I wonder how I would feel if I were in the shoes of either Dr. Condi Rice or Gen. Colin Powell. Probably not too good.
Let’s take a good hard look at this situation. Taken at face value, this jockeying within the State Department may appear to some as a softened, more “diversifying” approach to breathe some different air into a second term. However, this is nothing more than a measure of window dressing.
Dr. Rice is no more a fresh voice in this administration than I am a Grand Poobah for the Shriners. She has consistently toed the “party” (Bushites, specifically) line throughout her career, almost to the point of coddling the president. Examining her background in foreign affairs (Cold War-era Russian relations) proves that her take on foreign policy is at least hard-headed, if not totally inadequate in this day of non-state-related tensions. Could it be this sort of mentality that is widespread in this administration that is responsible for ineptitude in responding to threats and stalled intelligence reform?
Moreover, I can’t help but wonder how Dr. Rice can justify her loyalty to an administration that seems to have the singular mission of perpetuating socio-economic civil war, considering her demographic. When one considers the disparity between poor and rich that is engendered by the policies of right-wing Repubs, there is a suggestion of some degree of selling out on Rice’s part. The unfortunate reality is that the preponderance of African-Americans are not in the tax bracket that received the benefit of cuts.
I must admit that at one point, Colin Powell was the only Republican that I would considering voting into high office. He’s typically represented himself as a dutiful soldier with a sense of diplomacy, yet not without an air of conviction. For those traits and his dedication to his country, I salute him - but, if I may add another laurel to the wreath: his position as a voice of necessary dissent. For this, I contend, Powell was edged out of his position. It wasn’t good enough for the administration to use him as a fall guy for trying to justify this unjust war. No, Rummy and the gang had to alienate and buck him at every turn, contradicting what diplomacy he could muster, by way of publicly hawkish attitudes and actions. Would you remain in a job if you were offered no real support?
So, what we are left with is a State Department that will do nothing to keep the Defense Department in check. The president can continue to make all the boorish, cavalier statements he wants to with no apologies. Dr. Rice’s appointment to (and acceptance of ) the Secratariat is another step in the movement by Bush and co. to further centralize power, and I would think that anyone from Rice’s segregated background would be loathe to be party to such activity.
Oh, well - Republicans were always about small government, weren’t they?
Archive for November, 2004
All right, all right - where does it end?
I’m speaking of the new reversal of rules put through by House Republicans that would allow Tom DeLay to remain majority leader even if he is indicted on campaign finance fraud charges. This tactic is being met by understandable resistance from the Democrats; a resistance that is being called “politically motivated”.
COME ON!!! what do these babies expect?
It becomes more and more obvious that the GOP (hahaha! what a misnomer!) has become a party of bullies who will manipulate proceedings in shameless fashion to serve their purposes. More and more, their rhetoric becomes heavy-handed and arrogant. If you need further proof, look to the remarks made by the newly appointed Republican Party chairman for New York, Stephen Minarik. His remarks that were broadcast on NPR recently bore the ring of an overbearing used car salesman.
Where is the moral high ground that was so espoused during the campaign season? The pro-life movement that rallied behind the GOP this past election has, at present, become alarmed with the possible appointment of Arlen Spector to the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I understand this viewpoint, but I suggest that there should exist a uniformity of principle applied. We cannot select which of the Ten Commandments we support above any others. Justice and the sanctity of life must work hand in hand.
I am no less than disgusted with this degree of blatant disregard for simple decency. It has been the case that for some time, the ground of political progress has been scorched and broken by a failed two-party system. Now, on that desert ground, the rails are being laid for single party rule. This is, by another name, the political disease known as fascism. I exhort you, my friends, to keep this in mind and to demand justice.
We have to remain vigilant and angry at the dispossession of OUR power. It has been wrested from our hands to the same degree that we have been complacent toward government by the few. Revolutions begin with small turnings, whether by the people or the “ruling class”.
STAY AWAKE.
