The Situation We Face

As a history teacher and a student of history myself I continue to be amazed at the sheer ugliness, incompetence, and mendacity of the Bush Administration and the viciousness of its howling, utterly dishonest supporters in the mass media. The Bush regime is the culmination of many trends that have been building over the last several decades. It is the logical outcome of the unpunished criminality of the Bush family, the increasing effectiveness of rightwing "think tanks" in poisoning and confusing the public dialogue, the ineffectiveness of the Democrats in fighting against the lies thrown repeatedly in their faces, the increasing political clout of corporate interests, and the rise of apocalyptic and millenarian trends in fundamentalist Christianity. This witches' brew of influences has come together to threaten the very fabric and health of our nation, and its visible embodiments are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Bill Frist.

Now, we see the lengths to which Bush is prepared to go to prosecute the war against the terrorists. He has seen fit to let the National Security Agency tap phones without a warrant, even though a special court exists to issue such warrants, and can even issue them retroactively. Further, the NSA has been tapping domestic phone calls, a practice completely contrary to its mission. We are faced with further evidence, therefore, of Bush's image of himself: a power answerable to no one and restrained by nothing. Think for a moment, of what Bush and his cohorts have done with their power:

1. They have made the nation's energy policy in secret and fought against the public's right to know the details of how that policy was made.
2. They have bent the nation's economic and fiscal policies to the benefit of their political supporters and contributors in return for a multitude of favors. They have bitterly fought all efforts to expose this organized thievery and looting.
3. They have set up secret prisons and prison camps.
4. They have asserted the right to inflict torture on our suspected enemies.
5. They have turned over terrorist suspects to nations they know will inflict hideous and savage tortures on those suspects.
6. They have purposely lied about the circumstances and evidence leading to a war in Iraq.
7. They have betrayed the identity of a CIA agent for political purposes.
8. They have attempted to coerce, co-opt, buy off, or lie to the media.
9. They have shouted that anyone who questions or opposes them is a traitor.
10. They have effectively suspended habeas corpus rights for terrorist suspects, even if the suspects are American citizens.
11. They have used the FBI to spy on those who dare to question them.
12. And now, they have deliberately violated the law in regard to wiretapping.

Our very future as a free nation is at stake. Our best option: win control of the Congress in 2006, and if public opinion will support us on this (and increasingly it looks as if it will) we must launch the processes in the House of Representatives that will lead to the impeachment of Bush and Cheney and their trial and conviction in the United States Senate. No future president must believe for a single second that the the American people will tolerate the arrogant and unbridled exercise of power. So I say,

SAVE OUR COUNTRY--IMPEACH AND CONVICT BUSH AND CHENEY AND REMOVE THEM FROM OFFICE!

The future of America depends on it.