Doesn’t happen often
After all, he is one of those Democrats. Bubba and I rarely disagree but one instance has popped up recently. His moving post here about the corruption of the Bush administration and the impending (yes, it’s coming and you can’t stop it) war with Iraq. If an essay was going to convince me to change my mind about the war, this would be it. But no such essay exists. The war will happen and it’s the right thing to do.
The Economy
The Bush administration is not responsible for the economic decline. The economic decline is a result of an overvalued stock market that occurred in the 90s because of the newness of the Dot Com craze and people subsequently realizing that companies were not really producing anything. Then the economy fell down and went boom. We’re, of course, finding out now that such results were also (even during the 90s) fraudulent. Do you think Enron, WorldCom and the others were honestly accounting for transactions in the 90s and changed that when Dubya took over? If you do, you’re delusional. So, the fraud was not new to the Bush administration, they were just around when someone found it. But here’s where I stray from the typical right winger response: It wasn’t Clinton’s fault either. The economy was good and why mess with a good thing? And it wasn’t to the credit of Clinton and its subsequent tank is not his fault either. It’s not Bush’s fault either. It’s a function of the market.
The government cannot control the economy. If it could, there would be no recessions and no depressions. The government’s very limited form of control comes only from taxes, penalties, and subsidies. They can tax or give tax breaks to discourage or encourage market behavior. That’s really it. If the government could control the economy, we’d be Chinese.
Bush inherited an overvalued economy on the downward spiral (again, I’m not blaming Clinton. To Clinton’s credit, he did have a knack for knowing when to keep the government out of stuff it shouldn’t be messing with anyway, like the economy and the internet) and had to so something about it. What better way than to put money into the economy? That’s why he’s pushing tax cuts. And whenever lefties say Power to the people, it should also include Money to the people. Actually, I like that. Money to the people. Seems to be a good slogan.
The left and right are both wrong about taxes. But the Democrats and the Republicans have to create a divide. This divide gets them elected. It’s very rare that you’ll hear a politician tell you how good their party’s plan is in specific detail. They will, however, go into elaborate detail to tell you what’s wrong with the other party’s plans. As a function of the party system, the Democrats and Republicans must keep us segregated as Rich v. Poor, Black v. White, Coke v. Pepsi, whatever. It’s how they get in power.
Traitors?
Bubba is right. The antiwar folks are not traitors. They are exercising their rights to voice their opinions as is their patriotic duty; and more power to them. However, the protestors, in my opinion, are definitely idealists who fail to grasp the current situation. Right wingers who refer to people who take issue with the war as unpatriotic are just as guilty of clinging to ideologies as they allege the antiwar folks are.
Election 2000
Bubba refers to the 2000 election as a sham. A definite way to get Democrats’ attention and support. The election was definitely an embarrassment. But the fact is Bush was elected legitimately by the electoral system. It happens sometimes (and will happen again) that someone will win an election with less of the popular vote. It’s inherent in the system. Attack the system if you don’t like it, not the guy who benefited from it because he did what anyone else (including Gore) would have done. No amount of rhetoric about Selected not Elected or the Extreme Court matters. America, change the system if you oppose it.
Forget all the other nonsense for a moment. Forget the Supreme Court decision. Forget the allegations of wrongdoing (since they’ve not been proven yet) and focus on one thing. The battle was entirely about Florida. That was Gore’s plan of attack. Bush won Florida. Period. In fact, a count after the fact conducted by the University of Chicago still states that Bush wins.
Final Note
Most Americans support the war with Iraq. So, Bubba, you’ll have a tough time getting the people to take America back over this issue. I really hope by take it back, you mean to the people. Because if we’re just taking it back to give it to some Democrats, we’re no better off than we are now. Partisan politics will damn us all.
Note to Bubba: Nothing personal. You’re still a helluva guy!
