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A Cynical Speech

Entry 121, on 2005-01-27 at 15:10:32 (Rating 4, Politics)

A survey of 22 democratic nations, outside the USA recently revealed that 58% of respondents thought the world would less peaceful after the re-election of George Bush, and 26% thought it would be more. Even in the USA, 47% thought it would be less peaceful.

Bush has made it very clear in his inauguration speech that he intends on continuing his current direction in foreign policy. Its obvious to most people that this is unlikely to lead to more peace.

His inauguration speech is sickening in its cynical manipulation of the facts, and use of emotive and religious imagery which generally has little relevance to the topic being discussed. For example, the implication that the war in Iraq was to defend America from threat of attack has no basis in reality. But, of course, since when have political speeches had anything to do with reality anyway?

The thing that really worries me though, is how his crazy religious beliefs are being integrated into his leadership. America would never tolerate a president who didn't at least pretend to be a committed Christian, but Bush seems to take it seriously and its a lot more up front. For example saying "we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights, and dignity and matchless value they bear the image of the maker of heaven and Earth" scares me. I thought one of the important aspects of the American constitution was the separation of religion from law and government.

And, isn't in ironic that he says this in relation to growing democracy "This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen and defended by citizens and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities." Doesn't seem to bear much resemblance to what's happening in Iraq, does it?

The fact is that undemocratic governments have been overthrown in various parts of the world. The two most spectacular examples being the USSR and South Africa. These both occurred without any significant input from America. In fact, in the countries where America has tried to influence the government for its own benefit, the political situation tends to be worse than ever.

So I would like to ask George Bush to keep out of other countries' politics and try to get his own country, where he has reduced the freedom of his own people and committed them to billions of dollars of debt, under control first.

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