The Growing Anti-Bush Coalition

In an excellent analysis that has rocketed across the cybersphere, Glenn Greenwald the other day wrote about how the meaning of "liberal" and "conservative" has been redefined away from a description of social/political values into a definition of ones fealty to George W. Bush.

It used to be the case that in order to be considered a "liberal" or someone "of the Left," one had to actually ascribe to liberal views on the important policy issues of the day – social spending, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action, immigration, "judicial activism," hate speech laws, gay rights, utopian foreign policies, etc. etc. These days, to be a "liberal," such views are no longer necessary.

Now, in order to be considered a "liberal," only one thing is required – a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush. The minute one criticizes him is the minute that one becomes a "liberal," regardless of the ground on which the criticism is based. And the more one criticizes him, by definition, the more "liberal" one is. Whether one is a "liberal" -- or, for that matter, a "conservative" -- is now no longer a function of one’s actual political views, but is a function purely of one’s personal loyalty to George Bush.

One can see this principle at work most illustratively in how Bush followers talk about Andrew Sullivan. In the couple of years after 9/11, Bush followers revered Sullivan, as he stood loyally behind Bush, providing the rhetorical justifications for almost every Bush action. And even prior to the Bush Administration, Sullivan was a fully accepted member of the conservative circle. Nobody questioned the bona fides of his conservative credentials because he ascribed to the conservative view on almost every significant political issue.

We see the same thing happening to hard-core conservative Bob Barr due to his criticism of Bush's violations of FISA . Similarly, the minute a Senator with years of conservatism behind them deviates from a Bush decree on a single issue, they are no longer "conservative." George Voinovich became a "liberal" the minute he refused to support John Bolton’s nomination; John Sununu is now "liberal" because he did not favor immediate renewal of every single provision of the Patriot Act which Bush demanded, and Senators like Chuck Hagel and John McCain long ago gave up any "conservative" status because of their insistence on forming opinions that occasionally deviate from the decrees from the White House.

Self-proclaimed Bush Conservatives of course, rose to their feet en masse to proclaim "No", and in the process denouced Glenn as a "leftist liberal" (character assasination being so much more effective a debating tactic than facts) for pointing out how Conservatives have treated other Conservatives over issues related solely to George Bush. By failing to point out a single policy stance of Greenwalds that would even remotely resemble the point of view of Barbara Streisand other than disapproval of George W. Bush's Administration, they manage to prove his point thoroughly and completely.

On Dkos, Grand Moff Texan used this as a jumping off point to note that the meaninglessness of the term "Conservative" in relation to George W. Bush policies of cronyism and kleptocracy.

As people like Pat Buchanan and the CATO Institute long ago observed, Bush is not a conservative. He is merely an advocate for his class, for unearned wealth and privilege. Smarter people have dressed him up as a conservative. He pretends to be a Christian. But nowhere in his actions is there a single example of either credo. The last ten years of a GOP-controlled Congress and the last five Republican presidents: no conservatism in sight. Government becomes bigger, more expensive, and more powerful.

Conservatism today is just an advertising jingle, and I ain't dumb enough to hum along.

The single objective of so-called conservatives is the exploitation of everyone else for the sake of their own lifestyle. Everything else is just marketing and misdirection.

They can dress up their credit-card-Keynesianism as "supply-side economics," but for the most part they know better. They can pretend their crass Malthusianism and jingoism are somehow Christian, but their blasphemy stands in stark contrast to this pacifist and anti-materialist religion's sacred texts and long history.

It's all bullshit, and the smarter ones know it.

...

Do you see capitalism here? I don't. The millionaires don't want to have to compete, and since the fools will believe whatever they're told the fraud can continue indefinitely.

...

Do you see ideology here? There isn't any.

1. The fraud is called "conservatism."
   
2. Opposition to fraud is dismissed as "liberalism."
   

Neither word means a damned thing. It's all just advertising for the great scam, and you get to pay for it.

We live in a post 9-11 world. Where "Conservative" used to mean government restraint, fiscal responsibility - now it means spending billions on Medicare and Defense, while asking wounded soldiers to pay for the armor that was destroyed as they were shot, cutting spending on police and first responders and flat out losing even more billions to curruption and malfeasance in Iraq.

