The Real State of the Union
If not for the revelations of the media in the past weeks in the matters of military spying, collusion amongst lobbyists and elected officials, and presidential misconduct we might have never known. With all these improprieties coming to light the Republican Party members are jumping ship en masse like a herd of lemmings headed towards the cliffs. Are we to be fooled into believing that people of power which had this information before the media began exposing these events had our best interest at heart when they chose not to divulge these acts of misconduct? Is the gross negligence President Bush showed by declaring war using faulty intelligence forgivable? I hardly think so, accountability is something the Republican Party has been screaming for at the top of their lungs since the first Clinton administration took office, but now it seems accountability takes a back seat to security.
This war with Iraq has never really been a declarative war, it started out as a conflict precipitated by a terrorist strike, and we sent literally thousands of troops into Afghanistan in search of the culpable parties yet had very little success in this endeavor, yet within months of our declared “conflict” it started being called a war. As with all war declarations an entity to declare intentions against is needed, a fundamentalist party, insurgents, leader or nation instead we chose to declare war against a social structure which President Bush didn’t agree with.
Some say that the motivation for this war was to clean up the mess Bush Sr. left behind, others say the intention was to stabilize a government; still some argue that stabilizing the production of oil in the region was clearly the agenda. While all of these are reasonable arguments with merit, they don’t address resolution. Democrats shouting on the floor of the senate chamber for accountability won’t stop our children from dying, pointing fingers at whomever leaked improprieties and misconduct saves no lives. The American public is acutely aware of the over 2,150 soldiers that have died in this conflict, yet very little mention of the over 30,000 injured and disabled soldiers which have forever had their lives altered by roadside bombs seems to go without notice. Are the over half of these disabled soldiers without limbs any less affected? Are the over 10,000 soldiers with severe brain trauma helped by this display of plausible deniability?
That president Bush has exceeded his authority by claiming powers beyond his office is crystal clear to all but him, the patriot act, which he is busily working to keep from being rescinded is a perfect example why governmental oversight is needed. War, at times is a necessary evil, it should be a declaration of last resort, using it as a tool to stimulate the economy or gain favor from industry should never happen, yet president Bush has done both. The lack of restraint or accountability in this administration indicates how little value is given to the American public.
Another example of how little the American public means to this administration is the tax restructuring proposal which has been hotly debated. Should companies that outsource jobs to foreign markets receive incentives from our government? Or should they be penalized? Its fact that new jobs are up, the little known fact is that these new jobs pay substantially less than at any other point in this administration. President Bush trying to repeal the Bacon/Davis act in the face of rebuilding the storm torn gulf coast is just another example of how the administration is trying to increase corporate profits on the backs of the citizens he has sworn to protect.
Another subject which has been a hotbed of controversy for several presidencies is health-care. The average cost of health-care has risen to the point most working class Americans can no longer afford it. The government instead of legislating controls and limiting costs has allowed several companies to drop it completely. Corporate America has raided through pension monies, dropping pensioners because they say they no longer have the funds to pay them. What happened to this money that in most cases the employees paid into? Why hasn’t the government intervened and sought to hold these corporations accountable? Why is it that much smaller nations with fewer resources have better health-care? Are the profits that HMO’s and insurance companies gain so important that people will have to lay dying in the streets before someone convenes an investigation in this matter?
As a wise man once said “absolute power corrupts absolutely” our system now absolutely corrupted, when will the power shift back to we the people so we can hold accountable those in government that seek profit and personal gain?
