet to make enough to have to pay federal income tax (unfortunately that’s gonna change this year). So what will $1.50 a day get me? Well, I could get a Mt. Dew everyday (luckily I’ve pretty much killed that habit). Somehow I don’t think giving my money to Pepsi is going to restart the economy. I could invest it in the bank where interest rates are super low, great for buying a house, but not for saving. I could invest it into the stock market in a company like Haliburton (or Enron), whose accountants decide to switch practices to artificially inflate their numbers to make the short term look good, while the CEO and future Vice President of the U.S.A. (or in the case of Enron, Bush’s buddy old pal Ken Lay) plays dumb. I could buy about a gallon of gas to drive around. Maybe some of that money will be siphoned off before it heads to the Middle East.
Since that tax cut really spurred on the economy and created millions of new jobs, it looks like no one should have a problem finding a job. When I was looking for a job, I found hardly any tech jobs in the Pittsburgh region. Why, I don’t know. Pittsburgh has a low cost of living and many quality colleges and universities from which to select employees, yet there are almost 0 tech companies around the area. Now it looks like I’ll have to spend that tax cut money driving 250 miles (at 30mpg, see the aside) back and forth to visit my family and friends back home.
Aside: On HBO’s “The Wire”, one of the characters said “America used to make shit”, which in the context meant that America used to produce goods instead of importing goods. This is more true than I think they even intended. In the case of automobiles, America used to make quality cars that would last, while early Japanese imports were seen as low quality, cheap knock offs. At some point, the Japanese imports quality surpassed good old Detroit, and since then the American auto industry has been dying off. Just look at what Chrysler is doing to Mercedes and the introduction of quality problems. The trade gap between America’s imports and exports is at a record high. Now, I guess I am a freemarket capitalist kind of guy, as I’d like to buy the best possible product from whoever can produce it for the least money. If that means buying a Japanese or German car, so be it. I also believe the way to keep jobs in America, is to provide the best possible product, as quality will generally win over quantity (Excluding the cheap shit at Wal-mart, I prefer Target personally).
It’s not Bush’s fault that the stock market collapsed and the economy died down, but it is his fault for not doing enough to bring it back up. Now he’s squandered the 90% approval rating from 3 years ago, and divided the nation once again. Please don’t let America be fooled again.
Things I would like to see happen sometime soon:
- Bush defeated in the election this November.
- A proper removal of troops from Iraq without leaving the country as a total wasteland for new terrorist training grounds
- Special operations units taking out al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations
- A return to counter-intelligence and good old fashioned spy games
- Demolishing of the poppy/opium/heroin trade in Afghanistan used to fund terrorism
- Tom Ridge resign from the Dept. of Homeland (In)Security
- An end to the pointless bullshit mudslinging that comes out of 527 organizations.
- Politicians forced to campaign on cold hard facts, not “if so and so is elected, the terrorists may possibly reign down upon us in a black cloud of horror” fear mongering.
- A return to real journalism, where its not just the comedian hosts (read: Jon Stewart) who ask tough questions against both sides
- Competent, intelligent, politicians with integrity (this is just a pipe dream, but maybe McCain will actually get to run in 2008)
- World peace (as if the last one wasn’t asking enough…)
Now I feel a little better, I needed to get that rant out of my system. Feel free to comment.
I leave you with my original entry from September 11th, 2001.
I woke up today to CNN saying that a plane had crashed into the world trade center. I soon realized that this was no ordinary day. I sat here, in awe as I watched from 10 am on, almost non-stop. I watched as the south tower collapsed, as the pentagon burned, as a plane crashed an hour away from here, and later as the north tower collapsed. My condolences go out to all of the families who had loved ones killed or injured by these events. As the events sank in, I began to think of the repercussions of these acts of terrorism. With the current government officials in office, it seems that we will be going to war to find those responsible for these acts. But it is also those same government officials who I believe are partially responsible for not stopping these terrorist acts. The analogies to pearl harbor are quite striking. Both were attacks by foreign countries attacking the united states on our own territory. In both cases there is evidence pointing toward information that each attack was known about beforehand. Whether government officials allowed these attacks to take place is not known. I believe that the government acted ineffectively to stop these acts from taking place. Where was the airport security stopping these hijackers from getting weapons onto these aircraft? where is the security for pilots to protect them from possible hijackers? where was the faa and air force when these airplanes jackknifed on their course and headed toward new york city? where were the cia, nsa, and fbi that are always probing their nose into our lives? shouldn’t they have known that Osama Bin Laden was planning something? just weeks ago, he had threatened to commit such an act against the united states. this is the same man that was found to be behind the original world trade center bombing in 1993. he was also found to be behind two embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. If he is found to have masterminded these incredible events today, we must go after him and stop his terrorist group. I do hope, however, that this is only done by those in the armed forces. I do not believe that I, as an american citizen not in the armed forces, should be made to fix the mistakes that our government has created. I personally will not fight a war that could have, and should have been avoided if our government agencies had done their job and enforce the security precautions that only they know about. This brings about another point that was echoed today. The government controls the flow of communication in this country. Phone lines were flooded, and television and radio stations were without information. Government officials were slow to comment on the ongoing situation. This left one medium, the internet. The one true free medium shined. Reports, photos, videos, and messages were transferred at the speed of light across the internet backbone. Major news sources were dark under these high loads of traffic, but the independent sources stood their ground. These are the same sources that are in danger of losing their connection due to corporate takeovers, mergers, and government regulations. If not for the actions taken by independent sources, many people throughout the world would be without vital information in crisis situations. It is time that the U.S. government should take action to help the spread of information, instead of passing laws to prevent it. So, as I shut off CNN, after watching hours of television, after seeing video of both planes hit the towers, after watching our puppet we call the president, I can only hope that what happens in the near future does not reach the proportions of my worst nightmares. God help us all.