- The presidential election on Tuesday is one of the most
crucial in American history.
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- There are many reasons -- in foreign policy and on the
domestic front -- why President George W. Bush should not be reelected.
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- Among them is the dominance of the radical right in his
advisory councils, who are taking the United States down the wrong road
at the start of the 21st century.
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- The road could lead to more mindless wars abroad and
a widening gap between the rich and the poor in this country.
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- There will be only one way to read the election results
if Bush wins: The world will see his victory as an affirmation by the American
people of his disastrous preemptive war policy, which led the United States
to invade Iraq without provocation.
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- The U.S. attack on Iraq is a clear violation of international
law and has made us helpless to condemn others for similar acts.
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- If he wins reelection, Bush may see his victory as a
signal to follow the neo-conservative dream of a political transformation
of the Middle East through military force.
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- The president also would likely continue his new-style
isolationism by giving short shrift to post-World War II treaties, such
as those banning biological and chemical weapons. There is nothing to indicate
Bush is willing to stop the gross violations of the Geneva Conventions
on the humane treatment of prisoners of war.
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- Dark reports of the shameful treatment and secret transfers
of detainees still emanate from Iraq and the U.S. brig at the Guantanamo
Bay base in Cuba.
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- Despite his vehement denials, Bush may be compelled to
call for another military draft if he persists in making war.
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- He is scraping by now with his all-volunteer military,
along with reservists and National Guard members, keeping them on duty
longer than planned with a so-called a back-door draft. If he wins a second
term, he wouldn't have to worry about running again and would have a free
hand to undo his read-my-lips campaign promises.
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- On the homefront, the rich will be sitting pretty again
with big tax cuts while the budget deficit and national debt zoom sky high.
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- Bush donors from the military-industrial complex are
being well rewarded, especially Halliburton, formerly headed by Vice President
Dick Cheney, which already has reaped no-bid contracts to the tune of billions
of dollars.
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- Organized labor will still be behind the eight ball under
a new Bush administration. Workers will be pressured to accept "comp
time" in place of overtime pay, and the lowered safety standards imposed
by Bush's Labor Department will lead to more industrial accidents.
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- Don't expect Bush to lift a finger to stem the tide of
outsourcing of the nation's biggest companies to China, India and other
points East, where they can find cheaper labor.
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- The president is certain to follow through on his pet
project to privatize part of the Social Security system with voluntary
private investment accounts, driving a big hole in the program's trust
fund. We should all hope that Congress won't go along with such a dangerous
idea.
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- Social Security was the 1936 Depression-era program to
support the elderly, the disabled and deprived dependent children.
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- Senior citizens, meantime, are staying away in droves
from Bush's highly touted prescription drug program, which the administration
publicly underpriced by $1 billion. Furthermore, the resident's compassionate
conservative legislation banned importation of cheaper drugs from Canada.
That is not expected to change in a new Bush term.
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- Bush also wants to cater to corporate interests by capping
damages in medical malpractice suits at $250,000.
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- If reelected, Bush -- who has injected religion into
public affairs more than any president has in modern times -- is expected
to continue his messianic mission in the White House. He will blur even
more the separation of church and state.
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- Bush undoubtedly will see his reelection as a mandate
to push the country further to the right. And if he elected, he will be
answerable to no one.
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- http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1030-24.htm
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