Rants: Bush

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Protesters

For the first time today, I saw a group of protesters in front of a shopping center in Shirley. It was damp and rainy, and they were there with American flags and signs that said "Take back our republic!", and "Honk for no new taxes." After just having written my little ode to the protesters, I have to admit that I still find it astonishing that these people are so up in arms over a thing like healthcare.

I don't want new taxes, of course. No one does! But compared to all of the awful things the Bushies did for the better part of this decade, I still don't understand why they weren't protesting then. George Bush inherited a surplus...he squandered it and put us into the heaviest debt we've ever seen. Obama comes in, and he's trying to fix it. I don't necessarily agree with all the decisions he's made so far, but it doesn't take only eleven months to fix such a problem.

"But, he's adding to it," you say.

Here's a surprise for you: I agree! Still, all of this pales in comparison to the many, many things Mr. Bush did that wasted way more money than Obama ever will. As a writer and a conscientious patriot, I feel a duty to add my voice to this discussion in the hopes that someone will see all this ruckus for what it is.

No, this is not Nazi Germany. What liberties are we losing? I could argue that I lost the freedom to take some toothpaste on an airplane with me in 2004. Teabaggers will argue, "well that was for your own protection!" Well, I say that mandating that everyone has health insurance carries the same mantra.

I need to think some more on this...

Where were you? : A question for today's protesters

Where were you?

Where were you when $9 billion vanished into thin air?

Where were you when $1.7 billion was paid to some friends to do some housekeeping in the desert?

When the paid mercenaries out-earned the boys and girls doing us proud?

Where were you?

Where were you when a big wind blew, and another $30 billion was given to the same friends, with only a fraction of it trickling down to make any sort of difference?

Where were you when $3 trillion, with a T, in taxes was given back to those who needed it least?

Where you one of them?

Maybe you were!

Do you remember?

It seems to me you've forgotten,

especially when I see you so angry,

carrying signs, making all that hateful noise

at the chance of spending only $1 trillion, with a T, going to a very worthy cause;

to give a chance at life and death relief to the millions who need it.

Is that so terrible?

I don't think so!

It all doesn't seem so terrible to me.

I just don't understand!

You say what we've got is a good thing,

that a clerk in a private company has more expertise than one that works for the government.

Funny... they're both our comrades.

You say it's a good thing when big companies earn their market shares

by doing whatever they have to to earn a profit,

squeezing and squeezing the common people to financial ruin and sometimes even death.

The truth is, they fear competition, from a worthy adversary,

one that just might force them to do what they're meant to do.

I'm not sure what you fear exactly.

Is that so terrible?

I don't think so!

It all doesn't seem so terrible to me.

I just don't understand!