|
Saving this Presidency... Why Bother? Nathan J. Muller - Co-Founder, ForTheCause.us 
Political analysts and news media have opened a new line of inquiry - assessing the state of the presidency and pondering the question, "Can it be saved?" This begs a more fundamental question, "Why bother?" After all, George Bush has done more to damage our security, to destroy the middle class, and to deepen divisions in society than any other President within living memory. Saving this presidency merely promises more of the same. And if you think you've seen everything this man is really capable of, you're in for a big surprise...
In recent weeks, political analysts and news media have opened a new line of inquiry - assessing the state of the presidency and pondering the question, "Can it be saved?" This begs a more fundamental question, "Why bother?" After all, this Administration has done more to damage our security, to destroy the middle class, and to deepen divisions in society than any other President within living memory. Saving this presidency merely promises more of the same. The track record of this President is more than abysmal; it is an unrelenting assault on the middle class as if it were a pandemic needing swift eradication by any means necessary. But the beltway babble is all about saving the President's legacy, not in stopping the damage to done to countless Americans. Middle class carnage Topping the list of treasonous acts committed by this President is his stubborn insistence on leaving our southern border open to the invasion of 3 million illegal aliens annually, along with terrorists, human traffickers, drug smugglers, cold-blooded killers, gangs, and child predators. Saving this presidency would merely invite more of the same, but under the guise of a "guest worker" program that looks too much like amnesty.
George Bush continues to lead the assault on the middle class by scaling back college tuition assistance programs, cutting back on Medicare, and changing the rules for declaring bankruptcy to make it impossible for people hit with catastrophic health care costs to rebound. Next in the crosshairs: elimination of the tax deduction on home ownership. And if you want the true measure of the man, it was Bush who callously suspended the Davis-Bacon Act during cleanup efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. This encouraged contractors to hire cheap foreign labor, which deprived residents of a decent wage when they desperately needed work to rebuild their lives. The Bush Administration's trade policies are responsible for sending American jobs to cheap labor markets overseas and for importing more foreign workers into this country who take away jobs Americans already have. It is this Administration that sees the United States of America as a mere market, with its citizens subject to the whims of Big Business. The result: pension plans, health insurance, job training - all are being phased out. Mindless globalization In this President's mindless pursuit of globalization, entire industries are being lost forever, along with the good paying jobs of middle class Americans that once provided a stable tax base for schools, law enforcement and social welfare programs. The textile and steel industries are pretty much gone, while technical and professional work is routinely shipped off to India. Now we see blue chip manufacturing jobs being lost to cheap labor markets like China, illustrated recently by the huge layoffs at General Motors and auto parts maker Delphi. Next in line to be exported are emerging technologies as well as scientific and medical research. And for the first time, the United States is now a net importer of food products, making Americans increasingly dependent on other countries for agricultural products. With the President's job performance ratings continuing to plummet, it is clear that most Americans -- 65% at this writing -- think George Bush is out of step with their concerns and priorities. Most Americans do not like the direction in which our country is headed. The weakness of this President is appreciated by other governments, which have demonstrated eagerness to exploit the situation. During Bush's recent two-day trip to China, it was plain even to the Communist regime that he is so weak that there was no need to concede anything during hours of high-level negotiations. The result: Bush once again failed to win concessions from Communist China that could have saved U.S. jobs, eased a lopsided trade imbalance, and strengthened national security. The Chinese outmaneuvered Bush on the issues of currency revaluation, religious freedom and human rights. On Taiwan, China did not budge from its long-held opposition to autonomy for the rogue "province." About the only thing Communist China agreed to do was put greater effort into clamping down on copyright infringement, like it has so many times before. The Administration can then parade this achievement as a foreign policy success. The Chinese know all they have to do is say the right words on intellectual property protection and we will go away. Meanwhile, it operates over 3,000 sham companies in this country whose primary mission is to steal technology innovations. The new "community" If you think you've seen everything Bush is really capable of, you're in for a big surprise. Bush now wants to meld the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a "community," the boundaries of which would be defined by a common outer security perimeter. As described by the Council for Foreign Affairs in a 70-page paper entitled, Building a North American