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February 24, 2004

Top ten reasons to not re-elect George Bush as President

10) He didn't win back in 2000. This is actually a minor reason; had Bush been the best president ever, we wouldn't really care how he took office. But he hasn't been, and the fact remains that he got in under a fluke, a one time event, and an interesting arrangement of circumstance. He had his chance.

Oh, and the proof that he didn't win? Take a look here. Scroll past the headline to:

Use of Palm Beach County standard

Out of Palm Beach County emerged one of the least restrictive standards for determining a valid punch-card ballot. The county elections board determined that a chad hanging by up to two corners was valid and that a dimple or a chad detached in only one corner could also count if there were similar marks in other races on the same ballot. If that standard had been adopted statewide, the study shows a slim, 42-vote margin for Gore.

Inclusion of overvotes

In addition to undervotes, thousands of ballots in the Florida presidential election were invalidated because they had too many marks. This happened, for example, when a voter correctly marked a candidate and also wrote in that candidate's name. The consortium looked at what might have happened if a statewide recount had included these overvotes as well and found that Gore would have had a margin of fewer than 200 votes.

Gore won, Bush lost, but Bush got to be president anyway. Rewarding that with a second term is not ok...

9) If Bush gets another Term, his wife'll want one too.

We all know what power-hungry bitches first Ladies are.

8) Bush lied about the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Sure, sure, "We were all wrong". But Bush was the one who decided to go to war. And there were plenty of good reasons to go to war. Our president decided to ignore them and instead focused on the one claim that was least important to American national security. No matter what else he may have accomplished in Iraq, he lied to get us there...

7) No one else has been fired for 9-11.

The Preamble to the constitution lays out the duties of our government:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
9-11 was a failure to "provide for the common defense". We have several entire agencies of the government built around ensuring that these sorts of things don't happen...

So, when the government fails in such a huge way that 3000 Americans are dead and 2 entire zip codes become nothing more than rubble, someone, somewhere (probably lots of someones) should be held accountable. So far no one has. That being the case, the guy at the top should go. See ya' George.

6) The Tax cuts. + the Bush spending increase.

There are so many reasons these are bad that I can't enumerate them all. Let me try.
First, a look at Angry Bear's excellent graph will show us that the Deficit has exploded. But we knew that. Many people think that this is because of 9-11 or something. Well, lets take a look at another graph. This one shows that were Clinton's budget prescriptions followed, we'd be a hell of a lot better off...

I'm told that this doesn't matter, that Deficits aren't that important. Well, they are. See, there is a finite amount of money available to be borrowed. The government gets first dibs, (because they can pay the most) Companies get second dibs, and you and I get last dibs. The more money the government borrows, the less there is for me to borrow for school and for my dad's company to borrow for capital investment. And Bush caused this. Therefore, he must go...

5) Bush thinks that companies can be trusted to regulate themselves for the public good.

It is a basic fact of economics that not all costs are born directly by the person who generates them. These are called "externalities". Pollution is the classic externality. When I can't breath because someone is pumping crap into the air, it creates a situation where the cost of fixing that falls on me-- even though I didn't cause the problem...

President Bush seems to think that a company will clean up after itself if he asks nicely. The cornerstone of a Capitalistic System is the belief that a company will work only in ways that they believe will maximize their competitive advantage. How, exactly does any plan Bush proposes have any effect at all if he cuts funding for the enforcement mechanism? Owing to his inability to understand basic Market realities, Bush must Go.

4) Bush launched two (2) wars against nations he believed were terrorist-sponsoring without even defining how we would know if we won.

Note the date on this Memo. "Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror." -Donald Rumsfeld. And yet they went to war anyway, without knowing if it would do more harm or good. George Bush has shown plainly that he is incapable of adult action against terror, therefore he must go...

3) Bush is in favor of a constitutional amendment banning marriage for certain people.

President Bush cannot find it in his heart to feel joy for two people coming together and announcing before the world that they love each other. Anyone with that little empathy deserves my scorn, not my vote.

2) President Bush is not a World Leader.

Owing to our great and uncontested strength, the position of American President Carries with it the title "leader of the (free) world". President Bush doesn't act this way, preferring instead to pretend that America can operate in a vacuum. President Bush was willing to risk a trade war with Europe and Japan to prevent my Father (a steel construction company owner) access to cheaper steel. Bush did this in order to get some votes from places that make Steel domestically. Look, that industry should be mature enough at this point that it can stand on its own merits...

Or, alternately, How about Bush being willing to alienate a Key ally in the War on Terror (Pakistan) by refusing to lower Textile Tariffs. How does that make sense? It doesn't, if he were leader of the world. But as President of the US, it makes perfect sense. I guess the president of some other country will have to take a leadership position...

Which isn't good enough for me. But if it's good enough for Bush, I don't want him leading me...

1) Bush reserves to the office of the president the ability to define who a terrorist is.

Bush wants US citizens to be treated like non-citizens, and wants to try them in millitary* courts. Or, to put it differently:

"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power."

And

"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:"
And
"For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences"
Those quotes were from the Declaration of Independence, by the way. Oh Jefferson, you wacky radical!

But when you combine that with his education secretary calling teachersTerrorists, you end with the picture that keeps me up at nights. President Bush simply wants way too much power in his own hands. As a result of this, he is unfit for the presidency...

1) Bush reserves to the office of the president the ability to define who a terrorist is.

Bush wants US citizens to be treated like non-citizens, and wants to try them in civil courts. Or, to put it differently:

"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power."

And

"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:"
And
"For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences"
Those quotes were from the Declaration of Independence, by the way. Oh Jefferson, you wacky radical!

But when you combine that with his education secretary calling teachersTerrorists, you end with the picture that keeps me up at nights. President Bush simply wants way too much power in his own hands. As a result of this, he is unfit for the presidency...

* this part originaly read "civil' courts. But that is an error. Or, rather, that is the way it _should_ be, but Bush is acting badly. Anyway, the fault of typing is mine...

Posted by Andrew at February 24, 2004 06:55 PM

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Posted by: Dazed_and_Confucius at February 25, 2004 08:01 PM