Here is something I would like to propose to all my Democrat readers. In the name of finding common ground and understanding, which for whatever reason is important to me, I will give you ten reasons why George W. Bush should be voted out of office in the upcoming election. This is to say I, a Republican, will be critical of the man who supposedly represents me.
In return, I would like you to give me ten reasons why John Kerry should get voted into office. Here is the trick though. You may not relate any of your reasons for Kerry to hating GW Bush. I don’t want to hear reasons that are really “addition by subtraction” etc. Also, while admirable, things like Kerry’s Vietnam service don’t really interest me practically in the here and now unless you can relate it to some improvement going forward. Those facts are just fodder for mudslinging normally.
So, I will give you practical reasons why I think GW Bush belongs out not including 7 minutes in a classroom following 9/11, hanging chads, his communications skills or the alleged excessive vacation time. You give me practical reasons why Kerry should be in, unrelated to Bush.
Deal? Deal.
Ten Reasons Why I Think GW Bush Should be Out of Office:
(In no particular order…)
1. George W. Bush has limited stem cell research too strictly. I think we need some self-control and an analysis of morals, but it is my perception that he has brought it to a grinding halt.
2. Bush stood behind an amendment to the constitution defining marriage which was, in my opinion, the closest thing to hate legislation that we have seen in a long time against a group of people who only want their relationships to be on equal standing with heterosexuals in a legal sense. It is not too much to ask for amendments like these to not be on the President’s agenda.
3. While I believe in freedom of religion, I think it is a violation of my freedom of religion to have George W. Bush thinking about it quite so often as he is governing this nation. This ties in to the first two points above, but honestly, I consider it a risk, therefore it gets its own number.
4. The Iraqi war has had its ups and downs like any war, but I feel that the planning above and beyond kicking the Iraqi army’s ass was less than adequate. We did a good job of taking the country, but policing it thereafter into the next phases of the war seemed a little to disorganized.
5. The Patriot Act, while having a limited time period, seems to have been a tack-on bill that contained many of the FBI’s desires instead of just what they needed. As a result of the fear created by 9/11 it was relatively easy to pass and I think it violates our rights. I can’t totally blame Bush for this because it takes more than his signature to pass something, but I will put enough of the blame on him to make this a point.
6. I think the No Child Left Behind thing is good in its intention, but I don’t think it really attacks the issues at hand. The education system in this country is so inconsistent and honestly, I don’t think this high level bill does anything more than cost a lot of money.
7. Bush was also a little hasty in moving into the Iraq situation. I am not sure what he was doing, but it is one of my guesses that he only thought about our military power. We didn’t need a coalition to beat up on Iraq, but we did need it for diplomatic reasons. We have some serious image issues worldwide that we didn’t have post 9/11 until we took action in Iraq. Many of those should have been avoided with a different approach.
8. Bush’s policy of giving back taxes in the form of lump sum checks was pretty goofy. I feel like it was more of a PR move than anything that honestly jump-started the economy. This is considered an afterthought by many people now that the country seems to be recovering, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a bad idea.
9. The apparent discounting of Colin Powell throughout the last few years is more than disappointing. It seems, based on what I have read, that Colin Powell’s opinion has been ignored to a large extent. He looks, more than ever, like a PR move for Bush as Powell has been on record disagreeing with many of Bush’s decisions.
10. Bush’s original intent to not participate formally with the 9/11 commission based on national security reasons was poor. Although he ended up participating anyway, I was not happy that he originally was going to avoid it.
So there are ten practical reasons why I think Bush needs to go. See what you can give me on John Kerry’s practical benefits unrelated to GW Bush. You can write on your own blogs and link back here, or you can leave it in the comments. You can also tell me to go to hell, but that will only reaffirm my belief that we aren’t looking for enough common ground as Americans on this vast political landscape. That would make me sad.