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Kerry Will Restore
American Dignity
2004 Iconoclast Presidential
Endorsement
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Few
Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago
if he had promised that, as President, he would:
• Empty the Social
Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal
irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security
benefits.
• Cut Medicare by 17
percent and reduce veterans’ benefits and military pay.
• Eliminate overtime
pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50
percent.
• Give tax cuts to
businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by
policy encourage their departure.
• Give away billions
of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive
bids.
• Involve this
country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
• Take a budget
surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of
the United States, creating a debt in just four years that
will take generations to repay.
These were elements
of a hidden agenda that surfaced only after he took office.
The publishers of
The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the
things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.
Today, we are
endorsing his opponent, John Kerry, based not only on the
things that Bush has delivered, but also on the vision of a
return to normality that Kerry says our country needs.
Four items trouble
us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to
disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of
the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic
freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his
continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq.
President Bush has
announced plans to change the Social Security system as we
know it by privatizing it, which when considering all the
tangents related to such a change, would put the entire
economy in a dramatic tailspin.
The Social Security
Trust Fund actually lends money to the rest of the government
in exchange for government bonds, which is how the system must
work by law, but how do you later repay Social Security while
you are running a huge deficit? It’s impossible, without
raising taxes sometime in the future or becoming fiscally
responsible now. Social Security money is being used to
escalate our deficit and, at the same time, mask a much larger
government deficit, instead of paying down the national debt,
which would be a proper use, to guarantee a future gain.
Privatization is
problematic in that it would subject Social Security to the
ups, downs, and outright crashes of the Stock Market. It would
take millions in brokerage fees and commissions out of the
system, and, unless we have assurance that the Ivan Boeskys
and Ken Lays of the world will be caught and punished as a
deterrent, subject both the Market and the Social Security
Fund to fraud and market manipulation, not to mention
devastate and ruin multitudes of American families that would
find their lives lost to starvation, shame, and isolation.
Kerry wants to keep
Social Security, which each of us already owns. He says that
the program is manageable, since it is projected to be solvent
through 2042, with use of its trust funds. This would give
ample time to strengthen the economy, reduce the budget
deficit the Bush administration has created, and, therefore,
bolster the program as needed to fit ever-changing
demographics.
Our senior citizens
depend upon Social Security. Bush’s answer is radical and
uncalled for, and would result in chaos as Americans have
never experienced. Do we really want to risk the future of
Social Security on Bush by spinning the wheel of uncertainty?
In those dark hours
after the World Trade Center attacks, Americans rallied
together with a new sense of patriotism. We were ready to
follow Bush’s lead through any travail.
He let us down.
When he finally
emerged from his hide-outs on remote military bases well after
the first crucial hours following the attack, he gave
sound-bytes instead of solutions.
He did not trust us
to be ready to sacrifice, build up our public and private
security infrastructure, or cut down on our energy use to put
economic pressure on the enemy in all the nations where he
hides. He merely told us to shop, spend, and pretend nothing
was wrong.
Rather than using
the billions of dollars expended on the invasion of Iraq to
shore up our boundaries and go after Osama bin Laden and the
Saudi Arabian terrorists, the funds were used to initiate a
war with what Bush called a more immediate menace, Saddam
Hussein, in oil-rich Iraq. After all, Bush said Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction trained on America. We believed
him, just as we believed it when he reported that Iraq was the
heart of terrorism. We trusted him.
The Iconoclast, the
President’s hometown newspaper, took Bush on his word and
editorialized in favor of the invasion. The newspaper’s
publisher promoted Bush and the invasion of Iraq to Londoners
in a BBC interview during the time that the administration was
wooing the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Again, he let us
down.
We presumed the
President had solid proof of the existence of these weapons,
what and where they were, even as the search continued.
Otherwise, our troops would be in much greater danger and the
premise for a hurried-up invasion would be moot, allowing more
time to solicit assistance from our allies.
Instead we were
duped into following yet another privileged agenda.
Now he argues
unconvincingly that Iraq was providing safe harbor to
terrorists, his new key justification for the invasion. It is
like arguing that America provided safe harbor to terrorists
leading to 9/11.
