America’s Growing Threat: Democracy Vs Demagoguery

By Allen J Duffis
Published: September 18, 2005

     Once before in America we faced this danger during the reign (yes, I state reign) of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was elected during the second traumatic social upheaval to engulf this young nation after the Civil war, that being the Great Depression.

     Most of the working class found social comfort and economic salvation in the New Deal programs of this champion of the common man, and they began to look upon FDR as a savior and representative of a second coming. He was revered by the multitudes that would have willingly elected him to permanent office. Fortunately, he served only three terms and died during his fourth of illness.

     Fortunately I say because after his demise, a bipartisan congress had the collective wisdom to see the inherent danger in an elected leader serving an unlimited number of terms; such a lineage would border on monarchy.

     So wisely, on February 27th of 1951 they chose to add the 22nd amendment to the Constitution, limiting the service of a President to two terms. No one can doubt this was the proper course of action for a democratic nation to take. Or can some not agree with that point?

     Believe it or not, there have been rumblings on the Internet by some factions of the ‘extreme right’, that come close to an attempt at canonization of their hero, President George W. Bush. They would like to see an exception enacted by congress to the 22nd amendment, allowing him to serve a third term to, as they put it, finish God’s work.

     Scary isn't it, that insanity appears to have no limits? In the light of present day reality, who would want this to happen?

     We as a nation have had the good fortune to be beneficiaries of wise leadership, during some of the most trying and dangerous times of our history. And this speaks well for the general intelligence of our voter population. Until 9-11 that is, when they had the living daylights scared out of them, and their leadership choice function became traumatized.

     President Abraham Lincoln led us through the social turbulence of the Civil War, Harry Truman through the final traumatic days of World War II and our entry into the Atomic Age, and John F. Kennedy skillfully ferried us through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Later on, Ronald Reagan faced down the Soviet Union to bring about the end of the costly and, inherently dangerous, Cold War, and Bill Clinton ended one of the worst Recessions in our country’s history.

     These leaders being human were not by any means perfect, for they suffered moments of faulty judgment and, on occasion, weaknesses of the flesh; traits we all share to some degree or other.

     It is more than possible, however, that their vulnerabilities made them better leaders, by enabling them to relate to the common man and woman. More often than not, such emotional involvement is far superior to aloof leadership. The one trait none of these men exhibited was that of being guided by the duel demons of stupidity and evilness.

     Unfortunately, this cannot be said to be true of President Bush, for he has chillingly managed to combine the two into the specter of Lethal Incompetence. To our misfortune he happened upon the scene when, for the first time in our history, an enemy was able to strike us within the very heart of our country.

     The nation became frightened and looked for another savior like FDR, and there was GWB, bullhorn in hand, preaching to the masses; many of whom would become future converts to his 'born again Christian' vision of the world.

     What is most disturbing about the Bush phenomena is the durability of his image in the eyes of his rabid followers: particularly in the face of catastrophic military and social blunders, both on his part and that of his chosen staff.

     Yet nothing he does seems to deter that stubborn bloc of citizen supporters in their admiration for him. As they see it he can do no wrong. And this is particularly disturbing, since that hard-core voter support cuts an inexplicable wide swath across the professional and working ranks of middle class America.

     This man of dubious intelligence and limited vision came to the Presidency in a highly tainted if not outright rigged election. The evidence for this truth masquerading as unproven allegation is overwhelming.

     Upon assuming office, his first act was to immediately convert a substantial budget surplus left by his predecessor to red ink, by awarding to the wealthiest 2.0 percent in the nation the most massive tax cut in our history.

     Not to be outdone by one irresponsible gesture, he and his Ultra Conservative backed administration then go about politically castrating every vital governmental agency they can get their claws into, by inserting political appointees to critical posts (like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers); regardless of the quality of their qualifications or total lack thereof.

     So when 9-11 comes along, after putting away his bullhorn, what does he do?
He rightfully directs a military assault against the terror group, al Qaeda, and the country and it’s fanatic leadership, the Taliban, which harbored them.

     However, before completing that mission he, directs our military to make an illegal and immoral right turn into a sovereign country that did not attack us, nor pose an eminent danger; the rallying cry to the nation and his avid supporters, “Saddam Hussein has attempted to buy processed uranium from Niger, so we must invade to prevent this tyrant from obtaining -Weapons of Mass Destruction”.

     Well, surprise, surprise, no WMD, and the Italian documents supporting the supposed Iraqi purchase are proven to be forgeries.

     Does this deter him? Hell no! Bush and his equally culpable Vice President, Dick (Halliburton) Cheney, move on Iraq anyway, because of its leader's supposed link to al Qaeda.

     Surprise, surprise, this too proves to be a falsehood. And surprise again, we don’t have near enough troops to hold this vast oil rich country, against an insurgency that was not supposed to be.

     Nor for that matter do we have an army properly equipped to fight. Quoting our illustrious Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld: “You go to war with the army you have”.

     Then came the Downing Street memos, clearly indicating the Bush administration intended to invade Iraq all along, WMD or not.

     There is no need to go on sighting the failures and tragic shortcomings of this man and his administrative gang, for the list is almost as endless as the war in which we are presently engaged in Iraq.

     Meanwhile, the bodies of dead and combat mangled young Americans keep piling up. Adding to that the deaths of many Iraqis (at a conservative estimate, 116.000 so far), whose survivors are beginning to wonder if they were not safer under Saddam Hussein.

     Now we have the embarrassing debacle of Hurricane Katrina, and the needless and preventable destruction of the city of New Orleans. In short, nothing is working right with this presidential administration ;except for the wealthy who get richer as the middle class moves closer to the ranks of the poverty stricken.

     Yet despite this ever-growing social, economic and military mess we’ve been saddled with, there is still that stubborn element (about 40 percent of the voting public) that continue to support him; a small percentage of which would like to keep him on as President beyond his two-year term limits.

     To this nightmare vision I quote the words of a former President:

     “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

     To which I say it is best to let the scourge of George W. Bush, drain away in the limited time he has left in office. A third term? Please let us not even envision such a nightmare scenario.