The policies under President George W. Bush’s
administration have already given him the title of tyrant; and
unilateral war against Iraq would be the icing on a crumbling
domestic and foreign policy cake.
Bush’s unprecedented unilateral pursuit of war
demonstrates a pattern of international disasters, domestic
conflicts of interests and compassionate rhetoric. Bush has
regressed toward autocratic policies that have taken away freedom
of many. Why wait a couple of years to review his legacy?
Let’s review the president’s
“groundbreaking” political decisions now.
Bush has already revealed himself as a monster to the
environment. His pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty
already signed by the United States, because he felt it was unfair
that India and China were not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as
much as the United States is utterly ridiculous. Not only is the
United States the leader in greenhouse gas emission, but the
average person in India uses less electricity in one year than the
average American uses in two weeks. And the United States puts out
nearly 75 percent of the world’s emissions for a fraction of
the world’s population.
Bush’s “commitment to education” has only left
huge scars on the public school system. While saying “No
Child will be Left Behind”, Bush in fact has continued to do
just that, cutting his own education act by $90 million this year.
Many pundits praise Bush’s plan for more testing, but more
testing will not solve any problems, especially when Bush has done
nothing to improve the schools he is testing. Even Bush’s
support for the end of affirmative action shows that the
disadvantaged will not receive a viable education from elementary
school through college.
Bush’s strategy to combat terrorism has provided its own
terror for many Americans. The Patriot Act, which widened the
powers of governmental intelligence by allowing the FBI to tap into
e-mail and phone lines and detain citizens without question, only
infringes on our constitutional rights. Not only does this usurp
civil liberties, but there is nothing to stop the government from
putting you in jail without any habeas corpus. Just ask the 1,000
Middle Eastern men who have been detained without any charges
because of the “anti terrorist” policies of this
administration. What’s next? Concentration camps for those of
Muslim faith?
Even his pushing for a unilateral war demonstrates Bush’s
autocratic tendencies. No president in the 20th century has pursued
a war without support of his own allies. Not even his father was
stubborn enough to do that. Have we exhausted all possible avenues
for solutions without war or are we settling old scores?
Saddam Hussein is not Osama Bin Laden and this war has not been
defined well enough for actual pursuit. Why risk the lives of the
innocent Iraqi people, whom Bush claims to protect, over weapons of
mass destruction that have not been found. We are even risking the
lives of Americans because terrorist attacks on the United States
are a likely retaliation for those slain in Iraq.
Without U.N. support the United States is left alone making
enemies throughout the world. Although the United States is the
only current hegemonic power, it will not always be that way. Have
we learned nothing from Britain, France, Italy and the former
Soviet Union? Those in power will, at one point, lose power; and
with a president like this one, chances for more international
opposition are on the rise. Hopefully, Bush’s actions will
not scale back the avenues of peace and change implemented over the
past century.
Smith is a fourth-year political science student. E-mail him at
rsmith@media.ucla.edu.