If conservative voters thought that the Supreme Court gave America a “lesser of two evils” when it ruled that George Bush won the Florida election in 2000, two years since that fateful decision have proven otherwise. It all began with Bush’s support for Ted Kennedy’s bill that expanded federal involvement in education, his push for amnesty as a response to illegal aliens, and the President’s announcement he would sign John McCain’s campaign finance anti-speech non-reform.
Not that we’d have gotten any better from a President Gore. But if we could measure the difference between President Bush and former President Clinton, one might surmise what used to be “less than a dime’s worth of difference” has depreciated to less than the value of a share in Enron stock. So who was surprised when Bush announced he’d propose new gun rules that restrict clips to 10 rounds and add to the BATF’s budget? It’s just what America needs, more jack-booted thugs.
But there is something more insidious about a President who claims to support conservative values and knifes conservatives in the back when given a chance. At least we knew what we had with President Clinton. No one was under any misconception about what Clinton would do with regard to important issues. He was a liberal and proud of it. In fact, when Bill Clinton sold out his supporters (it happened on a number of occasions) all he did was demoralize a liberal base.
With President Bush, things are worse than ever. Instead of healthy conservative skepticism meeting each new federal initiative, voters are ignoring that their President has signed laws allowing the Feds to search houses without letting the owner know about it, add phone taps to lines based on no review by a court, and limit free speech before elections, among other things. If Bill Clinton had tried it, Americans would be screaming for impeachment.
And, read his lips; George Bush will do nothing about abortion. As a senior leader in the pro-life movement wrote to one activist about the “type of do-nothing philosophy on the babies that Bush does, I can assure you that nothing of substance will be accomplished in the next two years.” And, lest we forget during the modern war on terrorism, Bush continues to operate our military under Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — a move that presents significant security risks in the form of people with secrets who may be compromised by blackmail.
Beyond his failure to stand for the right values, George W. Bush has dropped the economic ball. Since his inauguration in January 2001, the stock market has dropped 40% and more than 1.7 million net jobs have been lost. Maintaining his father’s commitment to global free trade, Bush is in stark denial of American de-industrialization that has proceeded with NASCAR velocity. All over the country, people gave gifts made in China this Christmas season.
Instead of finding ways to implement fair-trade while maintaining the Constitutional mandate for Congress (not some un-elected international body) to regulate foreign trade, the President is using his new “fast track” authority to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas. It seems the Bush program for stabilizing economy means joining Argentina and Venezuela at the hip with markets in the United States. Again, there is no difference between Clinton and Bush on trade, except almost no one in America’s great silent majority will speak up.
Then there are the borders, remaining wide open as a number of Muslim men managed to slip through in the last few days. The FBI is working hard to find them now that they’ve made it into the country. Instead of putting an emphasis on closing down the flow of illegal immigrants, the Bush administration is working in reactionary mode. There are a number of ways to solve the illegal immigrant problem, including putting troops on the borders. But the last politician who announced support for that was Trent Lott… We know how Bush treated him.
Is the United States going to surrender its markets at the same time our borders remain open? The answer is a resounding “yes” so long as Bush remains in the White House. And that’s not all to which Americans give a silent approving nod as their President plans to take us into yet another undeclared war.
We’ve got stem-cell research that was paid for with our federal tax dollars, though only on the lines of embryonic human beings who were already killed by non-government institutions. While nothing is done about the same being funded by private interests, the President hand-picked a new Senate Majority leader, Bill Frist, medical architect of record on stem-cells.
Then Americans were quiet when Bush told us that a religion, which drives fanatics to hijack planes and smash them into buildings, is a “religion of peace”. Who knew? Maybe people were too stunned over Bush’s plan to put Mexican citizens on our Social Security payroll. Breaking and entering remains an illegal act that President Bush wants to reward. His definition of “homeland security” meets with reality at the same point as “religion of peace”.
Neo-conservative pundits and radio talk show hosts are not going to question George W. Bush as they would if Bill Clinton or Al Gore were in office. There will be no “contract with America”, no “republican revolution”, and no “vast right-wing conspiracy”. Working Americans who fiercely opposed Bill Clinton are sitting quietly as President Bush implements Clinton’s agenda.