MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk

Why Oh Why?

Here is something I cannot understand-- why are people who I consider to be relatively intelligent Americans, why are they willing to vote for a president who has a proven bad record? I mean, this is stuff he has managed to accomplish in only 4 years. Off the top of my head, I can come up with these:

--taken us from a billion dollar government surplus to a billion dollar deficit.

--created a net worth of ZERO new jobs during his tenure, and unemployment is at an all time high.

--Despite his anti-abortion stance, under Bush, abortion rates have increased, with over 50,000 more abortions performed than were the case under Clinton's last four years.

--with Bill Clinton, the poverty level went down, while under Bush, the poverty level has increased substansially.

--our schools are suffering, even here in Minnesota where we have always prided ourselves on having a good education system. Our schools have received year after year of debilitating budget cuts. We can't afford paper for worksheets or communications! What we have is a promise of No Child Left Behind, which Bush has pushed but never funded.

--the economy sucks, and Bush keeps saying we're turning the corner. And where are the facts to back that up?

--millions and millions of Americans have no health care, and many more millions of us who have managed to patch together some health care for ourselves are just getting by with high deductibles and a hope that we really don't get sick. How can our country let millions of our children have no healthcare? And how will a medical savings plan help the poor if they have no money to put into a medical savings plan?

--What about Halliburton? Does no one care how slimy it is that our vice president profits off the very war he led us into? Nothing we've all heard about Haliburton is good.

--What about the findings of the 9/11 commission, that there were indeed memos and warnings about the possibility of such an attack in the months before it happened, but Bush and his administration did nothing about those warnings? And somehow folks feel safer with this kind of a president, one who had a month-long vacation right before 9/11, after only 8 months in office?

--And need I mention the lies Bush told to us, the American people, to rush us into war with Iraq? He didn't trust us enough to be totally honest with us about his intentions and reasons, and yet we are supposed to trust him with the safety of our country?

--Okay, how many American soldiers have died in Iraq now? And tell me, is there really any end in sight? What about the numbers on how many soldiers have been injured, or the statistics we never hear on how many Iraqi citizens have been killed in this war?

--What about Bush's record in the international community? He said in the debates that sometimes you just have to do the "right thing" and not listen to what other people say about you. But how good of a thing is it that we are living in a world with so much anti-American sentiment for what Bush has done in the last 4 years?

Gee, I could go on and on with this.

So, Bush-supporters, what about this record makes you feel safe? What makes you feel like we will be better off in 4 years? He has taken our country in a downward spiral, and yet I hear the people on the radio talking about Bush's values and his vision and plan for the future. What??? What were his values in lying to his country about weapons of mass destruction? What vision has he to undo the harm he has already done to schools and the economy and citizens in need of jobs and healthcare? Who has he shown his real allegiance to-- the wealthy upper class? Big business?

Doesn't his record speak for itself? I have to wonder if anybody out there is really listening...

Posted by sapphire at October 24, 2004 08:27 PM