A President Without Honor – A Party Without Moral Stature

"The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught."  H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956), 'Prejudices: Fourth Series,' 1924
 
It is not enough to sling stones and arrows at this administration or the Republican Party.  This is a group of people who purport to be moral men and women but in the final analysis are not and because of that they are not concerned with being called names or influenced by moral outrage.    These are people who do not regret their discreditable acts and therefore the use of public humiliation and moral indignation are not very effective instruments to use against them.   These are people who know only money and the power that money buys and who are therefore not influenced in the slightest by public opinion or moral indignation.
 
If we look back to the beginnings of George W. Bush's presidency, to his inauguration day, we can see that this is the point in time when it became implicitly obvious that not only the Bush administration but the Republican Party and the neocons that control it were wanton despots with little concern for the American people.   This was the pivotal point in the Republican takeover of our government with the final and absolute point of no return being the now infamous date and events of 9/11.
 
Up until the election of George W. Bush, or perhaps more appropriately the ascension of George W. Bush's to the presidency, in 2000 the Republicans had controlled only the House of Representatives.   But, with Bush's coming into office that left the Democratic Party controlling only the Senate and even that was tenuous and temporary.  At that point the courts were also leaning heavily to the right and more often than not they voted that way as they did in deciding the 2000 election.   (Note:  The Republican takeover was a carefully orchestrated plan that began with Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, not necessarily working together in the beginning, but culminating in and including a united nationwide effort to create a network of conservative think tanks focused on recruiting and educating an army of conservative politicians to run for office but that is a lengthy subject for a later post.)
 
With the Democrats still controlling the Senate, tenuous though it may have been, the administration and House of Representatives were still being held somewhat in check but only temporarily.   Sadly, not long after Bush took office 9/11 occurred and provided the opportunity and excuse that the neocon controlled Republican Party needed to take the country to the extreme right and bring about the new era of the robber barons.   With the elections of 2004 the Republican Party completed their hijacking of the American government and the age of neo-conservative despotism became a firm reality.
 
The truly sad part of this Shakespearian drama is that the Bush administration and the Republican Party accomplished this as the American people stood, eyes wide open and even helped by being gullible, passive coconspirators.
 
On the domestic front the first steps in this travesty began in earnest with huge tax cuts for the wealthy.  This was an obvious first step and of course necessary in order to repay the political debts owed.  They then simultaneously started filling critical positions with political appointments and more often than not the positions were being filled by and with unqualified cronies, the most obvious example being that of Mr. Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.   Additionally, and with the cooperation of a Congress controlled by Tom Delay, they initiated the K street project to infuse the entire political network with Republican shills.   The ultimate purpose of this project was to buy off the politicians that would or could potentially oppose them and to insure their ability to even control events down to the State level.   The best example of this manipulation at the State level was the redistricting plan that was done in Texas.  Delay was especially brassy in the case of the Texas redistricting when he used the Federal Aviation Agency to locate the Texas Democrats who had left the State in an attempt to stop the "unorthodox" if not outright illegal manner in which the redistricting was being done.   This was an especially brazen act in light of the fact that this redistricting was being done by a legislature that had come into power as a result of Delays money laundering that pumped illegal corporate funds into the State Republican political machine in order to guarantee a Republican majority.   This project also had the effect of totally isolating the Democratic minority in Washington and rendering them fundamentally powerless.  It was doubly effective in that in addition to isolating the Democrats it effectively controlled the more honorable Republican mavericks who might have opposed their agenda.   Once again all of this was done while the American public looked on.
 
To take this power grab even further the Bush administration, using the specter of 9/11 began a systematic erosion of American citizens constitutional rights by not just authorizing but in fact directing the NSA to begin spying on domestic communications and not just circumventing the FISA courts but just ignoring them all together.   Additionally, the president began a systematic process of producing "signing statements", in the hundreds, which in effect declared that because he, the president, disagrees with a specific portion or aspect of the law he intends to not adhere to that law or a portion thereof.    This entire process became even easier once the Congress authorized "all necessary action" to protect the United States from those responsible for 9/11.   The Bush administration conveniently took a broad interpretation, ignoring the "those responsible for 9/11" portion, of this act and has used it to justify every thing from illegal wiretaps to holding American citizens without due process, torturing, and transporting suspected terrorist to autocratically controlled countries where they may be interrogated more freely.
 
I believe that if any thinking, rational person were to carefully look at the actions of the Bush administration and the neocon controlled House, Senate, and now Judiciary they will find that the Bush administration and Republican Party are creating a one party political structure that they envision being forever controlled by the Republican Party and a very small group of elite, wealthy corporate interest.    
 
Every action that this administration takes, whether going to war in Iraq or attacking the Social Security system or Medicare, it is always about big business and big money.   They attack another country using lies and deceit to justify it and issue multi billion dollar no bid contracts to companies to which they have undeniable personal financial ties.   (Note: This wasn't the only reason for invading Iraq of course but it was a side benefit.  The real reason was to establish a permanent American presence in the heart of the oil rich Middle East in an attempt to more closely control the price of crude oil and project American military power into the region.)   They offer Social Security reform that would privatize the system pumping billions of dollars of public funds into private firms to which they have undeniable personal financial ties.   They push through a Medicare drug program without allowing the federal government to implement competitive biding and buy from the lowest bidder which in essence subsidizes private industry to which they have undeniable personal financial ties and the program causes undue hardship on the elderly and poor because it is so complicated that even lawyers can't understand it.   And, to top all of this off they continue to cut taxes for the very wealthy while borrowing trillions of dollars to pay for government operations to include unjust wars leaving the debt burden not only on the middle class and poor taxpayers but on the backs of middle class and poor taxpayer's children and grand children for decades to come.
 
And I must add one last comment to this post.  All the time that this administration is robbing the American people of their present and future they are pouring American blood into the Iraqi desert and the barren soil of Afghanistan.  They do this without shame as evidenced here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601394.html?nav=rss_email/components
 
All of this by a Commander in Chief that isn't fit to be the Commander in Chief as evidenced Here:  http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/01/ma_217_01.html and here:   http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/lechliter.pdf
 
Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.