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Amigos w/ Common Interests
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Category: Political |
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"Democracy will be defeated in many ways on Tuesday... Because in a properly functioning democracy, neither the electoral college nor the registration systems would matter; the result of this election would be too clear-cut for anyone to worry about such fine points. If America were a healthy democracy, George Bush would not even be running in this election. He would have been ousted by his own party, in favour of another candidate with a better chance of keeping the Republicans in power.
The primary function of democracy is not to elect good leaders, since nobody can predict in advance how a politician will perform. It is to eject leaders who have manifestly failed. The ability to remove leaders who turn out to be corrupt, dangerous, outrageously dishonest or manifestly incompetent is the primary privilege and duty of any democracy. And if any leader in our lifetime deserved to be ejected by voters, regardless of their ideology or political persuasion, it is President Bush.
He inherited a prosperous, peaceful, law-abiding country which was universally admired around the world. He promised, if elected, to govern as a "compassionate conservative", to end partisan confrontation in Washington and to run a "humble" foreign policy which would respect other countries and show restraint in the use of America`s global power.
Four years later, he presides over a struggling economy, the steepest four-year loss of jobs since the Great Depression, and now has hte biggest budget deficits and trade imbalances on record. Far worse, he started an unnecessary war on false pretences and mismanaged it so disastrously that the instability of the Middle East is probably now a greater danger to world peace than the Soviet Union was during the Cold War...
...To make matters worse, Mr Bush has failed in all these tasks, while breaking every promise he made about his character and leadership style. Instead of running a bipartisan government of national unity, he has been the most ideological, divisive and extremist leader America has ever seen. Instead of showing humility in his international dealings, his punitive and aggressive foreign policies - not only against Iraq but also against North Korea, Venezuela, Iran and even Germany and France - have transformed America into the most hated country on earth..."
Anatole Kaletsky, The Times Comment, Friday 29th October 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-10889-1335417, 00.html |
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