It's Raining Money

Listen, it's not that I disapprove in any way, Bush, of coming up with all that money to help those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their loved ones in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. No, I approve. It's the right thing to do. For you, with your latest polls showing a terrible loss of faith in your administration, it's the only thing to do. The latest figures I heard were the $51.8 billion request you sent to Congress yesterday, plus the amount already requested, totalling now some $62 billion, plus. You had to do it, Bush, no question. And no question that it helps to make you look a little better, both to the affected people and to your constituents in general, after last week's political disaster. It's also, as I see it, one of the important functions of government, to provide that safety net for our less fortunate citizens--among whom we must now count the storm victims of the Gulf Coast.

But... and here's my but, Bush--if you'll forgive the pun: what I still need to hear from you is some strong, unambiguous statement as to where that money's coming from. Show me the other side of the ledger here. Say the word. There's only one. It begins with a "T."

Because here's the thing: you have picked up the mantra of those supply-side theorists who have been repeating it mindlessly for the past thirty years. You repeat it mindlessly yourself. I suspect this, too, like the Iraq war, has something to do with avenging your Dad and his electoral defeat by that despised plebian man from Little Rock, Arkansas. "Read my lips, no new taxes." He said it--your Dad did--so forcefully, so unambiguously, so righteously... and then he saw reason and went back on his word. It sounded the death knoll on his adminstration. We threw him out, we tax-revolting Americans, and now it's pay-back time for the Bush dynasty. This time you plan to make it stick.

Problem is, the trickle-down theory has now proved itself to be seriously flawed. Whatever was supposed to be trickling down is not. Time and again, the financial figures show the simple truth: under this system, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And yet there you are, Bush, flying in the face of common sense and the unequivocal data: no new taxes, you keep saying, as though the repetition made it true. Will you have the gall to pursue the scheduled items on your agenda: the raid on the social security system and the elimination of the estate tax? Will you really have the balls to push your economic voodoo (yes, Bush: your Dad was right!) down our throats in the face of Hurricane Katrina? Will you continue to strangle the beast of government even at a moment when its need has been made evident for all to see? I wonder.

Or will you have the real guts--the ones it takes to admit a mistake, to change your mind, to reverse course? You have that opportunity at this moment, Bush. It's a great one. It's one that could change the course of your presidency, and make an important mark in the history of this country. It could halt the blindly charging juggernaut of conservative extremism dead in its tracks, and return us all to the path of true compassion, common sense, and economic sanity. What a challenge, Bush! Do you have the courage to go for that lion's roar?