Lately it is becoming curious to me that I could have ever voted Republican. I did vote for Ronald Regan and I voted for George H. Bush twice. I do consider myself to be an Independent. Until recently I was considering voting for John McCain.
I was considering voting for John McCain until reality smacked me in the face. I admire and respect his service to our country and his occasional streak of independence but I can not get past the fact that he voted with the George W. Bush administration ninety percent of the time over the past eight years. Let me spell out some of my issues with the Bush administration and the Republican agenda over the past eight years.
Under the George W. Bush watch we were attacked on 911 by terrorists who were “harbored” in Afghanistan. So George W. Bush, John McCain and the Republican Party drew our attention from the real terrorists who attacked us on 911 by convincing most of the American people that Iraq had WMD and was an “imminent threat.” So we diverted the majority of our military prowess from the “real war on terror” in Afghanistan and attacked the sovereign nation of Iraq which history taught us had neither WMD nor any ties to terrorists.
While Osama bin laden and the Taliban have enjoyed life as usual in eastern Afghanistan and the western mountains of Pakistan we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars (which is not even being accounted for in our annual budget) occupying a sovereign nation in hopes of securing long term lease agreements for our countries rich oil companies who are hoping to get even richer off of Iraqi oil. We were told by members of John McCain's Republican Party that the Iraq war would find us being treated as “liberators” with “flowers and candy” and that the war would “pay for itself” with oil revenue. Over 4,000 US troops have been killed and many thousands more have been severely physically, mentally and emotionally permanently injured. These same troops who were not properly armored and were sent into battle without enough “boots on the ground” have not been given proper medical care through the VA although thanks to the Democrats in congress it has gotten better.
For the first time in our nation’s history our individual State’s National Guard is being used to help fight a foreign war. The absence of a full strength National Guard and the Bush, John McCain Republican administration’s lack of concern for black Americans made certain that Katrina, the worst natural disaster to hit America in modern history, would kill over 1,000 New Orleans residents, devastate an important culture and cripple a vital piece of our economic sustenance.
When in early 2007 Hillary Clinton demanded our government address what she foresaw as impending doom in our financial system and banking industry over the sub prime mortgage debacle and record home foreclosures which she posited would lead to further negative impacts on an economy already in recession her cries were ignored and rebuked as political posturing. All the while John McCain and the Republicans demanded deregulation instead of the stringent oversight for which Hillary Clinton pleaded.
On September 16, 2008 John McCain once again repeated what he has said many times over the past year “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” He just doesn’t get it. He also insists that we spend more time and more money in Iraq. “The Surge” which he championed has indeed been effective in helping to reduce violence in Iraq. However, so has the fact that we have been paying each of the thousands of members of the Muqtada al Sadr Shiite militia over $300 a month to continue their cease fire. The Surge was supposed to give the Iraqi parliament time to coalesce around a workable central government of peace and assimilation of the three ethnic groups of Iraq, the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shiites. That incredulously important to the security and stability of Iraq part of the Surge has not occurred so we could literally be in Iraq spending billions and billions of American tax dollars and watching thousands of American troops die for what John McCain suggest “100 years.”
The 26 year record of John McCain’s fight for deregulation, the complete lack of over sight by the Bush administration of the SEC and other important financial institutions along with the hundreds of billions of dollars we have spent and are spending in Iraq for a war brought to us based on lies and misinformation have led to the opposite of “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Quite the opposite is fact. Today, 9/26/08 Washington Mutual the largest bank in American history founded in 1889 collapsed. This coming on the hills of the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bailout of Behr Sterns, AIG and the failure of such financial institutions as Lehman Brothers has left the American stock market on the brink of crashing and the entire American economy near complete collapse. Just yesterday while passing by a TV I witnessed CNN reporting on a story of an older American couple who had lost nearly everything in the collapse of the Nevada Silver State Bank. CNN reported that Nevada Silver State Bank sold off 20 million dollars in assets two months before they collapsed which coincided with the resignation of one of John McCain’s sons who was on the Board of Directors of Nevada Silver State Bank. John McCain’s son was in charge of oversight for auditing NSSB’s books. Ironic isn’t it? Remember the collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry in the 1980’s? Remember George Bush’s Brother Neil Bush being partially responsible for that along with the Keating Five which John McCain was also one of the infamous Keating Five? How quickly we Americans forget. It is like déjà vu all over again, ground hog day without the comedic laugh. 401ks and Money Market Accounts are being depleted as we speak. The Stock Market is about to crash. President Bush went on National TV Wednesday night 9/24/08 warning of pending “panic” and an economic meltdown if something isn’t done immediately to bail out Wall Street. All the while Main Street inhabitants continue to work 9 to5 at one job, 6 to midnight at their second job and 8 to noon both Saturday and Sunday at their third job just to pay the mortgage or rent, afford gas (which was about $1.50 when Bill Clinton was president), put some food on the table and shoes on their feet and hope there is money for electric and heat this winter. Oh remember the good old days of economic bliss, peace and prosperity and blow jobs from consenting adults?
George W. Bush, John McCain and the Republicans have brought us the largest deficit in American history, the largest government in American history and the largest chance at complete economic collapse since the great depression. All the while our moral standing in the world has disintegrated thanks to approved torture and an illegal war in which we have killed thousands of innocent babies, children and women.
Less than two miles from my home I see signs in a yard “McCain / Palin.” Of my how the American dream has changed. It seems more like a nightmare to me. Someone once said that we better remember history or we are doomed to repeat it, “McSame.” We get what we deserve, except for maybe if you’re a fat cat on Wall Street. I have a dear friend who tells me that since I own a small business I must vote for John McCain. He is worried about a higher tax bracket for those making more than $250,000 a year and a higher capital gains tax on gains more than $250,000 which was the Bill Clinton approach and the proposed Barack Obama approach. My question to him would be “would you rather pay a little more tax to ensure the security of your assets or take a ten percent chance on your entire life savings and investment portfolio?” Explain to me how it is good for the American people to allow private businesses to privatize profits but socialize losses. Was this taught on the one day I missed my economics class freshman year college? How can we justify giving golden parachutes to rich Wall Street tycoons and deny basic health coverage for needy Americans?
How can we stand more of the same?
