The legacy of G. W. Bush and friends

We've been over this before, but it's always good to keep the past up front in our minds to help us frame a clear vision of the future. The past is too soon forgotten, or downplayed, or glossed over, or minimized. We cannot let that happen or the bad guys will win again and our country and the world will reap the whirlwind.

The legacy of G. W. Bush and friends, in part:

1. A war on science. Science was considered a poor second to ideology, to faith. Thus science was ignored and/or perverted to serve political and religious theories. Evolution denied; global warming denied; the environment destroyed; millions of dollars wasted on nonsense such as "abstinence only" sex education.

2. Unnecessary and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars up in smoke. Thousands killed and many more thousands maimed for life. Entire populations displaced. Al-Qaeda given a huge boost. Loss of respect around the world. And the wars go on, a never-ending quagmire!

3. Economic devastation. From a position of strength (surplus) to a wrecking of the American economy and economies around the world because of unregulated greed on the part of friends of the Bush administration. Lobbyists representing powerful, international corporations wrote governmental policy and undermined governmental decision-making. Or as The Nation put it: "'a heavily bankrolled effort by conservatives and corporations to instill blind faith in the market' has led to 'the most colossal redistribution of wealth in modern world history, a redistribution from the bottom up, from working people to a tiny global elite.'"

Katrina vanden Huevel, editor of The Nation, explains how that has worked out for the "working people":

"In 2007 more than 37 million Americans were living in poverty -- that's 12.5 percent of the population subsisting (or not) on less than $21,200 a year for a family of four.

"Food stamp caseloads rose by 2.6 million people between August 2007 and August 2008; in twenty-five states, at least one in five children is receiving food stamps.

"According to the USDA's annual report on food security, nearly one in eight Americans ... was 'food insecure,' meaning it was difficult to get enough food, due to lack of resources."

4. Ripping apart the Constitution. Appointment of political/religious hacks such as Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Spying on the American people. Disregard for separation of church and state.

5. Torture. Authorized at the highest levels. Traditions begun during the Revolutionary War under George Washington were discarded. The U.S. lost the high moral ground, giving the terrorists even more ammunition and raising hackles around the world.

6. The Republican Party wrecked and left to animals like Beck and Limbaugh to tear apart its remains. Thus, as a whole, the Repugnicans reject Obama as president, refuse to cooperate in any meaningful way, and vote as a bloc against every initiative proposed. Controlled completely by their corporate masters and the religious right, the Republican Party has nothing to offer except more despair and devastation. Republicans in Congress have no morals or ethics: 30 Republican senators voted to allow the rape of women by companies hired by the U.S. government!

7. The Bush legacy also involves a loss of faith and trust in the government, as seen by the thousands of people who attended the so-called "Tea Parties" for reasons unknown (even to them). We have the experienced the phenomenon of people on Medicare decrying government interference in their lives!


There's so much more that could be said, of course. But perhaps this is enough to remind us of the horror perpetrated by the Bushites and their ilk during their time in power. Perhaps this is enough to prod us to work very hard to see that such horror never happens again.