What is the World Coming To?

In the late nineties, it seemed our world was taking on a positive momentum that couldn’t be stopped.  The economy seemed to be roaring along, we had a balanced budget in Congress, the Internet was promising endless possibilities.  The accoutrements which complement such a dreamy life included corporations who viewed their employees as their “greatest assets,” and what appeared to be a growing tolerance of all man kinds.  What happened?

I remember going to bed the eve of the 2000 election with the knowledge that our next President would be, as expected, Al Gore.  Like Alice in Wonderland, I went to sleep in one place and woke up in quite another.  Slowly the world seemed to be spinning out of control.  The blatant partisanship of Florida and ultimately the Supreme Court seemed utterly unreal.  The contempt for the American political system by ignoring voter’s rights to weigh in on votes the Republicans claimed they couldn’t read was only the first of many insults we would ultimately suffer.  “No one could have voted for Bush,” I thought, “not even those people who watch television evangelists and have deer figurines in their front yard.”  The man’s command of the English language, his demonstrated depth of knowledge on any given subject and his intellect all pointed to the fact that he was easily in the dumbest quartile of the American population, if not all known life on earth.  We had a population of nearly 300 million people and we had probably the dumbest person I’d ever seen chosen to lead the country.  Only his limitless arrogance keeps me from harboring any sympathy for his complete dearth of God given talents.  My sister has a knack for making astute and succinct observations such as when she saw Michael Jackson on a TV interview and said, “And this is why it’s not a good idea for someone to be allowed to design their own face.”  When hearing Bush chew through one of his inane speeches she nodded her head in her doctorly way and said, “Cocaine does that to people’s brains.”

Coincidentally, life in the corporate environment took the same trip to hell that the American people did in their personal lives.  The corporation that once upon a time said, “We love our employees!” now said, “Wallstreet loves us when we lay you off!”  I won’t detail the oceanic-like waves that occur for every unfortunate who gets volunteered for “downsizing.”  Let’s just suffice it to say, yes your life as you know it will be ruined.  I call it “A Test to See if Material Things Really Do Matter to You.”  My life took a trip through the layoff disposal and came out a chomped up lump of pooh.  But, hey, I’m not bitter.

My theory of what happened next will likely differ with most people (at this point in time).   The tragedy of the two towers in New York is a defining moment in US history however you choose to view it.  Did the terrorists win?  Most every other American will say, “no,” but I will answer with a resounding, “yes.”  The terrorists did exactly what I think they intended to do – they drove us into the waiting arms of the Bush Administration’s strategic plans.  Americans’ fear was played like a violin by the Bush Administration and we definitely let them have their way with us.  Our virtue was at their mercy and they were not trustworthy.

 The Bush Administration developed the ever powerful color coded terrorist threat monitors that worked like a policeman’s hot stick any time the general populace got a little challenging to handle.  A Bush whim not being supported?  Voila, guess what folks we’re under code red right now.  Bush losing popularity?  OMG, we just went red again.  Buy duck tape for your windows because you’re probably gonna die.

I won’t go on a diatribe about all the wrongs Bush has committed against the American people.  Put it down to he lies like a mutha’ to get what he wants.  The terrorist’s success was that we stopped questioning Bush when he began destroying our America.  He didn’t even need to attempt to reconcile his actions with reality.  He didn’t need to seek approval – he had us in the corner and scared to death.  Just the way he wanted it.  Some people, like Colonel Powell, didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to keep a pact with the devil and they simply ruined their careers and lost their hard-earned respect.  Others, like Condaleeza Rice, are probably even more to blame than Bush and the rest of his semi-stupid henchmen because she knows better.  Her I pity.

For several years I couldn’t understand this rabbit hole we’d fallen into.  Daily I’d hear atrocities committed by the Bush Administration with no due diligence by the press.  It seemed like every time he made a decision he made the wrong one.  I saw no clear path; only a string of what appeared to be stupid moves.

I knew for certain our country had been taken over by the Republican coup when I heard the election returns in 2004.  Strangely, the exit polls weren’t jiving with the reported returns.  Exit polls are people reporting how they voted.  Why would people be saying one thing and actually voting another?  Well, of course, they weren’t.   I learned the electronic polls were manipulated by the two Republican run voting corporations who controlled over 80% of the votes in the US.  Yes, we were not only going to hell, we were already there driving around in a souped up, black windowed Corvette.

My eighty year old Mother said in 2000 that if Bush got elected he would get us into a war.  She said he would get us into a war with Iraq because they tried to kill his Daddy.  My mother is a really sweet lady.  She’s not a political pundit.  When the Iraqi situation came up I used to laugh at people who said we would go to war.  I howled it was so preposterous.  Not even the corrupt Bush Administration could pull that one off!  “That,” I said, “would require the support of Congress.  Quit worrying, that’s just crazy.”

Still, other than living in a country run by punks, I didn’t really understand what could be driving the bizarre decision making.  I thought, surely, just by mere chance Bush is bound to make a good decision.  When the movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, came out it began to shed some light on things.  Yes, it confirmed the Bush Administration was a collection of manipulative hoodlums.  It told of Bush's love of oil.  And Haliburton made a lot of money.  But it still didn’t all make much sense.

Then I happened upon the well constructed movie, Hijacking Catastrophe.  Here is a movie which brought together all the apparent randomness into a cohesive, scary whole.  The whole thrust of the Bush Administration was the execution of the philosophy of the Project for the New American Century.  This Republican think tank counted as its members such people as Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld.  One of their stated principles is, “It is necessary for the American government to have total and absolute control over everything."   I think that pretty much says it all, now don’t it?

My next education came from the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. This movie spells out the longer term outcome of the insane Bush Administration.  While it is too polite to hold Bush responsible for everything, I think we can safely say our insertion into the easy bake oven rests squarely on the shoulders of that madman.  Polar Bears weren’t starving to death under Clinton.  The government wasn’t offering a tax write off for Hummers under Clinton.

At this point I’m feeling pretty satisfied with myself.  I pat myself on the back because I saw Bush coming from the get go, I saw through all the manipulations and fictions that hundreds of millions of Americans apparently didn’t see.  But in the end, knowing we have an outrageously corrupt government and that the Bush adminstration not only may mean the end of America but the end of the world isn’t exactly satisfying.  Yes I know there is the Bigger Existence beyond this physical one but what a pity our beautiful world might experience its demise under the hand of such a mighty buffoon.