Community, within this new unified North America there would be the free movement of people and products. In other words, the free market would decide where people live and work. [For more on this "community" concept, see the CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight transcript below.] Transcript - CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - June 9, 2005 LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, an astonishing proposal to expand our borders to incorporate Mexico and Canada and simultaneously further diminish U.S. sovereignty. Have our political elites gone mad? DOBBS: Border security is arguably the critical issue in this country's fight against radical Islamist terrorism. But our borders remain porous. So porous that three million illegal aliens entered this country last year, nearly all of them from Mexico. Now, incredibly, a panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations wants the United States to focus not on the defense of our own borders, but rather create what effectively would be a common border that includes Mexico and Canada. Christine Romans has the report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Capitol Hill, testimony calling for Americans to start thinking like citizens of North America and treat the U.S., Mexico and Canada like one big country. ROBERT PASTOR, IND. TASK FORCE ON NORTH AMERICA: The best way to secure the United States today is not at our two borders with Mexico and Canada, but at the borders of North America as a whole. ROMANS: That's the view in a report called "Building a North American Community." It envisions a common border around the U.S., Mexico and Canada in just five years, a border pass for residents of the three countries, and a freer flow of goods and people. Task force member Robert Pastor. PASTOR: What we hope to accomplish by 2010 is a common external tariff which will mean that goods can move easily across the border. We want a common security perimeter around all of North America, so as to ease the travel of people within North America. ROMANS: Buried in 49 pages of recommendations from the task force, the brief mention, "We must maintain respect for each other's sovereignty." But security experts say folding Mexico and Canada into the U.S. is a grave breach of that sovereignty. FRANK GAFFNEY, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY: That's what would happen if anybody serious were to embrace this strategy for homogenizing the United States and its sovereignty with the very different systems existing today in Canada and Mexico. ROMANS: Especially considering Mexico's problems with drug trafficking, human smuggling and poverty. Critics say the country is just too far behind the U.S. and Canada to be included in a so-called common community. But the task force wants military and law enforcement cooperation between all three countries. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indeed, an exchange of personnel that bring Canadians and Mexicans into the Department of Homeland Security. ROMANS: And it wants temporary migrant worker programs expanded with full mobility of labor between the three countries in the next five years. (END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: The idea here is to make North America more like the European Union. Yet, just this week, voters in two major countries in the European Union voted against upgrading -- updating the European constitution. So clearly, this is not the best week to be trying to sell that idea. DOBBS: Americans must think that our political and academic elites have gone utterly mad at a time when three-and-a-half years, approaching four years after September 11, we still don't have border security. And this group of elites is talking about not defending our borders, finally, but rather creating new ones. It's astonishing. ROMANS: The theory here is that we are stronger together, three countries in one, rather than alone. DOBBS: Well, it's a -- it's a mind-boggling concept. Christine Romans, thank you, as always. The goal of this new arrangement is to "guarantee a free, safe, just, and prosperous North America." When you peel away all the glad-wrap, however, we're left with the stark reality that more Americans will have to work for paltry wages because big corporations will enjoy unfettered access to all the cheap labor they could ever want. Assuming all parties agree, this plan is supposed to go into effect as soon as 2010. Clear and present danger In his reasoning, posture, gestures, attitude and character, President Bush has revealed himself as a total fraud. The best Congress can do to serve all Americans is to keep this man bottled up for the next three years - stopping new initiatives at every turn. Only through political isolation can this man be rendered powerless to do more harm. Then again, we can't really trust Congress to do the right thing anymore either. It seems neither party will be totally satisfied until they have reduced this nation to a squalid third-world existence, dependent on other nations for manufacturing, textiles, agriculture, technology and critical pharmaceuticals. Only impeachment could create the possibility for corrective action, but neither the Democrats nor Republicans in Congress want to offend the Hispanic community or staunch the campaign contribution spigot of corporations that thrive on cheap labor. Saving this presidency would mean the worst assaults on America's middle class are yet to come. SOURCE: ForTheCause.us Articles: Reflections On General Electric's Global Strategy |
Copyright 2006 | jack@jackdavis.org