Once and for all,
George Bush was President of the United States on that day. No
one else. He had been President nine months, he had been
officially warned of just such an attack a full month before
it happened. As President, ultimately he and only he was
responsible for our failure to avert those attacks.
We should expect
that a sitting President would vacation less, if at all, and
instead tend to the business of running the country,
especially if he is, as he likes to boast, a “wartime
president.” America is in service 365 days a year. We don’t
need a part-time President who does not show up for duty as
Commander-In-Chief until he is forced to, and who is in a
constant state of blameless denial when things don’t get done.
What has evolved
from the virtual go-it-alone conquest of Iraq is more gruesome
than a stain on a White House intern’s dress. America’s
reputation and influence in the world has diminished, leaving
us with brute force as our most persuasive voice.
Iraq is now a
quagmire: no WMDs, no substantive link between Saddam and
Osama, and no workable plan for the withdrawal of our troops.
We are asked to go along on faith. But remember, blind
patriotism can be a dangerous thing and “spin” will not bring
back to life a dead soldier; certainly not a thousand of them.
Kerry has remained
true to his vote granting the President the authority to use
the threat of war to intimidate Saddam Hussein into allowing
weapons inspections. He believes President Bush rushed into
war before the inspectors finished their jobs.
Kerry also voted
against President Bush’s $87 billion for troop funding because
the bill promoted poor policy in Iraq, privileged Halliburton
and other corporate friends of the Bush administration to
profiteer from the war, and forced debt upon future
generations of Americans.
Kerry’s four-point
plan for Iraq is realistic, wise, strong, and correct. With
the help from our European and Middle Eastern allies, his plan
is to train Iraqi security forces, involve Iraqis in their
rebuilding and constitution-writing processes, forgive Iraq’s
multi-billion dollar debts, and convene a regional conference
with Iraq’s neighbors in order to secure a pledge of respect
for Iraq’s borders and non-interference in Iraq’s internal
affairs.
The publishers of
the Iconoclast differ with Bush on other issues, including the
denial of stem cell research, shortchanging veterans’
entitlements, cutting school programs and grants, dictating
what our children learn through a thought-controlling “test”
from Washington rather than allowing local school boards and
parents to decide how young people should be taught, ignoring
the environment, and creating extraneous language in the
Patriot Act that removes some of the very freedoms that our
founding fathers and generations of soldiers fought so hard to
preserve.
We are concerned
about the vast exportation of jobs to other countries, due in
large part to policies carried out by Bush appointees. Funds
previously geared at retention of small companies are being
given to larger concerns, such as Halliburton — companies with
strong ties to oil and gas. Job training has been cut every
year that Bush has resided at the White House.
Then there is his
resolve to inadequately finance Homeland Security and to cut
the Community Oriented Policing Program (COPS) by 94 percent,
to reduce money for rural development, to slash appropriations
for the Small Business Administration, and to under-fund
veterans’ programs.
Likewise troubling
is that President Bush fought against the creation of the 9/11
Commission and is yet to embrace its recommendations.
Vice President
Cheney’s Halliburton has been awarded multi-billion-dollar
contracts without undergoing any meaningful bid process — an
enormous conflict of interest — plus the company has been
significantly raiding the funds of Export-Import Bank of
America, reducing investment that could have gone toward small
business trade.
When examined based
on all the facts, Kerry’s voting record is enviable and echoes
that of many Bush allies who are aghast at how the Bush
administration has destroyed the American economy. Compared to
Bush on economic issues, Kerry would be an arch-conservative,
providing for Americans first. He has what it takes to right
our wronged economy.
The re-election of
George W. Bush would be a mandate to continue on our present
course of chaos. We cannot afford to double the debt that we
already have. We need to be moving in the opposite direction.
John Kerry has 30
years of experience looking out for the American people and
can navigate our country back to prosperity and re-instill in
America the dignity she so craves and deserves. He has served
us well as a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and has had a
successful career as a district attorney, lieutenant governor,
and senator.
Kerry has a positive
vision for America, plus the proven intelligence, good sense,
and guts to make it happen.
That’s why The
Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his
hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he
intends to take the country.
The Iconoclast
wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry. |
© Copyright
2004 The Lone Star Iconoclast. Reproduced with
Permission. |