In Defense of President Bush and the GOP

I had intended to blog about the “culture of corruption” that has pervaded federal and state government, singling out New York State, which according to the NYU Brennan Center’s report, is the most dysfunction state legislature in the nation. Before launching into self-reflection on the corruption within my own party, no more culpable than the Democrats, something must be said in defense of President Bush and the GOP. Both have become the target of vilification and abuse, not only from Democrats, the liberal press and academia, but from the Conservative and Republican base as well. New York Republican Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno lashed out at the president, angrily blaming his administration for the election defeat saying that the results of the election was “aimed directly at what people see as the lack of leadership and the right direction out of Washington, out of the White House specifically.”

Mitchell Langbert recently sent me a fascinating article written by Clinical Psychologist, Robert Godwin, who revealed the contemporary irrational logic that dictates a group fantasy intent on demonizing President Bush that is driven by irrational fears and anxiety. This is an unconscious revival of the primordial “ritual slaying of the divine king” that took place in most primitive tribes. The resignation of Rumsfeld after the election was the president’s ritual offering of the secretary’s head impaled on a pike to satiate the public’s appetite for ceremonial sacrifice. Yet the silence of Bush and company has only fed the flames of public rage for blood. The public relations failure of the Bush administration to communicate the reality of economic prosperity and our noble objectives in Iraq and rally the public to unite in a time of war has only exacerbated the anger and fanned the flames of censure that germinate from this unconscious irrational level of the public psyche.

The media/academia driven public neurosis of wrath against our president and the GOP is a case of mythical thinking fed by the unconscious perceptions of elitist intellectuals and academics who use the power of intellect to justify myths and fantasies that have no basis in fact. One ubiquitous example is that President Bush’s alleged slow reaction to Hurricane Katrina proves that he is a racist and doesn’t care about black people. The reality that 100,000 state and federal emergency personnel flooded New Orleans within three days rescuing 100,000 individuals from harm, making this the fastest rescue operation in our history, are facts that get in the way of the mythical slaying of the dragon. Other myths are the oft-repeated mantras claiming that the Bush administration doesn’t tolerate dissent, that he stole the 2002 elections in a national coup, that Bush is plotting to destroy our civil liberties, and he lied to get us into an illegal war to enrich his buddies in big oil companies. Facts are deliberately ignored in order to promote emotionally satisfying illusions.

Now let's look at the economic and political reality of President Bush and the formerly Republican majority in Congress, free from the constraints of the group fantasy painting an illusory perception of gloom and doom. Let me preface this with the caveat that the facts show that spending was at an all time high, that not a single spending bill was vetoed (except for stem cell research), national Medicaid abuse is up to $90 billion in fraudulent payments and nothing was done to abolish the NEA, DOE and the other worthless behemoths stealing from the public dole. Yet the elitist promoters of public illusions will not touch this reality of corruption of a party grown complacent with power. But the overriding truth is that the economy is positively bullish with corporate profits and the stock market at an all time high and unemployment at an all time low. While the Center on Budget and Public Policy Priorities and other liberal think tanks continue to lambaste the Bush tax cuts and the deficit, these measures were stimulants that propelled the economy to new heights due to the simple principle that tax cuts generate economic growth. The fact that economic policy instituted by Bush and the Republican congress cut income tax rates from 39% to 35% and cut capital gains and dividend taxes to 15%, means more capital in the hands of entrepreneurs who put people to work and maintain a prosperous robust economy all across the board from poor to wealthy Americans. “Tax cuts for the rich” is another partisan media driven illusion promoted by the new 2007 chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel and his minions who aim to repeal the Bush tax cuts before 2010.

Turning to the war, President Bush is under increasing pressure to pull our troops out of Iraq and issue timetables for early withdrawal. As the New York Post powerfully editorialized today, Nancy Pelosi, representing her San Francisco constituents who have expelled the JROTC from city high schools, wants immediate evacuation from Iraq. Calls for a “phased redeployment” of our forces, which is a euphemism for “cut and run,” are heard from Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) the new chairman of the Armed Services Committee and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the next Senate majority leader. But President Bush, has stuck by his principles to win in Iraq no matter how long it takes. As a man of conviction who lives by his principles, he has not caved in to the mounting calls for withdrawal or the 65% disapproval rating indicating the public anger and anxiety over the war in Iraq. This disapproval rating is fed by the purveyors of illusions and misinformation about Iraq. The Vietnam quagmire comparison is one of the major illusions invoked. However the “cut and run” elitists do not bring this illusion to its logical conclusion that the ensuing bloodbath after American forces pulled out of Vietnam could be a cause for alarm. North Vietnam took advantage of the American retreat that cost the lives of millions of innocent South Vietnamese and Cambodians. Has it ever occurred to the illusionist mentality of these elitists and the new Democratic majority that a much more costly nightmare could ensue from quitting in Iraq? Have they considered that the vultures of the Sunni and Shiite insurgency as well as Al Queda and Iranian terrorists would finish off the rotting carcasses of millions more innocent lives? If the Democrat’s call for surrender were heeded, the jihadists would soon set up shop in the heart of the Middle East. The Post editorial poses the question:

With America gone and its enemies in control, how long before oil becomes a powerful strategic weapon - and before those enemies set their sights beyond the region, to places like Europe? And, eventually, America itself? Do Americans really want Iraq left to become a staging ground for terror attacks on New York or Washington?

We can be grateful and proud that our chief executive is the only dominant voice of sanity that has not succumbed to the voices of illusion and group fantasy calling for an early withdrawal. I believe that history will favorably judge the presidency of George W. Bush, should he stand by his principles to the end of his term. Despite the myths, the GOP still remains the only party with the firm agenda to keep America safe, strong and the economy growing. Having said that, I believe that we have a big job ahead to resuscitate the party from its corruption in power, restoring these original principles.