A King Recrowned
Today, America has seen the crowning of what some believe to be the Glory of the Lord. For others, for many others throughout this great land, the events portended in Mr. Bush's speech today presage a battle for the voters to understand the depth and breadth of the gap between what Republicans want reality to be, and what we the People must contend with in their plans.
Freedom for us starts with liberty throughout the world. Does he perceive China as such a country? Will he be so brave with them, and North Korea, as he is with Iraq and weaker countries? Can he blame Iran and other countries for their desire to slip under the tent and join the Nuclear Nations, as those that are are treated with extra kid gloves? What will he sacrifice for pushing liberty? The billions of dollars in trade deficit with China? The hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs we'd lose access to and the concomitant rise in retail prices to pay for our values? I think not.
Is liberty the freedom to want? The freedom to hunger? The freedom to make bad choices when not given enough education or opportunity to choose better?
Ownership was espoused as something americans should enjoy more of. More home ownership. More ownership of retirement. But the cost of this ownership is measured in profit to large companies, opportunity for people without time or education to make decisions that will effect how many post-retirement careers they will need at Wal-Mart before they can 'retire' in exhaustion, supported either by their next generations or by whatever religion they've adopted, if, in their freedom, that was a path they chose.
Bush talks of health insurance ownership. This from a man who drove child insurance in Texas to the lowest of any state in the union. #49 in illiteracy. #1 in teen pregnancy. Sorry, the concepts sound great, but the executor of this plan needs to have something more than abject failure as proof he can do this.
Last and not least is Bush's assertion of god's role in the United States. This, the same god of my people's Holocaust and the quarter-million dead in the tsunami of the last days of 2004?
Mr. Bush: God does as god wills. And god's will is no more yours than it is that of an imam in Pakistan, a rabbi in the Gaza Strip, a monk in Acheh or a fundamentalist in Waco. You would do well to focus on the attainable, practical, humanitarian, social and environmental goals that leave your stewardship of the land something not making your god wrathful.
Freedom for us starts with liberty throughout the world. Does he perceive China as such a country? Will he be so brave with them, and North Korea, as he is with Iraq and weaker countries? Can he blame Iran and other countries for their desire to slip under the tent and join the Nuclear Nations, as those that are are treated with extra kid gloves? What will he sacrifice for pushing liberty? The billions of dollars in trade deficit with China? The hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs we'd lose access to and the concomitant rise in retail prices to pay for our values? I think not.
Is liberty the freedom to want? The freedom to hunger? The freedom to make bad choices when not given enough education or opportunity to choose better?
Ownership was espoused as something americans should enjoy more of. More home ownership. More ownership of retirement. But the cost of this ownership is measured in profit to large companies, opportunity for people without time or education to make decisions that will effect how many post-retirement careers they will need at Wal-Mart before they can 'retire' in exhaustion, supported either by their next generations or by whatever religion they've adopted, if, in their freedom, that was a path they chose.
Bush talks of health insurance ownership. This from a man who drove child insurance in Texas to the lowest of any state in the union. #49 in illiteracy. #1 in teen pregnancy. Sorry, the concepts sound great, but the executor of this plan needs to have something more than abject failure as proof he can do this.
Last and not least is Bush's assertion of god's role in the United States. This, the same god of my people's Holocaust and the quarter-million dead in the tsunami of the last days of 2004?
Mr. Bush: God does as god wills. And god's will is no more yours than it is that of an imam in Pakistan, a rabbi in the Gaza Strip, a monk in Acheh or a fundamentalist in Waco. You would do well to focus on the attainable, practical, humanitarian, social and environmental goals that leave your stewardship of the land something not making your god wrathful.
posted by Da Shlom at Thursday, January 20, 2005
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