"Any reasonable analysis..must recognize the clear and present danger that Bush and his band of neo-cons and religious end time thinkers represent..They are potentially fascist..The Bush Republican party is serious about endless wars.."
ITS NOT ABOUT FURTHERING OUR AGENDA
By Joe Uris
[This article was published in The Portland Alliance, October 2004. Joe Uris is a writer and Talk Radio Host on KBOO-FM, 91.7, http://www.kboo.fm.]
John Kerry must be supported in his effort to oust Bush and Cheney from the White House. This is the overwhelming reality of our election. Yes, John Kerry and the modern Democratic party are not the same odd FDR coalition that created social security and favorable opportunities for labor to organize in the ‘30s. Yes, they are not the same Democrats who gave us strong civil rights legislation (which destroyed the odd coalitions southern white base) and Medicare.
Today’s Democratic Party occupies the center of an imaginary left to right political spectrum. It, and the national liberal establishment it represents, needs to find a base that is progressive in the European social democratic sense. Kerry is weaker than Edwards on these issues and can not be seen as a significant agent of change in the direction most progressives would like to see the country go.
Having said that, any reasonable analysis short of an apocalyptic approach which argues that things must get much worse before they can or will get better, must recognize the clear and present danger that Bush and his band of neo-cons and religious end-time thinkers represent:
While the Democrats may be ideologically wondering and weak, Bush and his bunch are not.
· They are potentially fascist – that is they will merge the state and the corporations into a seamless and cooperating ruling entity.
· The Bush Republican Party is serious about endless wars of an imperial nature.
· They would do away with civil rights, insisting that any resistance to their agenda is treason.
· They are more interested in power than management.
· They will render the government unable to ever fund health care, decent schools or any other badly needed program to make America a modern caring state.
· Bush and his buddies intend to whither away the state’s role in serving the people in almost every other aspect – no trains, no water management, no air quality controls.
· At the same time they will squander public monies on foolish war machines and repressive policing capabilities.
· The current leadership and following of the Republican Party will pillage our natur4al resources.
· The Bushites will transfer all wealth into the hands of the top 1 or 2 percent of the people.
· They will confabulate patriotism, religion, and nationalism into a totalitarian state system sealed in blood.
I would love to find people on the left (or the right for that matter) who will disagree with the above.
Finally, sadly, this election is not about furthering a progressive agenda. It is about pulling power from the hands of a minority of fascist dreamers who on the one hand desire the end of the world for religious reasons and seek to dominate the world and its resources on the other.
For these reasons we must make sure Bush is not re-elected. The only way to do that is to make sure Kerry and the Democrats gain control of the White House and the Congress.
Original: It's not about furthering our agenda