it's for my school newspaper...which some of you may have read about here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1762172#1762546Fear and Loathing In Washington D.C.
by Mark Sullivan
In his first inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his now infamous remark, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” In 1933, the country was deep into the middle of the Depression. Uncertainty and unease was rampant. Unemployment was at record levels, millions of people lost everything they owned, and Americans lived in fear of what was going to happen to them. But Roosevelt refused to acknowledge that fear, understanding that as President of the United States his job was not to make people more afraid than they already were, rather, it was his job to give the American people hope and promise for a better life and a better country.
Fast forward 70 years to today, and you’ll find that we have exactly the opposite of FDR. We now find ourselves with an administration that is running for re-election on fear alone (mostly due to the fact that they have nothing else to run on, but those are other stories for other times). Whether it’s Tom Ridge trotting out the latest color-coded alert level (coincidentally whenever the Democrats are getting good press), or Dick Cheney telling the country that we’ll be attacked again if John Kerry is elected, the fear mongering and scare tactics of the Bush Administration are unprecedented.
One only has to look back to the Republican National Convention to understand what I’m talking about. In the first three days of speakers, the word ‘war’ was used 45 times, ‘terrorism’ 18 times, and ‘September 11th’ 15 times. And while George Bush loves to tell America that we’re all safer because Saddam Hussein is behind bars, Cheney, John Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, or Bush himself turn right around warning us that we’re going to be attacked again (is that a...dare I say...flip-flop?).
We’ve had the soccer moms and the NASCAR dads, but this election has created a whole new voting bloc: the so-called “security moms.” They are the people this administration is targeting. Forget talking about health care, the economy, jobs, wages, or education; this administration has one goal in mind: distract the people from their miserable failure of four years in office by scaring them half to death and then using that fear to say, “Aw don’t worry, those scary men aren’t going to hurt you cause we’re not going to let them! Psst...four more years.”
Nevermind the fact that 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch (and this was after he ignored the Hart/Rudman Report, Richard Clarke, and the infamous Aug. 6 PDB titled “Bin Laden Determined To Strike In The US”). Nevermind the fact that this administration lied to take us to war in Iraq (which had absolutely no ties to the 9/11 attacks). Nevermind the fact that this administration failed to capture Osama bin Laden. Nevermind the fact that the Iraqi diversion has allowed the Taliban to regroup and turn Afghanistan once again into a hotbed for anti-American extremism, and has allowed Iran and North Korea to grow even more dangerous. Nevermind the fact that the administration passed up the opportunity, on more than occasion, to kill suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi (who has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in Iraq). Their reason? They feared his death would undermine the case for going to war with Iraq.
The truth is, George Bush’s policies have done nothing but make America less safe. His arrogance, ignorance, and hubris have caused outrage throughout the entire world. Even our mighty allies in Europe no longer support us. 71% of Germans see this president as the biggest threat to world peace.
The great journalist Edward R. Murrow once said, “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men.” I can only imagine what he would say today if he were alive to witness the cowardly tactics of this administration. If George Bush manages to win this election, it will not be because he’s got a great idea for health care or a better plan for education. It will not be because of his tax cuts (for the wealthy) or his wonderful policies on the issue of the economy. It will be because he and his surrogates have done nothing but scare the people into voting for them. Well I for one refuse to live my life in fear. I refuse to let these spooks at the White House scare me into thinking that al-Qaeda is going to show up on my doorstep at any minute. Fear is no way to run the country, but for this administration, with its abysmal record on pretty much everything, it’s one hell of a way to run a campaign.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
