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This is probably the best, fairest account of the past 8 years under Bush that I've come across so far. Please read!!
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Personally, I don't think Bush was necessarily "evil" or a bad person -- I think he certainly meant well, and a lot of what happened had to do with whom he surrounded himself, and wasn't his fault. Still, his arrogance, Macbeth-style ambition, and lack of intelligence has led to this mess. This is what happens when smart, informed, reasoned opinions are dismissed as "elitism" and eggheadedness, when comic book morality becomes legitimate foreign policy, when you try to "free the market," when the misguided belief that this is somehow the greatest, most moral country in the world gets to your head. Bush misled the public over the reasons for going to war in Iraq, diminished our nation's respect in the world, sat back and did nothing while the economy tanked, trampled on our civil liberties (sometimes because of his religious beliefs), flat-out ignored environmental and gay rights issues, allowed a culture of fiscal irresponsibility, favored dogmatic ideology over pragmatism, has made it harder for young people like myself to "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps" like we apparently should be doing -- etc., etc., etc. Even considering his successes and whether or not the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan ultimately succeed, Bush has left this country more fragmented and disenchanted than ever before. None of this will take four or even eight years to fix, but if we want to see them fixed, we the citizens need to take more responsibility in our government, become more informed, hold our elected official accountable, and let common sense and mutual respect enter our conversations instead of sensationalism and strict adherence to ideology. America risks stagnating otherwise, like it did for the past eight years.
Needless to say, Tuesday can't come soon enough.
---------------
( Read more... )
---------------
Source
Personally, I don't think Bush was necessarily "evil" or a bad person -- I think he certainly meant well, and a lot of what happened had to do with whom he surrounded himself, and wasn't his fault. Still, his arrogance, Macbeth-style ambition, and lack of intelligence has led to this mess. This is what happens when smart, informed, reasoned opinions are dismissed as "elitism" and eggheadedness, when comic book morality becomes legitimate foreign policy, when you try to "free the market," when the misguided belief that this is somehow the greatest, most moral country in the world gets to your head. Bush misled the public over the reasons for going to war in Iraq, diminished our nation's respect in the world, sat back and did nothing while the economy tanked, trampled on our civil liberties (sometimes because of his religious beliefs), flat-out ignored environmental and gay rights issues, allowed a culture of fiscal irresponsibility, favored dogmatic ideology over pragmatism, has made it harder for young people like myself to "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps" like we apparently should be doing -- etc., etc., etc. Even considering his successes and whether or not the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan ultimately succeed, Bush has left this country more fragmented and disenchanted than ever before. None of this will take four or even eight years to fix, but if we want to see them fixed, we the citizens need to take more responsibility in our government, become more informed, hold our elected official accountable, and let common sense and mutual respect enter our conversations instead of sensationalism and strict adherence to ideology. America risks stagnating otherwise, like it did for the past eight years.
Needless to say, Tuesday can't come soon enough.
