Joel Schwartz jscwartz@media.ucla.edu
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Ever since Julius Caesar invented the strategy of divide and
conquer, power-hungry tyrants have used fear and anger to turn good
people against one another while simultaneously promising
protection and happiness. This destructive tactic is alive and well
in contemporary America where the Democrats in Washington have been
using snide and divisive methods to polarize America’s
political climate, thereby distracting the people from what is most
important.
The most recent product of this strategy has been the attacks on
the Republican figurehead, our president. There are so many prudent
things for which the Democrats could criticize Bush. His tariffs on
foreign steel and his recent signing of the single largest farm
subsidy in United States history ($190 billion over the next ten
years) will cost the American people far more than his measly tax
cut will give back. His support of government money for faith-based
programs borders on breaking the First Amendment, and his hoarding
of executive and government powers in wake of Sept. 11 is a blow to
our civil rights and Constitution.
But instead of focusing on the true problems with the Bush
administration, the Democratic Party has chosen to tarnish our
president in order to frighten Americans into giving the Democrats
more power. There also reeks of a plot for revenge within these
methods. The Democrats know well the disgrace that Bill Clinton
brought to the presidency, and are eager to show the same failure
of character with George Bush in office.
The Democrats’ latest use of Caesar’s tactics
involves their continued attacks on our president for negligible,
and legal “controversies.” About a week ago, President
Bush donated three photographs that are to be sold at a Republican
Party fund-raiser. One of these pictures shows Bush on Air Force
One reacting to Sept. 11. As soon as this was announced, the
American people were bombarded with sound bytes from members of the
Democratic Party, accusing the Bush administration and the GOP of
immoral fund-raising by “capitalizing on” and
“exploiting” the events of Sept. 11.
Perhaps using executive power to make money could be considered
immoral, but where was the call for morality when former President
Clinton was guilty of the exact same thing? If selling a photograph
is immoral, then selling rides on Air Force One, treating the
Lincoln Bedroom like a hotel, pardoning spouses of heavy
contributors, and selling nuclear arms to foreign powers would be
criminal, if not treasonous.
As far as capitalizing on Sept. 11, I invite the Democratic
Party to take a look around the country they are failing to
represent. Every store from the Mom and Pop Shop in Anytown, United
States, to the Conglomerate Enterprise of America has American
flags and “United We Stand” proudly displayed as a show
of patriotism. It also serves to draw in patriotic customers. Half
of the street corners in Los Angeles have vendors selling flags
along with the normal shipments of roses and oranges. Does the
Democratic Party really wish to alienate small businesses and
vendors for daring to capitalize on Sept. 11?
If anyone is guilty of capitalizing on the tragedy of Sept. 11,
it is the Democrats in Washington. Within the last few days, it has
come to light that bits of clues and evidence pointing toward the
events of Sept. 11 have been circulating throughout the government
for months. Bush had apparently been told that al-Qaeda was either
going to hijack or charter a plane. Of course this was one of the
many warnings of terrorism that filters through the White House
every day. And because Bush refused to create a panic by acting on
an abstract warning, he is being criticized once again. It got so
bad that Condoleezza Rice was forced to attend an emergency press
conference to defend the Bush administration while Gerald Nadler,
D-New York, cried “possible malfeasance.”
The Democrats in Washington have called attention away from
important issues by focusing all efforts on dissent and fear by
crying wolf. Their ambitious aim is to gain more power at the
expense of national unity and strength. As soon as the American
people begin to recognize these cheap tactics for what they truly
are, the Democrats will learn, as did Julius Caesar, that ambition
will lead to their ultimate undoing.