One Week Later

So, here we are, one week after the election. The euphoria and the shock are starting to fade away. John Kerry has resumed his senate seat. John Edwards is supporting his wife through her newly discovered battle with breast cancer. President Bush has already laid out his plans for the next four years. And US troops started a major offensive in the city of Felujah last night. Remember the last fours years? Well, expect fourt more of the same. In other words, little has changed. On the other hand, a lot has!

Almost immediately after stating that he would reach out to democrats and work to unite the country, President Bush announced that he had "earned capital" when he received the majority of the popular vote (making him the first president since Reagans to have done so) and that he planned to use that capital. Use it for what?

Well, for starters, to begin dismantling the social security system. He'll begin by letting people hold back a part of their social security taxes and invest it in the stock market. This will have two detrimental effects. First, it will drain millions of dollars from a retirement account that is already running in the red. Experts are forcasting that SS will run out of money in just a few years, so Bush plans to "fix" SS by siphoning off still more money. There's something wrong with this idea. It smacks of Reaganomics - you remember, the idea that cutting taxes and increasing spending is good for the economy. The other problem with this is idea is that it provides only for the well-healed. Let's face it, poor people don't know much about investing. If they did, they wouldn't be poor. So how are they expected to suddenly start investing their money? No, to me this looks like just another way for the rich to get richer, which has been Bush's aim ever since he took office.

Another of Bush's goals is to overhaul the tax code. Bush wants to simplify the tax code, to reduce unnecessary paperwork. Good idea. I don't think any one would argue with that idea. But he apparently wants to do it by instituting a flat tax. Bad idea. A flat tax would benefit the wealthy and hurt the poor. Why? Well, say you have a 10% flat tax. Ten percent of a million dollars is $100,000. If someone making a million bucks has to pay $100,000 in taxes, they still have $900,000 left over to live on. Not bad, if you ask me. I wouldn't mind living on that myself. On the other hand, 10% of $16,000 (well above what a person earning min. wage gets each year) is $1,600. If someone making $16,000 has to pay $1,600 in taxes, they are left with only $14,400 to live on. Ouch! You try to live on that. It's tough. I know. So, in short, a flat tax punishes poor people and rewards wealthy people. It's yet one more example of how Bush disdains poor people.

Finally, there's the war on terrorism. Bush has stepped up the fighting in Iraq, launching a major offensive in Felujah. Will this help? Will it solve the escalating cycle of violence in Iraq? Will it bring our troops back home any sooner? NO! This move will only heighten anti-American sentiment, not only in Iraq but in the entire Middle East. And it won't end the Iraqi insurgency. In the city of Samarra, which the US cleaned out and Pacified last month, the insurgency is on the rise again. The US - having failed to learn from history - is fighting the same kind of war we fought in Viet Nam, a war against a guerilla force that can easily blend in with the surrounding population, making it nearly impossible to tell who is friend and who is foe. Only, instead of fighting this war in jungles, rice paddies, and small villages, we're fighting this one in major metropolitan areas full of innocent civilians, over 100,000 of whom have been killed already - not a good way to win the hearts and minds of the people.

The other diference between Iraq and Viet Nam is the presence of international terrorists, who gained a foothold in Iraq after we toppled the Hussein regime. These terrorists are part of a far-flung, well-funded network that is perfectly capable of striking the US. And everyday we remain in Iraq, and every iraqi civilian killed, makes it more likely that they will strike us. In the end, our invasion of Iraq has made America, and the world, less safe, not more safe.

These are the things that Bush plans to push through with, using his newly earned "capital." Or should I say, these are the things Bush plans to shove down the country's collective throat, using his newly earned capital. And more will come: overturning Roe -v- Wade; more tax cuts for the wealthy; a marriage ammendnment to the Constitution, outlawing gay marriages. Well, y'all asked for it; y'all got it. Four more years of the same.