Vol. 2 No. 52 Dec. 8, 2006

The Bogus Economist
Fries

Last week, I pigged out on a hamburger with all the trimmings, including Freedom Fries. Do you remember Freedom Fries? About when Mr. Bush was starting his quest to bring American democracy to Iraq, the French started acting picky by saying we should give diplomacy more of a chance in order to find out whether Saddam actually had weapons of mass destruction and whether he actually was playing footsie with Osama bin Laden. What nerve!! What Gaulle!! The Right, outraged by the French, promptly declared war on their potatoes. Strangely, we don't hear very much about Freedom Fries any more, mostly because the arguments used by the French three years ago against the war are now being heard from almost everybody except the folks who started it. One of these, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the only one of the superhawks who served a full tour of (peacetime) military duty, is now history. He's also the guy who called the French “Old Europe.”
After the election, Republicans looked around for some reason aside from their trigger-happy tendencies for what President Bush called “a thumping.” Some of the far right pundits, like the dean of American Conservatives, Richard Viguerie and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman blamed the losses on the Bush Administration's abandonment of true conservative principles. Viguerie cited horrific deficits, immoral tax breaks, incompetent nation-building and gratuitous attacks on states’ rights. He sounded like a rabid Democrat. My question to these gentlemen, unlike to rabid Democrats, is “Why haven’t I heard from you for the past six years?”
November 7 showed the mood of the electorate and it wasn’t happy. People were sick and tired of attack ads, They were also weary of having to wear either a white hat or a black one. People like to be individuals, not labels. Are you a stay-the courser or a cut-an-runner? Are you pro-choice or pro-life? Are you an evolutionist or a creationist? Are you pro-tax or anti-tax? Are you a Red or a Blue? Are you one of “them” or one of “us?”

Ever since this column started in 2002, I've been annoyed about getting labels pinned on me or, for that matter, being pinned on other people. If I call Bill O'Reilly an idiot, I don't need to call him a Conservative. To help clarify things for those who want to pin a label on the Bogus Economist, I offer my credentials:
I want us out of Iraq. We made a huge mistake – one that has so far cost us almost three thousand American lives and untold thousands of Iraqi ones – and we should admit it. Let's listen to what Iran and Syria have to say and, if an agreement can be hammered out, withdraw under the auspices of the United Nations, the group we snubbed when this all started. Since it was the West that created many of the countries in the Middle East to suit their particular commercial needs, I feel it’s fair for the West to help the people involved re-divide the land to suit themselves, not us.
I do not favor abortion on demand for all, but if we’re going to insist that a woman has an unwanted baby, then it seems fair to pay for that baby’s education, health care and nurture. If we aren’t willing to insure a child will receive all the rights of citizenship after it’s born, we shouldn’t spend so much time arguing what rights it has from the git-go.
I feel that if morals should be taught in the home rather than the school, then religion should be, too. Separation of church and state means just that.
Automatic weapons should be banned. Anyone who goes hunting with an Uzi is certifiable. Countless rabbits and deer would agree with me.
I think attacking taxes, per se, is just plain idiotic. Taxing for what you want is just another name for paying for it. The alternative is going into hock. I favor a system where people who make lots of money pay extra for the increased amount they’d lose if the state and federal governments weren’t there to help protect it. If not for the army, navy, air force, national guard, etc., their fortunes wouldn’t last twenty minutes. Make taxes like insurance - the more you’ve got to lose, the more you have to fork over.
I am a Blue. Except when I have really bad indigestion, when part of me turns green.
I am one of “us.” That means I’m an American citizen who thinks he’s smart enough not to accept the carloads of political horse puckey shoveled my way by “them.”
In my kind of country, I put out my argument and the other guy puts out his. People then choose which one they like. People who disagree with me are not necessarily traitors, communists, terrorists or loonies. If I lose the argument, it’s my job to either accept the will of the majority and work to change it - or go to a place where there’s a system of “Either you’re with us or against us” and hitch myself to the winning side. I feel we’ve had six years of this and I don’t like it.
Pass the fries.
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The Bogus Economist (c) 2006  ¶ 10:33 AM