Back to Gaffer's Philosophy
Archives.
The Gaffer's Philosophy:
Part 130: Four More Years:
November 22, 2004:
This is a follow up to the previous two essays about the current political situation and ground swell. I wish to express some thoughts about what the next four years will bring given the agenda of the current administration. I have already made some extrapolations in essay 128. I think we can expect a newer and more repressive Patriot Act. We can expect the Justice department thugs to be out in force. We can expect a renewal of the anti Arab activities. Midnight knocks on the door will become more common. Overseas we can expect more vigorous support of Sharon's failed policies in the Middle east. We can expect to continue to alienate our allies in Europe. If things settle down it Iraq we can also expect an invasion of Iran. George has already floated that balloon a few months ago when he began accusing Iran of having "Weapons of Mass Destruction." We can also expect a call for a military draft.
Another thing George is calling for is limits on damage awards in what he calls frivolous law suits. He claims he has a mandate to do that. Many of these suits are against drug companies who's products had debilitating and sometimes deadly side effects. I personally do not think it would be frivolous to seek damages against a company that had caused the death of someone I love, but George does. He would give the handful of bad doctors who cause this insurance cost problem a license to kill. On the other hand, he does favor punishing abortion doctors.
He also wants to turn control of some social security funds over to the rabble. I suspect he cannot grasp the simple facts of economics involved. He does not understand that social security was sold and implemented as a safety net for fools. It's very reason for existence is that rabble cannot manage their own finances. They cannot or will not plan or save for their non productive years. Before FDR forced it through too many old people were living like animals and starving to death. Now, not so many starve to death.
Those are all pretty obvious, but we must not forget what has been going on with the republican party. For all practical purposes the once "grand old party" has become the political arm of the fundamentalist Christians in America. Hard line religious bigots have taken it over. Their heros are Patrick Buchanan, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell. Moderates have been suppressed or forced out. We must always be aware of that and we must never forget the man in the white house is a tool of the evangelical Christians. George Bush is a hard-line dyed-in-the-wool religious fundamentalist. He is not an intellect. He makes no secret of his contempt for intellects.
Given that, It behooves us to be aware of the agenda of the so called evangelical Christians. It is really no different than what they have been shouting for many years. It is no secret. The only difference is, they now have the political clout to make their bigotry the law of the land. They fully intend to codify their entire program of extremist religious policies. If you listen to Bush, you must realize he intends to make America a Christian nation according to his primitive model of what a Christian nation is.
The first target will be education. These people are already forcing prayer into public schools in defiance of the constitution and the Supreme Court. That is just a beginning. Sometime in the near future, expect a concerted effort to make "creation science" a required subject in primary education. What does that mean? It means your kids will be taught the biblical account of the creation of the world as though it were fact. It means a rerun of the Scopes monkey trial with the religious bigots in charge. Scopes will lose again.
As to the supreme court, Bush will replace at least three members of that body. What kind of people will he appoint? Think of William Prior who is already on the federal bench courtesy of George Bush. He is against Roe v. Wade and vehemently anti-gay. Do you think the Supreme Court is already too conservative? Think of a Supreme Court stacked with William Priors. Everything that was achieved in several decades of human rights struggle will be overturned in a few months.
The anti-gay state constitutional amendments already passed are just a forerunner of what these people have in mind. George Bush has made it eminently clear he intends to have an anti-gay constitutional amendment. These gay people, because of a harmless emotional pathology, will be stripped of all their civil rights. We can expect them to leave America in droves. Now, before you say so what, consider that Caesar, Socrates, and Alan Turing were homosexuals. These three men were geniuses. If you don't know who Alan Turing was look him up in a good encyclopedia. He saved the free world in WWII. He is not the kind of person we can afford to lose over some imagined moral threat.
In Addition, Bush will keep demanding a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion for any reason. The fundamentalists will also seek to make stem cell research illegal under any circumstances. The most promising avenue of medial research will be cut off for our scientists. What will they do? I suspect many of them will go to other countries to do their work. We will lose them and the results of their work. If you have a kid or know a kid with a debilitating wasting disease like MS or cancer, you know what this means. What will George say? "Gee, I'm sorry. My heart goes out to you."
This is not alarmist rhetoric. These are the actual policies that Bush and his religious supporters advocate. I did it make it up. It is information you can find in any of their literature. They really believe in these things. You do not have to be a genius to know how people with new found power behave. You do not have to be a genius to extrapolate from these known things to their secret things. What will they do next if they get away with these things? You may want to ask yourself that. I have and I am terrified.
Think back to the popes or Rome. Think back to the inquisitions.
Think back to the one Church of England. Think back to the Huguenot
massacre. Read history and see what religious bigotry has wrought.
It can't happen here? Like hell it can't! It is happening!
Back to Gaffer's Philosophy
Archives.
|
|
|
|