My first rant is about our president, George W. Bush, and my views on him, and his politics. This was originally an e-mailed response to a young woman from Norway who asked my opinion of Mr. Bush. This is my response. Shall we begin?
You asked what I thought of Bush and his politics. Well, to be honest, I don't have much regard for Mr. Bush, or his politics. I am a Democrat, while Bush is a Republican, so I did not vote for him.
I feel that he doesn't care about people like me, ie poor, hard-working African-Americans. He certainly does not care for people with disabilities, and he feels that peaceful activists are terrorists. In other words, I am not one of his constituents.
I have other serious disagreements with him, and his politics. They are:
1. The aftermath of 9/11. He and his ilk have used the terrorist attacks on our country as a pretext for eroding our civil liberties. I don't like what I see as the persecution of Americans of Arab or Middle Eastern descent. I don't like the fact that people are being profiled, and are being detained without access to their families, or an attorney. People don't even know where some of these folks are! They just know that they're gone. If they can do this to them, when will it trickle down to ordinary folks like me? And, you can be assured that Mr. Bush won't suffer the indignities that he's aking ordinary Americans to endure.
2. His penchant for war. Bush wants a BIG war so bad he can taste it, and Iraq will be that war. Don't get me wrong. I feel that Saddam Hussein is a major threat, but why must we solve everything by war, or warlike actions? You see, I am a peace and social justice activist, and have been so for 21 years. I'd rather we look at peaceful, diplomatic means of solving our problems. Needless to say, many Americans disagree with me, but I think that more and more are coming around to my way of thinking. Besides, we had an opportunity to get rid of Mr. Hussein back in '91, and we failed. Also, I feel that if there is a war, it will be the ordinary people of Iraq who will suffer the most. It will also be ordinary, mostly poor Americans fighting this war, not the generals, or the children of Senators, Congressfolk, or other rich Americans. I am ashamed of the fact that most of the world doesn't like Americans because of the actions, and the unilateralist attitudes of our "leaders". I deplore what happened on 9/11, but I feel that we must examine our foreign policies and the like. There is a reason why so many hate us. It's too bad that many of them don't understand that it isn't ordinary Americans such as myself who make foreign policy.
3. General things. Our country was going into a recession when Mr. Bush entered office. His method of addressing that was (and still is) giving tax rebates, breaks, and incentives to large corporations, and the rich. We had a nice sized budget surplus, but, because of the War On Terrorism, we now have a pretty steep deficit, and it's going to get worse. Don't get me wrong. I really don't have anything against rich people. It's just that they are always the first to get the breaks, while working class folks such as myself have to suffer. Our (mostly Republican) leaders don't seem to care about Senior Citizens who must make the hard choice of whether to eat, or try to purchase their medications. What about the Veterans who have served our country, and who now get appalling medical care? What of those of us with disabilities who desperately want to work and to earn a decent living, but who face disincentives and discrimination, and who often live on less than $500/month, while the average American lives on $1500/month?
It
may seem that I don't like my country. Nothing could be further from the
truth! I am a proud and loyal American. When I hear of the things that
go on in other countries, especially those in the developing world, I am
immensely grateful to those who fought, sacrificed, and died so that I
would have the rights that I do enjoy. It's just that I often don't agree
with the policies of my country. However, I will freely admit that I am
glad that I have the right, and the freedom to publicly disagree with the
policies of my country without having to face arrest or even execution.
I can even work to change some of these policies (and I often do), without
facing the reprecussions that activists in some countries face.
My Disabled Voter's Right Rant
Well, there's my first rant. I hope you found it to be thought-provoking. You may now return to the Main Page of the Rant Space, to the Living Room, or go home, and check out other items of interest in my house.
The world would be a better place for all if there was more of this going around!
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