Greg’s Corner April 2006
One American’s Response to the State of the Union Address, Part II
By Greg Petty
Republicans have mounted an unprecedented assault on rigging the levers of power to favor only their party. Their goal is to permanently disable the Democrats. Republicans are redistricting to push out Democratic incumbents or place them in districts more difficult to be re-elected. They have been populating K Street (street name for Lobbyists) with former aides to redirect the money that has corrupted Washington to primarily Republican members of Congress. Republicans are introducing and passing legislation, not in the interest of Americans, but in the interest of corporations. The effort is not even thinly veiled. The Medicare Reform Act should have been entitled the Pharmaceutical Great Giveaway Act.
One party in charge of two of the branches of government, stifling effective legislative debate and the abuse of Executive power is not in any American’s interest. Our democracy now needs more than a two party system to restore true debate, fresh ideas and alternative courses of action. Americans must demand ethical behavior now by all those we elect. We should also consider an independent ethics commission to monitor both Congress and the Executive branch. Similar in function to the GAO, such a commission would report directly to the American people. Both branches of government have proven, over the course of many years, that they are incapable of monitoring their own ethics.
Bush – “Our economy is healthy and vigorous, and growing faster than other major industrialized nations….Even in the face of higher energy prices and natural disasters, the American people have turned in an economic performance that is the envy of the world.”
Counterpoint – Know how we did it? We are all in serious debt and living off refinancing our most precious asset, our homes. When we’re not doing that, we’re charging it on our multiple credit cards. The truth, Mr. President, is that our economy is built on sand. America has a negative personal savings rate. America is the world’s largest debtor nation. So we have neither personal financial responsibility nor any national responsibility. The largest trade deficit in our economic history occurred in 2005. We don’t manufacture anything anymore in America…now we have to import it. After giving American corporations tax breaks and huge loopholes to escape what they should pay in taxes, we allow them to move American jobs to other nations and avoid paying living wages to our own workers.
Bush – “The American economy is preeminent, but we cannot afford to be complacent. In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors, like China and India, and this creates uncertainty which makes it easier to feed people’s fears. So we’re seeing some old temptations return. Protectionists want to escape competition, pretending that we can keep our high standard of living while walling off our economy.”
Counterpoint – Mr. President, we get it. This is double-speak for moving our jobs somewhere that pays $2 dollars an hour. America has allowed its manufacturing capacity to fall to only 11% of our present economy. The brutal truth is that we weaken ourselves if we become dependent upon other nations and economies to produce our goods. We have never been more dependent in our history. What jobs are available in America for those who are not college graduates in Business Administration? What happens when we lose a skilled native workforce? What happens when we cannot find an American machinist to produce a new mechanical part for a secret project? (Remember the Manhattan Project?)
Bush – “Keeping America competitive begins with keeping our economy growing. And our economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to spend, save and invest….Yet the tax relief is set to expire in the next few years. If we do nothing, American families will face a massive tax increase they do not expect.”
Counterpoint – Philosophically, I am not against this but remember this article is all about reality. Bill Clinton left America with a balanced budget and projected surpluses, the President the Republicans furiously attempted to impeach! Mr. Bush and the Republican controlled Congress have presided over the largest deficits in American history! No Republican should talk to any American about a tax break until we have a balanced budget. Go back, do your job and lead your party members in Congress to solve real problems. Do I enjoy paying taxes in two states and to the federal government? No, but I am willing to do it for an economy that is not in debt to China and Japan, is responsibly managed by our elected representatives (not Lobbyists) to ensure a healthy society which takes care of its own citizens. I do not call being a debtor nation, having 45 million Americans without healthcare and a country dependent on foreign oil a “strong America” (See counterpoint below) Bottom line - We cannot afford more tax cuts targeted mainly to the wealthy. Mr. Bush, you and your party have no economic credibility.
Bush – “Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources… and we are on the threshold of incredible advances. Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.”
Counterpoint – Ever heard of the word conservation? Not one word about sacrifice and efficiency. “The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and less wasteful.” – Wendell Berry. Simultaneous to this speech, the Bush Administration cut back the energy research projects at the Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, NM. We could have paid the entire cost of conversion to a hydrogen economy for a fraction of the cost of the Iraq war. I am also under-whelmed by the year we are going to reach this urgent goal…2025? This is the goal from an administration that will not take a concrete step and hold Detroit’s feet to the fire to demand immediate higher mileage standards from automakers. Want to change our foreign policy and not be held hostage to the oil held by Islamic nations? The solution is not difficult. Put America into an emergency program for conservation and conversion to make their oil irrelevant to our economy in ten years. John F. Kennedy inspired America to put a man on the moon in ten years and we did it in nine.
Bush – “And to keep America competitive, one commitment is necessary above all: We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity. Our greatest advantage has always been our educated, hardworking ambitious people. If we ensure that America’s children succeed in life, we ensure that America succeeds in the world.”
Counterpoint – Soaring rhetoric but that’s all it is. Mr. Bush has failed to even adequately fund his own initiative No Child Left Behind. Testing does not educate our children and we should not be teaching to a test. Sadly, long gone is the notion that we should teach the love of learning to all children. Many schools do not provide basic physical education much less elective art or music. America’s educational system is composed of two systems: those for the middle-class and wealthy in the suburbs and the schools imposed upon the poor. Don’t believe me; visit any inner city school or those in poor rural counties. Go inside and see how the children spend their time, ask for the curriculum and visit classrooms. How much college prep do you see? Tell me you would send your child to these schools for a world-class education. Tell me that you know they will receive a good education in that over–crowded building that is crumbling, without adequate facilities and where the teachers have to buy supplies out of their own pockets. Brown vs. Board of Education established the right to an integrated equal education but America promptly did an end run around the ruling and to this day fails to provide equal funding, facilities and qualified teachers for all American children. For more info read the book “The Shame of the Nation” by Jonathan Kozol that was reviewed in the December 2005 issue of Fifty Plus.
Bush – “A hopeful society expects elected officials to uphold the public trust. Honorable people in both parties are working on reforms to strengthen the ethical standards of Washington….”
Counterpoint – What standards? Steal the money from Indian tribes? That eminent Republican Tom Delay and his best friend Jack Abramoff’s standards? This Republican run Congress and White House rivals Ulysses S. Grant’s administration in terms of proven incompetence and cronyism. Let’s review – abandoned American poor people in Hurricane Katrina, mismanaged war in Iraq, leaking CIA agents to the press, ethics violations, a planned dismantling of social security the American people were wise enough to refuse to buy into, arrogance and the snubbing of the world community regarding environmental and diplomatic initiatives. Let’s see what have I left out?
A friend of mine, Jim DePalma, recently said “We have become the British. We have, after more than 200 years, become the nation, in word and action, that Americans fought a revolution against. We are militarily arrogant and act in an imperialist manner toward other nations.”
My reality is wondering how America will make it for the next three years with this Administration and a Republican-run Congress living in some weird separate reality – a reality that is divorced from the concerns of ordinary Americans and apparently cares little about them. It is our collective duty as citizens to make the necessary changes in our government sooner rather than later. We have a chance in this year’s mid-term elections to make our voices heard. Please exercise your right and fulfill your duty.
