Bush Win Would Mean Dark Times by Helen Thomas

[Guest guest]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1030-24.htm

 

Published on Saturday, October 30, 2004 by the Hearst Newspapers

 

 

 

Bush Win Would Mean Dark Times

World Would Perceive Support For Preemptive War

by Helen Thomas

 

 

The presidential election on Tuesday is one of the most crucial in

American history.

 

There are many reasons -- in foreign policy and on the domestic front

-- why President George W. Bush should not be reelected.

 

Among them is the dominance of the radical right in his advisory

councils, who are taking the United States down the wrong road at the

start of the 21st century.

 

The road could lead to more mindless wars abroad and a widening gap

between the rich and the poor in this country.

 

There will be only one way to read the election results if Bush wins:

The world will see his victory as an affirmation by the American

people of his disastrous preemptive war policy, which led the United

States to invade Iraq without provocation.

 

The U.S. attack on Iraq is a clear violation of international law and

has made us helpless to condemn others for similar acts.

 

If he wins reelection, Bush may see his victory as a signal to follow

the neo-conservative dream of a political transformation of the Middle

East through military force.

 

The president also would likely continue his new-style isolationism by

giving short shrift to post-World War II treaties, such as those

banning biological and chemical weapons. There is nothing to indicate

Bush is willing to stop the gross violations of the Geneva Conventions

on the humane treatment of prisoners of war.

 

Dark reports of the shameful treatment and secret transfers of

detainees still emanate from Iraq and the U.S. brig at the Guantanamo

Bay base in Cuba.

 

Despite his vehement denials, Bush may be compelled to call for

another military draft if he persists in making war.

 

He is scraping by now with his all-volunteer military, along with

reservists and National Guard members, keeping them on duty longer

than planned with a so-called a back-door draft. If he wins a second

term, he wouldn't have to worry about running again and would have a

free hand to undo his read-my-lips campaign promises.

 

On the homefront, the rich will be sitting pretty again with big tax

cuts while the budget deficit and national debt zoom sky high.

 

Bush donors from the military-industrial complex are being well

rewarded, especially Halliburton, formerly headed by Vice President

Dick Cheney, which already has reaped no-bid contracts to the tune of

billions of dollars.

 

Organized labor will still be behind the eight ball under a new Bush

administration. Workers will be pressured to accept " comp time " in

place of overtime pay, and the lowered safety standards imposed by

Bush's Labor Department will lead to more industrial accidents.

 

Don't expect Bush to lift a finger to stem the tide of outsourcing of

the nation's biggest companies to China, India and other points East,

where they can find cheaper labor.

 

The president is expected to keep trying to weaken public education

with voucher programs to aid private schools, many of them religious.

He is certain to follow through on his pet project to privatize part

of the Social Security system with voluntary private investment

accounts, driving a big hole in the program's trust fund. We should

all hope that Congress won't go along with such a dangerous idea.

 

Social Security was the 1936 Depression-era program to support the

elderly, the disabled and deprived dependent children.

 

Senior citizens, meantime, are staying away in droves from Bush's

highly touted prescription drug program, which the administration

publicly underpriced by $1 billion. Furthermore, the resident's

compassionate conservative legislation banned importation of cheaper

drugs from Canada. That is not expected to change in a new Bush term.

 

Bush also wants to cater to corporate interests by capping damages in

medical malpractice suits at $250,000.

 

If reelected, Bush -- who has injected religion into public affairs

more than any president has in modern times -- is expected to continue

his messianic mission in the White House. He will blur even more the

separation of church and state.

 

For women and minorities who support abortion rights and affirmative

action, there is the scary prospect that the candidate who wins

Tuesday may be able to appoint three, perhaps even four Supreme Court

justices.

 

Bush undoubtedly will see his reelection as a mandate to push the

country further to the right. And if he is elected, he will be

answerable to no one.

 

© 2004 Hearst Newspapers