The Soulless Bush Agenda
By Glenn R. Jackson
I admit I am confused, but maybe I am not alone. I realize it is not a popular thing to criticize an American President during a time of war. Americans are just not like that. Instead, like no other people, Americans will drop every pretense and rally to the flag and to their President when their country is attacked. I’m saying the American people will although not so surely the politicians, but then that is a different story. And while President Bush is benefiting from that typical American reaction, we the people are not getting the full picture.
Granted there is more to this President’s popularity then just the patriotic reactions of the American people. President Bush himself plays a part in the people’s confidence and in their high support for him. The American people see in their President how they picture themselves. There are no greater people in the world then this nation’s when it comes to courage and heart. Witness the firemen and policemen of New York City. And the people see in their President a man “after their own heart.”
Yet there is a lot to cause alarm and confusion from this President’s story.
With the President’s reactions to September 11th, with his heartfelt anger and his fighting attitude Americans are seeing their own heart’s desire being acted on, but in the President’s agenda, in his direction for the country outside of our fight against Islamic terror, we are seeing straight into a troubled soul. This is a President, and through him an administration, that clearly lacks an appreciation of America and the soul of the nation’s greatness. While so clearly articulating the heart of the nation, the President is failing to uphold the best interest of the nation, the American “center”, and the American soul.
While heart carries you through the hard places, it is the soul that gives direction and meaning to life. Aspirations for the future arise from the soul, both for the individual and for the nation. Aside the anger felt against the Islamic terrorist who attacked this nation, this President has a strange understanding of the aspirations of the nation he was elected to lead.
In some ways this President is like the last, charting a course for the nation that reflects pollster’s opinion numbers, pundits’ pontifications, and the need for secrecy and spin. Taking a principled stand seems to not be on the agenda. Instead the war on terror is broken down into its simplest terms, good vs. evil, and then worked into every conversation.
While the war is widely supported, and justly so, its use for undergirding the Bush agenda is disturbing. Remember the war for Bush was an accident of chance. Sure the Islamic terrorists were telegraphing their intentions to any willing to see, but the attack was based on the Islamic terrorist’s timing and planning, and the “war” was this nation’s reaction after the fact.
What is the Bush agenda in this post-September 11th world? Is the agenda any different from pre-September 11th thinking? Are the policies of this President consistent with his rhetoric about “good vs. evil?” What difference do we discern between this administration's policies and the last?
Are you safer today then you were on September 11th, or are you of the mind that no more bad news is the same as safety?
The President supported and signed a new big government Education bill, which increased funding for the Department of Education, increased overall spending and was sponsored by Ted Kennedy and the Democratic agenda.
The President telegraphed his intention to sign any campaign finance bill sent to his desk, effectively undermining any principled opposition from his own party, and guaranteeing a continued assault on the First amendment rights of Americans. This Incumbent Protection bill will damage the fabric of the nation, while retaining political power where it is needed least.
The President handpicked California Republican Richard Riordan as his choice for the Republican candidate for Governor of that state. Riordan was such a principled Republican that he had made contributions to Governor Grey Davis’ last campaign, i.e. Riordan was picked by the President to run against the man Riordan had supported in the last general election. And the President supported him in the Republican primary on the basis of…what, Riordan's astute political sense?
While two Democratic candidates for Governor in Texas debate in Spanish, President Bush pushes for an extension on amnesty for illegal aliens. The amnesty extension, which passed by one vote in the dark of night, is a gift from President Bush to President Fox of Mexico.
The amnesty gift is needed, you see, because President Fox is under increasing pressure in Mexico for the failures of his domestic policies. The one thing the Mexican President needs is the safety valve of unfettered access to the U.S. for Mexico’s troubled masses. The fact that these troubled masses will become our troubled masses is not of any concern in Mexico.
Apparently it is not of concern to President Bush either.
One day after the INS sent a six-month delayed Visa extension to Mohammed Atta, an extension Atta no longer needs since he crashed an U.S. airliner into the World Trade Center tower, President Bush has a legislative victory for porous borders and free and unfettered egress into the United States. The INS will receive an increased budget and an additional 200 staffers, which will surely help speed up Visa processing.
Yes I am confused, aren’t you? Democracy in America, the soul of the nation, under the Bush agenda seems to be taking some serious damage. Now that I think about it, we don’t seem to be fighting to make the world safe for democracy either.
Glenn R. Jackson is Chairman of the American Reformation Project, former State Chairman for Buchanan Reform and former state Chairman of the Georgia Freedom Party. Glenn also served on the Executive Committee of the Reform Party USA. Glenn holds an MA in Philosophy from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
© Glenn R. Jackson