HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
July 29, 2003 We are truly riding an endless wave of mindless drivel from the Left: "Tax cuts for the rich;" "No Blood for Oil;" "Bush knew!" "He lied!" There is an ongoing all-out assault on the current administration the likes of which has not been witnessed in this country's history. The ultimate objective, of course, is to seize back control of Washington, D.C. and put federal power in the hands of liberals once again--where it belongs after all. In fact, if we are to believe the rhetoric, the following must be true: 1. The United States is in the worst economic situation in the nation's history. People are homeless and starving with no hope for the future. (I guess we have to ignore the fact the economy continues to grow, interest rates are at all-time lows and the unemployment level is in the range of historical norms. We should also close our eyes to the packed restaurants, bars, movie houses and appliance stores too as well as real-estate values which continue to appreciate and home ownership levels at historic highs.) 2. Poor people are sick and dying without proper health care. The elderly must choose between food and their prescription drugs. Health care is in a "crisis." Something must be done! (We have to pretend the United States does not have the best health care in the world, care which is generally available to all people, either through employer-sponsored plans or existing government programs for the poor among us. We see none of the waiting lists for care evident in more socialized nations (i.e., Canada). Let's also pretend there really are people who are not getting treatment they need for their ailments.) 3. We have actually lost the Iraq War and the conflict in Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden remain free so we cannot claim victory in either case. In Iraq, we have not yet built a working democracy, after decades of totalitarianism, even though we've been there for weeks! The casualty toll in the latest Iraq War surpassed that of the first Gulf War so therefore it's a failure. Not everyone in Iraq or the rest of the world is happy with us, so we are careless bullies. Bush has not stopped the smallest of terrorist attacks overseas so he obviously is not doing enough in the war on terror. Further, the Iraq War was undertaken by Bush for oil or to avenge Saddam's threat against Bush Sr's life. We cannot find the weapons of mass destruction which the whole world acknowledged were in Iraq, and for which they had months to hide, so the war was unjust. (The fact the Taliban were run out of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks with minimal casualties is irrelevant. The fact Osama bin Laden, if alive, is in hiding and a non-factor does not matter. Major terrorist funding channels may have dried up, but that is meaningless. The brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, and the related potential threats are no more and a country is free to elect its own leaders--but who cares? Sure, there has been not the slightest terrorist attack on this nation's soil since September, 2001, but there still could be one so Bush does not care.) 4. President Bush is an all-out liar who is not to be trusted under any circumstances. He is working for none other than "the rich;" the poor and working class people can just jump in the ocean in his mind. (We once again have to imagine Bush hasn't passed one of the largest increases to Education spending in history, that millions of lower and middle-class taxpayers did not receive a sizeable tax cut, that he didn't sign campaign finance reforms to "protect" citizens from "big money," that his administration did not uncover the Enron and other corporate scandals which thrived under the Clinton regime. We further have to ignore the indesputable truth that Bush has not been caught in even the smallest lie in his time in office, despite the fact his enemies are digging in every corner and crevice they can find to do just that. The most they can come up with is a true statement included in the State of the Union address which the Administration on its own suggested they should have researched further before it was actually made, but for which the British still fully stand behind.) In all the political attacks and concocted scandals Democrats have tried to tie to the Bush administration (i.e., "Museum Gate" in Iraq; Iraq War labeled "Quagmire" in Week #1; accusations of Bush somehow being able to stop the September 11 attacks) there are two very significant components missing. The first, of course, is common logic or evidence of any kind to support the claims. (This is nothing new; most liberal arguments are composed primarily of emotional rhetoric with little or no substance.) The second, and more important, missing factor in these attacks is an explanation of what exactly the Democrats would do differently to address their self-defined problems. All the Democratic candidates for president relentlessly assault Bush for his failings, yet they provide little substantive detail of their cure-all techniques. They give us countless reasons why we should not vote for Bush but not one reason why we should vote for them. We are to believe the world is in a chaotic mess under Bush, a crisis which would be completely averted with their leadership (details of how this would be done are apparently pending). The rhetoric is getting tiresome and it's time the people and press demand more of the Democratic contingency than they have provided to date. As one of the two primary political parties in this nation, it is incumbent upon Democrats to truly offer an alternative to existing policies which they, in vague terms, endlessly criticize. Too often the popular media runs with whatever the Democratic mantra happens to be even in absence of the facts. Perhaps if the media put more objective pressure on Democrats, they would respond with substance over form. Unfortunately, media tends to be sympathetic to liberal arguments, no matter how baseless they may be, and the needed pressure is not provided. In the end, we all suffer for it. ------------ Email Edward Abraham: eabra48463@aol.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
