I've been too depressed to write. I'm in the middle of a book called With God On Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right, and it's rough. Rough, I tell you. My political muscles are swinging from bunched with fury to slack with apathy. Everything that is good in me (meaning everything that opposes Bush) alternately screams for action RIGHT NOW and moans in helpless frustration.
How can we oppose this tactless thug? He has done everything in his power to show us just how unimportant our regard for him is. He has made certain that we are hyper-aware of his connections and commitments to the only people that matter to him: the ranks of the rich, white, Christian, conservative elite. He has boldy lied to our faces, time and time again, whether about his family's connection to the Taliban or Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11. He has turned the world's only superpower into the world's only unilateral, psuedo-democratic strike force. He had Katherine Harris shoplift an entire election from a nation that voted for Al Gore. He holds weekly prayer meetings in the White House and has carefully salted fellow right-wing religious nut jobs across every committee, cabinet, and agency that he influences. His administration forced the National Park Service to keep a book on their shelves that details how the Grand Canyon was created in the 40 days of Biblical flooding that Noah survived. The 3,000 year old Grand Canyon, I might add, on the 6,000 year old earth. These purportions, at a facility funded by the government, constitute an ostentatious federal endorsement of an unsubstantiated religious viewpoint.
The list, it seems, is as endless as Bush's frightening agenda. National Institute of Health grant proposals must be carefully couched in terminology as vague as possible; any references to homosexuality as it relates to HIV studies will be pounced on by Christian watchdog groups and denied funding. Bush's "faith-based initiatives" have stripped all monies worldwide from any institute or clinic that has voiced public support for sex education, birth control, or abortion rights. No one is allowed any ideas other than his "abstinence only" party line. This includes Africa, which is suffering from an AIDS pandemic so fierce that it borders on apocalyptic. No condom distribution is allowed, no one is being taught human sexuality, funding for AIDS treatment has been drastically reduced; Bush seems to think that if he just keeps preaching "abstinence only" we'll all eventually catch on.
He and his cohorts whine that leftist judges and courts are taking away Christian rights in a Christian country. In reality, moderate court systems headed by often-Republican judges are defending the rights of everyone else as they are attacked,over and over, by rabid fundamentalists. We are told day-in and day-out, repetitiously and predictably, that America was founded on Christian ideals that are inseperable from the fabric of our government. This despite the fact that most of the Constitution's framers were Deists who abhorred big government. Deists who were fighting a war in opposition of big government to secure their rights, one of which was keeping religion out of the political sphere. It's amazing that, when it serves their purposes, the Christian right-wingers are certain the Constitution is engraved in stone, such as their stance on gun rights. However, when they get to something like church and state, everything becomes so amorphous. Suddenly, no one can be sure how to "interpret" the outright statements the charter of our country makes. Liberals are accused of twisting the founding fathers' indisputable words on maintaining a strong barrier between religion and the operations of the state.
Bush has commented, in public, that God told him to run for the Presidency. He has admitted that his decisions are based on his faith. He has made it more than obvious that he favors Christianity to the exclusion of all else and will do everything in his power to topple the wall between the government and Jesus. Unless we do something about this, Christ will soon be mandatory in all homes and schools.
I am asking all of you, right now, to help me seize our country back from this dictator. Only the House of Representatives has the power to impeach a president, so that's where our appeals must start. Find out who your Representative is and fill his or her inbox with e-mails and letters demanding Bush be put on trial. Don't settle for just a few letters or e-mails, either: bombard these folks. Tell everyone you know, ask them all to help us with this. There's so little support for that fascist right now, if we get the word out and mount a truly massive letter-writing campaign, we have a chance of convincing the House to impeach him. These people are here to serve us so let's make them serve us for once. Find out who represents your area in the House; cram mail into their boxes; spread the word to family and friends; raise your voice until enough people join us that we can't be ignored: IMPEACH BUSH!!!
Wake up and resist.
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6 comments:
Purple
I understand you anguish over recent changes in America but I think your passion is mis-directed. There are a couple of caveats here:
1. You are attacking President Bush but he is a person and you are unhappy about the priciples of a group of people. It is very critical, in a democracy, to nourish freedom of speech and if you have noticed lately the religious right has been using it quite extensively. So by impeaching President Bush you would just be paving way for another radical. Thinking people like you should stress upon issues like: "Rationality before religion" or "Humanity before nationality".
2. Sinclair Lewis rightly said "When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross". The present administration has used religion quite effectively in legalizing what one would usually consider morally wrong. I think nationalism would be used very soon to a greater extent by these people. I guess there are key issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately United States as of right now is a divided nation. Lets hope that the smart can guide it out of these rocky times.
Yeah, but that said, Purple is right; what Bush and his cronies have done to this country is disgusting. Their corrosive, divisive brand of politics has made Americans enemies of each other and weakened us all against real threats. He has taken away our moral highground on issues like torture and preemptive military action. He has undermined civil rights extensively and set us back 50 years with his ultra-conservative, backwater judges at every level of the judicial branch. He's wasted the environment, helped CEOs make scads more money while salaries are stuck in a holding pattern and actually going down when inflation is factored in.
So Bush/Rove and company have done enough damage to make you understand violent emotional outbursts like the one Purple is going through. We're dealing with a great evil that is right in front of everyone's face, but half the country can't see it. Maddening, really.
That said, I've called and written my Republican representatives. Hah! They get back to you with a form letter thanking you for your opinion and letting you know how you're completely wrong. They're actually pretty funny.
Plus, not even the Dems want to impeach Bush, since the idea of President Cheney is even more frightening.
So my energy is just directed elsewhere. My House rep, Anne Northup, is up for reelection, and you won't be able to accuse me of not working against her all that I can.
Once the Dems take the house, they can launch all sorts of investigations that WILL make impeachment of all these fuckers impossible to avoid.
To me, that's the carrot we're now chasing.
-Z
Furthermore, it's all well and good to ask that the current asinine administration be kicked to the curb (PLEASE!), but what happens then? Who do we as the opposing party have to offer in it's place? Hillary Clinton? Protest is a dual natured beast. Why don't you run for president?
Unfortunately for the resistence, the other team has the numbers. I mean, how can you convince the unwashed masses that having Jesus in the home and school is such a bad thing, nevermind that it's forced?
Don't offend it!
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The thing is, y'all, this is not a "violent emotional outburst" for me. Yes, I have very strong emotional reactions when presented with Bush's antics. Yes, I am morally and ethically offended by the nature of his administration. But I am not calling for these changes because I'm angry; I'm calling for them because we MUST have them. I realize that I'm furious, and I know it comes through in my writing, but I can seperate that from what we need as a country. My anger motivates me to write, and, by writing, I illustrate the problems facing us. These problems are dispassionate, even if I am not. Anger does not affect them, only solutions will.
We need Bush and his coven of dirty Christian sorcerers gone. As angry as I am, the reasons we need them vanquished are all around us in black and white. The data pointing to Bush's high crimes and misdemeanors are plain to see and undeniable.
My personal anguish is not an issue here. I am showcasing, sometimes wrathfully, the empirical evidence that our leaders are bent on changing our way of life forever. The anger I feel is part of my presentation; it has nothing to do with the actual facts, which should infuriate and motivate all of us.
Even if you agree with everything that Bush wants done, it's impossible to deny that his methods are dissolute and downright illegal. That makes my emotions moot.
Thanks for reading and responding; I appreciate it.
p
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