Where did America go?

The United States is showing all the signs of an empire in decay. George Bush is the corrupt byproduct of possible inbreeding who has seized more control over the government than was ever intended.

The United States lulled itself into a false sense of security by aggressively building a military around the concept of détente. In amassing enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the planet 10 times over the U.S. kept its chief rival, the equally powerful Soviet Union, at bay. Meanwhile all of our military tactics were designed to fight a big army in the northern hemisphere.

Similarly the CIA was geared to exploit contacts around the world in order to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union. Our operatives are no strangers to the Islamic world, but the Middle East was always handled as a staging area to wage important battles in the Cold War. After the Reagan era passed, Republicans remained beholden to big defense contractors and money was diverted to unnecessary projects while a much needed transition was neglected.

The Clinton administration endures a lot of finger pointing from Republicans who are struggling to explain our current difficulties in the Middle East. They erroneously claim that Clinton cut defense spending and left our military out of touch with developing trends but the reality is that the Republican controlled Congress undermined Clinton’s efforts to scale back Cold War surpluses and focus on building a more efficient and mobile defense capable of adjusting to variable conditions. Such an evolution would have left Republican cronies in the defense industry, like Dick Cheney, without a steady income.

There is no denying that the events of 9-11-2001 demanded action, but the indignant posturing and self-righteous stance taken by the Bush Administration squandered international good will that the United States had carefully established through years of diplomacy. When the UN expressed concern over our tactics Bush threatened them and later appointed an ambassador who had publicly expressed disgust with the United Nations. John Bolton served this nation as a destructive force in the UN, eroding relationships and undermining the authority of the Security Council. Instead of offering ideas to help the organization, Bolton repeatedly took shots at it. John Bolton was a global slap in the face.

Now, with our military stretched so thin the Department of Defense has resorted to recalling honorably discharged soldiers in a back door draft, Bush has set his sites on Iran. It doesn’t matter that we can’t seem to extract ourselves from two active fronts. Nobody in this administration seems overly concerned that the alleged mastermind of the 9-11 attacks remains at large; China has made a few not-so-subtle moves that require consideration and the American people have clearly demonstrated their frustration with the leadership of this country. However, Bush doesn’t care. He has a sick infatuation with his power as it relates to the Middle East.

Is it religious? Does he buy into the Christian Fundamentalist theory that all Muslims are evil? If so, isn’t he guilty of the same myopic theology Osama bin Laden is associated with?

But Bush is no Christian. Like the evangelists who write sermons with dollar signs in their eyes, Bush uses religion to secure power. He’s a man of the coin, as was his father, grandfather, and great grandfather. His entire family is morally and ethically corrupt. Under his administration companies like Halliburton, Exxon and Shell have seen huge increases in profit and his relatives have reaped the rewards in the form of stock ownership. This so-called war on terror has been carefully orchestrated by Dick Cheney to provide Bush-friendly corporations with every opportunity to maximize profits. Oil prices have risen nearly 200% under Bush’s leadership. That’s no coincidence.

It’s also no coincidence that our enemies seem to be ghosts from the Reagan era. George H.W. Bush spent his single term in office cleaning up Reagan’s messes in South and Central America. George W. Bush seems to be pulling the scabs off of wounds the Reagan administration inflicted in the Middle East. Isn’t it interesting that Osama bin Laden received money, weapons and training from the CIA and US special forces units in the 1980’s? How about the fact that Saddam received help from the US in stabilizing his control over Iraq so he could focus his full attention on a bloody war with Iran?

It’s really pretty frightening. Ronald Reagan was a devious leader who was never held accountable for his actions. He was simply too charismatic. It was obvious his policies weren’t working. The American middle class endured a horrible economic situation throughout his administration while the upper class enjoyed monumental returns on investments. The gap between the rich and the poor expanded, the national debt exploded and the US left its fingerprints on economic and political strife all around the world. But Reagan was never called to the carpet. To this day he is lionized as some sort of American hero.

His cult of personality was strong enough to propel the seemingly feeble George H.W. Bush and his moronic lapdog J. Danforth Quayle into the White House but they were such weak figures that the first Bush administration, though nearly identical to Reagan’s, was blamed for 12 years worth of broken promises.

Under Clinton, the Republican party reformed itself as the great white hope. Angry pundits fueled racial and social animosity while the Republican congress spent millions of dollars, tax dollars, trying to destroy Bill Clinton and any hope the Democrats had in securing an extended period of control over US politics. Then George W. Bush emerged, ensconcing himself in all things Reagan and, like a modern day Nero, the ne’er-do-well offspring of over-privileged aristocrats assumed a position of power with no sense of responsibility. How can a man with such a concise history of utter irresponsibility be elected? Behold the power of Reagan.

Even Reagan’s ghost can’t hide the glaring problems. This administration went too far too fast. Bush seems to know his time is just about up. The right-wing venom ran dry in 2006 and Democrats seized an unthinkable majority in the Congressional election. Sadly, Bush and his advisors see it as some sort of fluke. Instead of seeing the upset as a sign that people want a change, Bush has dug in his heels and refused to discuss any type of exit from a hopeless situation in the Middle East. With Iraq continuing to spiral out of control, Afghanistan reverting back to the totalitarian rule of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden living in Pakistan, Bush has started a game of chicken with the most formidable country in the Middle East. He’s a small-minded man with too much time on his hands. A lot can happen in 18 months…with Bush in office none of it is good.