As this trend continues, there are eventually going to be more Ex-communicated Conservatives and Republicans like Bob Barr and Andrew Sullivan than those who continue to support George W. Bush - whose approval ratings just dipped back down to 39% again (2/9-12 /06 CNN/USA/Gallup) showing that is temporaty "State of the Union bump" (to 44%) is already over.

People have to remember the Ambassador Joe Wilson is a Republican and a Conservative.

Former Bush Treasury Secratary Paul O'Neill, was a Conservative before he was fired for questioning Bush's repeated tax cuts.

Christine Todd Whitman, who left her position as EPA director for the Bush Adminstartion amids her feelings and experience in New Jersey that his environmental policies were reckless.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has remained tight-lipped, but his Chief of State Lawrence Wilkerson - also a Republican - has been screaming his head off about the "Rumseld/Cheney Cabal".

UNSCOM Inspector Scott Ritter, who has repeated criticized Bush on WMD's is a Republican.

Conservative Columnist William Safire has opposed Bush's NSA program.

The NSA Whistle-blower Russel Tice, is a Republican.

The State Department Employee who complained about intimidation by John Bolton, was a Republican.

In order to keep the Senate in proper lock step on the NSA issue, Karl Rove has been forced to threaten Republicans with pulling Presidential support for their future campaigns.

Gradually, Bush is losing supporters from his own party. Honest and principled Conservatives are in fact eventually seeing the light and recognizing how this Administration has increasingly become a danger to not just their values, but the continued properity of America itself.

It's certainly true that al Qaeda isn't checking poll numbers to see if a particular state is "Red" or "Blue" before targeting it - why should we do so as we stand to protect all of America?

The truth is that many who may frequent what are considered "leftist strongholds" such as Dkos or Democratic Underground rarely discuss actual policy. I've attempted on several occasions to bring up positive policy iniatives, but those threads rarely see responses or go anywhere -- but bring out any of the latest negative tid-bits about Bush or Cheney (like his shooting spree this weekend where he managed to bag approximately 70 caged birds and one 78 lawyer from Austin) and people are ready to go to town, not that I blame them...

The question I wonder is that from this loose coalition of Bush Admin detractors - can a series of policy initiatives be forged primarily in reversing everything that George Bush has done to our country? Can we build a platform based on opposition to Bush?

How about this...

• Reverse the Bush Birth Tax (Restore the Budget Surplus - End or roll over the tax cuts, but also reward companies and individuals with Tax Credits for private initiatives that eliminate public spending)
• Isolate Social Security from the rest of the Budget to protect and preserve it.
• Fix the Medicare Prescription Drug problem.
• Fix the Bankruptcy Bill.
• Make our schools second to none, and fix the incredible drop-out rate created by No Child Left Behind Act.
• Create Free and Equal Access for Policital Campaigns on Radio and TV (which would eliminate the need to chase those campaigns to spend so much of their time chasing donations and cowtoying to lobbyists)
• Restore Legitimate Government Oversight and Accountability.
• Save our Military from collapsing - give them the proper armor and equipment, so that we can fight Al Qaeda and terrorism vigorously, but within the law, without torture or chemical weapons.
• Rebuild our international reputation and prestige by bringing Good Faith back into Foreign Policy.
• Vigorously remove fraud, waste and abuse from Government and it's contractors. Expect competence and efficiency, remove cronyism.
• Correct problems with environmental, health and safety oversight.
• Implement strong environmental reforms that foster the creation and development of new technologies and economic growth.
• Protect our children from both Sexual Predators and Sexual Disease.
• Safe, Secure and Verified Voting Systems
  
• Recognize the importance of our various Faiths, but do not allow them to divide and seperate us by ensuring that the public space remains neutral and open to all.
  

I don't think any of these initiatives are particularly "Leftist", and if presented as the core of a either Democratic or even moderate Republican platform - they could work. We can and should be turning our opposition to George Bush policies, into our our own policy initiatives.

If you think about it for just a few minutes, the initiatives practically write themselvs.

Opposing Bush is a political philosophy, and be they former Liberals or Conservatives.
the practitioners of that philosophy are growing each and every day.

The question is - "can this currently unformed and unfocused coaltion be brought together to battle and defeat the Bush kleptocracy?"

We certainly won't know if we don't try and find out.

Vyan