Stoopid Stuff

The unforgivable crimes of the GW Bush Administration

Like any other governing body, they have done things I don't agree with. When you have partisan politics, you have decisions driven by ideology rather than logic and, if you believe in a different ideology, those decisions won't be ones you agree with. It's always been that way, and that's as it should be.

But the thugs in this administration have undertaken some actions that are so unacceptable, that go so far beyond mere partisan politics, indeed, so far beyond the pale, that they are clearly criminal and are utterly unforgivable. It is for these specific actions that this administration needs to be relieved of command.

The first, the biggest, is of course, the war. It is an unforgivable crime for two reasons. First, Americans don't CHOSE war. War is forced upon us. The First World War had been raging for four years before we committed troops. The Second World War for well over two years. Recognizing the death and waste and horror of warfare, we as a truly peaceful people would do almost anything to avoid it. The Bush thugs embraced war, desired war, created a pretext for war because they WANTED to go to war. Like Hitler, like Napoleon, that is sick and criminal. The other reason why the Iraq war is an unforgivable crime is that we invaded a sovereign nation with whom we were not at war and who had not attacked us. America doesn't do that. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 we denounced them loudly, and even boycotted the Moscow Olympics because they had invaded a sovereign nation. Then there was Saddam Hussein himself. Remember the first gulf war? That was because Iraq invaded Kuwait, a nation they were at peace with, and George Bush's dad took the position that aggression against a peaceful nation would not stand. And now we are the aggressors. That is unforgivable.

The second unforgivable crime of this administration is one of human rights. As Americans, human rights and the rule of law have always been at the core of our beliefs. Now we run concentration camps, we hold people without access to due process or legal aid, we hold people indefinitely without charges, we torture, we murder, and when all of these actions aren't enough for the bloodthirsty criminals running our administration, we secretly ship "detainees" to countries that have no rule of law so that they can be well and truly tortured. America used to have the moral high ground. We could speak out on human rights, and against brutal regimes that tortured and imprisoned their citizens without charges or legal representation. Now we can only hold our tongue, for to speak out now would be the height of hypocrisy.

The third unforgivable crime is what I call Secrets and Lies. The founding fathers described a bold political experiment, a government "of the people, by the people and for the people". But how can that be when those that run our government don't believe they have any accountability to the people? When they won't tell us what they're doing, why they are doing it, and how it's supposed to turn out. They arrogantly act, spending OUR money on projects and activities we would most likely not approve of, were they to deign to ask us. They spend tax dollars on studies and refuse to release them. This government should be the most transparent in the world, acting to improve the lives of it's citizens and following its own laws to the letter. Instead, we have elected democratic rulers who act more like dictators than the people's representatives.

The fourth unforgivable crime can be summed up in one word. Ashcroft. But it isn't just him--he is nothing more than a living, breathing example of all that's wrong with this administration. This is a government of darkness and death, imprisonment and torture. The laws and the constitution are obstacles to be gotten around, not defining documents that must be followed. They believe the people have too many rights, too much privacy, and they are willing to use any circumstance to reduce the protections that have worked so well for hundreds of years. They are all about longer prison sentences, more death penalties, and the large-scale criminalization of the population. The more people who are in the system at some level, the more control they have over the population.

The fifth unforgivable crime is what they have done to the way Americans are viewed around the world. In a mere four years they have found a way to make Americans universally hated, feared, loathed and distrusted. While there have been groups of people opposed to American policies from the very beginning, American people had prestige and respect throughout the world because people had seen our basically peaceful, kind nature. Now they have seen another side. A military so powerful it literally cannot be defeated enforcing the increasingly hostile and imperial edicts of an administration that would clearly rather be feared than respected. And now, there are places in the world where I really cannot go, because I am an American and I would not be safe.

These are not small political disagreements. This is not pork barrel appropriations, or unfair tax policy. These are huge crimes that directly affect what it means to be an American. These criminals have put their ideological agenda ahead of the sacred trust we put in our leaders. They have failed us on every level, knowingly and willingly failed us in order to pursue a radical and dangerous agenda. And they must go now, before it's too late.

posted by mikey @ 9:46 AM