President Bush talks a lot about freedom and democracy, but his administration's actions show just how much he values this country's founding principles.
A July 22 Associated Press article tells the story of two teachers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who decided to let Bush know how they felt about his administration by showing a sign that said "No More War." Instead of welcoming their exercising of the First Amendment, police arrested them for it. The authorities claimed it was because they didn't obey security directives, but I'm not convinced.
In his series, "McCarthyism Watch," Matthew Rothschild, editor of "The Progressive" magazine documented numerous incidents before the 2004 presidential elections when people showing up to protest Bush when he gave taxpayer-funded speeches in ways that ranged from heckling to simply wearing anti-Bush T-shirts or having anti-Bush bumper stickers on their cars were denied entry, expelled and even arrested.
A 2004 report from the congressional Committee on Government Reform said, "Laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorize the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have been expanded."
One of Bush's first assaults on government openness came in the form of a challenge to the authority of the Government Accountability Office in 2001. The report said the GAO attempted to obtain information about an energy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. The Bush administration refused to comply, so the GAO filed a lawsuit. In the end, however, Congress found its ability to conduct independent investigations reduced and the executive branch's ability to operate secretly expanded.
"In numerous instances, the Bush Administration has simply failed to respond to [Freedom of Information Act] requests," the report later said. "Whether this is just inordinate delay or an unstated final refusal to respond to the request, the effect is the same: the public is denied access to the information."
The purpose of the FOIA was to make information about the government's activities available to the American public and provide oversight. But that would not be convenient for the Bush administration.
I can't think of a historic US president of any party who has matched Bush's blatant abuses of power and secrecy. I do believe wholeheartedly that under the Bush administration, we are as close as we've ever been to having a fascist in the White House.
That's not to say Bush is literally a fascist, but he's certainly authoritarian. Bush respects democracy here and abroad insofar as democracy respects Bush. Otherwise, it's an inconvenience.
After all, this is the president who wiretapped without warrants and once said that he longed to be a dictator. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that he would obstruct the GAO and undermine the FOIA.
I thought the GOP was the party of small government. By contrast, Bush's GOP spies on Americans, legislates the "moral values" of Christian fundamentalists, thumbs its nose at the international community when deciding to start wars and adds trillions of dollars to the national debt.
Bush and likeminded members of the GOP don't care about democracy, freedom or prosperity. They care about millionaires and billionaires - and to Hell with everyone and everything else.
The GOP still has members who support its traditional goals of small government and fiscal responsibility. But unless they're hard-core supporters, they should get out of that party if they don't want Bush's colossally stupid and shortsighted mismanagement of our country to represent them.
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