We Are the Change

High Crimes

Iran has almost disappeared in the mostly Republican controlled corporate media but it’s worth acknowledging how horrible this ill-begotten war has turned out. Before we invaded, Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorists. As bad a man as Saddam was, he was not about to share power with the Islamic radicals. He denied his country’s use for terrorist training camps. He countered the radical Shia of Iran thus creating stability where both Iraq and Iran neutralized each other.
Now Iraq is run by Islamic radical Shias, who are aligned with Iran, making Iran more powerful in the region and removing the counterweight that Saddam provided.
The cost of the war in dollars has been enormous; 6 billion per week and counting. The Republicans have tried to keep the cost unknown by making it an emergency expenditure that is off-budget. But it has recently been estimated that by the time all the costs have been factored in such as life-long care for wounded and limb-less soldiers, stress disorders among the troops and interest on the borrowed money; the real cost of the war will be around 2 trillion dollars. That is if we get out soon.
Now, Iraq is a seething turmoil of hate where the three warring tribes Bush "liberated" are using our money and soldiers lives to partition the country. We have in effect created our own “Palestinian State” where generations of terrorists will breed and seek vengeance on the United States. Tell me again how this makes us safer?
The sacrifice of young soldiers lives would be acceptable if it had been for a purpose that was necessary to make our country safer, but in this case the sacrifice was unnecessary, has weakened our country and made us less safe. It is truly criminal that the lives of our soldiers have been so thoughtlessly sacrificed. And for what? To create a breeding ground for terrorists; to strengthen Iran’s influence in the region; to humiliate the U.S. in the eyes of the world; to drain our treasury by spending away our children’s future.
It is now known that this administration didn’t just get the intelligence wrong; they purposefully and willfully manipulated the intelligence in order to create a case for war. A war that was unnecessary and that has damaged America and made our enemies stronger. If that is not a high crime, then what is!

Conservatives Are Not Conservative at All

Remember when “conservative” used to stand for something? What conservatives “claim” to believe in stands in direct opposition to what they have actually “done” while in power. Conservatives say they stand for smaller, limited government and balanced budgets. The last six years have seen an unprecedented expansion in the deficit and the size of government. Bush has borrowed more money from other countries than all 42 previous presidents in the history of the U.S. combined. At least Bush has proved once and for all that tax cuts don’t lead to more revenue.
Conservatives used to be for “conservation” (Nixon started the EPA), now conservatives are for stripping the nation of all its resources for personal and corporate gain.
Conservatives used to claim to have the highest respect for the rule of law. Now the conservative position is that it’s ok to break treaties like the Geneva Conventions, it’s ok to spy on Americans without a warrant, it’s ok to gather lobbyist money, cronyism and power under their banner. The new conservative creed: “Just about anything is ok as long as “we” do it.”
Conservatives used to be the staunchest supporters of the Constitution and for protecting our freedoms and liberty, now the conservative position has become that the Constitution is an outdated document and we need to give up our freedoms and liberty to the big, powerful government so that it can protect us.
I have the utmost respect for conservatives who have held true to their values and there are still a few of them such as Paul Craig Roberts (Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of Treasury) who just wrote an article explaining how it isn’t he who has changed, it’s the so called conservatives around him.
It seems to me that people who now align themselves with today’s so called conservative values are not “conservative” at all, but are in fact “authoritarian cultists”. Their allegiance is not to any principles of limited government but to their powerful leader. They have allowed their blind faith in “conservatism” to be used by politicians with an entirely different agenda. The thoughtless lock-step of the "Cult of Bush" has marched our country to the brink of financial disaster, severely harmed our reputation in the world, enraged even the moderate Muslims against us, radicalized Middle Eastern politics and worst of all, damaged our constitutional republic with its checks and balances designed to keep too much power from accruing to the executive.

Is the Constitution Just a Piece of Paper

In a recent meeting with Republican Congressmen about renewing the Patriot Act, George Bush was told that a hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr. Someone in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that some provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.” “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush is reported to have yelled back. “It’s just a goddamn piece of paper!”

Bush’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.” George Bush recently said, “The FISA law was written in 1978.” - implying that since it was written 28 years ago, it was no longer valid. Well, the Constitution was written in 1787, so maybe that is why George Bush thinks it is just a goddamn piece of paper.

There are other clear indications of Bush’s disregard for the Constitution such as his domestic spying program where he has wire-tapped Americans without a warrant. He claims that to obtain a warrant would slow down their ability to respond quickly. That is a lie. The FISA law allows the executive branch to wiretap first and then allows 72 hours afterwards to obtain a warrant. Judges don’t turn down warrants if there is any validity to the governments claim. The truth is that Bush just decided to ignore the law.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, the Constitution has stood for over two centuries as the defining document of our country. Never mind that George Bush took an oath of office to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States." I guess that oath is just some goddamn meaningless words!