When the Punch Line is War

By Charles Cutter

Feb 26, 2004: (Magic City Morning Star) If you take George W. Bush at his word - a dubious and risky prospect, at best - in the space of twenty-four hours he made it clear he has more respect for the sanctity of marriage than for the sanctity of human life.

Anyone watching television news in the past week couldn't help but see Mr. Bush wringing his hands over the dilemma of same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, he made his pronouncement: "Our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage." Mr. Bush made this declaration as though he were talking about al Queda, wearing his most solemn face, using a slow and measured cadence.

The night before, in contrast, he was getting big laughs from his Republican friends as he made jokes about the war in Iraq.

On Monday evening Mr. Bush addressed the Republican Governors Association to highlight the themes of his re-election campaign. He referenced his "war on terror" at least four times; September 11, at least five. Another solemn occasion, one would think. But to the man who dodged Viet Nam, the world of war does not inspire solemnity - at least not when he's performing for campaign money.

Speaking presumably about the Democrats, but more likely about anyone who disagrees with his administration, Mr. Bush said, "They now agree that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power; they just didn't support removing Saddam from power. (Laughter.)" The parenthetical reference to "laughter" is copied from the White House web site; it's not as if they're ashamed of this levity. Mr. Bush followed up with, "Maybe they were hoping he'd lose the next Iraqi election. (Laughter and applause)"

The fact is, the cost of deposing Saddam Hussein has been staggering. There have been, as of this writing, 549 U.S. military deaths, as well as another 100 among other coalition forces. The death toll among Iraqi civilians - and nobody is bothering to keep a very accurate count - is estimated at between 8,000 - 10,000 people. Those who argued against this war, who protested that the cost in human lives would be too great, deserve more respect than to be the punch line at a Republican fund-raiser.

It's vital for us to realize that this president does not understand, and never has understood, the necessity of dissent as an essential aspect of American freedom. There is no room in this administration for honest disagreement (dishonest agreement has yielded much more profitable results). A person may indeed feel the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power; but the flip-side of that argument, which Mr. Bush conveniently avoids, is "However, I didn't support wasting American lives - and vast American resources - in a rush to war, based on lies about weapons of mass destruction, adorned with fairy tales about being greeted as liberators and withdrawing our troops in thirty days." By forcing a choice between two simplistic extremes, Mr. Bush flatly ignores the voices of anyone who refuses to unthinkingly embrace his radical policies. This position is not only dishonest, it is simply anti-American.

And the fact remains that the cost of Bush's Iraqi war goes far beyond the lives lost. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being transferred from the pockets of American taxpayers into an already corrupt and chaotic "rebuilding" of that country. Let's not miss the significance of this fact: While we continue to fund an open-ended commitment in Iraq, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank is telling the citizens of this country that they will have to work longer and/or accept reduced benefits in Social Security and Medicare in order to reduce America's catastrophic deficit. (Mr. Greenspan still believes, however, that the tax cuts for the most wealthy Americans should be made permanent; in other words, that the deficit should be paid for by those least able to afford it.) If an electoral majority of the American public continues to support this president and these priorities, they deserve the increasingly diminished quality of life that will be the inevitable result of that choice.

Mr. Bush went on to draw a further distinction between himself and his opponents: "They seem to be against every idea that gives Americans more authority and more choices and more control over their own lives." In a rapid display of hypocrisy, the next day he insisted that the very framework of American democracy be altered, empowering the federal government - and not the individual citizen - to define that most personal of institutions - marriage.

Bush & Co. have been haunted by math problems recently - their numbers never seem to add up - so they abandoned that strategy this week, jumping into a hornet's nest of word problems instead. Their words have been offensive, divisive, glaringly inconsistent and - considering the Secretary of Education calling the National Education Association a "terrorist organization" - downright bizarre. Perhaps they should simply base their re-election campaign on photo-ops of Mr. Bush wrapped in an American flag. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see how they screw that up.

© Copyright 2003 by Magic City Morning Star