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The
Bush Inauguration: A Walking Antithesis
President
George W. Bush, in his second term inauguration
speech said, "All who live in tyranny
and hopelessness can know: the United States
will no longer ignore oppression or excuse
your oppressors… When you stand for
your liberty, we will stand with you."
While corporate newspapers fawned over his
calls for supporting democracy and fighting
oppression, a near-global catastrophe was
spawned.
Oppressive
governments around the world feared his
language, as it would mean being cut off
from their main supplier and long-time supporter,
the United States. If Bush were serious
this would mean that governments such as
Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan,
Colombia, Egypt and Israel would have to
look for new arms suppliers. The spout would
be shut off.
What
of the humongous trade relationship with
China or Putin's reinstatement of authoritarian
rule in Russia?
Almost
immediately former President Bush Sr. went
on the air for damage control. As
reported by conservative anchors at Fox
News, Bush Sr. claimed that his son's speech
signaled no serious policy shift. Once
again Bush Jr. had manipulated his audience,
the American public, through the use of
platitudes.
What
was most frightening in Bush's speech was
his use of religious connotations in defending
America's corporate-driven quest for hegemony
over the world's oil-rich regions.
Matt Rothschild of the Progressive Magazine
on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now discussed
Bush's speeches' reliance on biblical passages.
In one passage, Bush said, "Freedom
is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger
in dark places, the longing of the soul"
which is quite similar to Psalm 107, "He
satisfied the longing soul and filleth the
hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in
darkness." [sic]
Another
statement, "This untamed fire will
burn those who fight its progress…hope
kindles hope," bears a striking similarity
to a passage in the book of Jeremiah, "I
will kindle an unquenchable fire in the
gates of Jerusalem." Rothschild
points out that Bush is masking the best
parts of American civic values of freedom,
liberty, and justice in a "distinctly
Christian garb."
While
the Bush administration and its allies often
claim to rely upon biblical teachings, there
is nothing moral or sacrosanct about the
policies they have carried out. They
have charted a globally hegemonic course,
deeming world treaties like the Geneva Convention,
the Kyoto Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty as null and void.
They
illegally invaded and occupied one country,
that just happened to have the second-largest
oil reserves in the world (Iraq).
They overthrew the first democratically
elected government of another country and
replaced it with a military junta (Haiti).
They attempted but failed at overthrowing
another democratically elected government
(Venezuela). In a just world they
would be behind bars as the war criminals
they are.
They
fail to work with the European Union over
the last two years of its nuclear talks
with Iran, probably because with the world's
fourth-largest oil reserves, Iran is next
on the menu for invasion. They continue
to arm the Israeli army while it defends
colonial settlements in Palestinian territory,
engendering further terrorism against the
United States. All of this is unsurprising
when many in the current administration
built the Contra and Fraph death squads,
killing tens of thousands of people under
former President Ronald Reagan. While Bush
is only one man, it is the corporate and
political structure behind him that drives
policy, but listening to his religiously
garbed language it is difficult to differentiate
policy from divine intervention.
Bush
recently told a group of Amish that "God
speaks through me" and at a prayer
breakfast he claimed, "We have a calling
from beyond the stars to stand for freedom."
Should we assume that Bush has a divine
right to rule over our nation? What is the
point of elections if God has already chosen? Devoid
of morality, the Bush administration trudges
on with its hideous xenophobic agenda always
falsely hidden behind words of faith. Only
Orwell could have dreamed up a nightmare
of such huge proportions.
Jeb
Sprague is a graduate student in history
at CSULB. He can be reached at Jsprague@csulb.edu.
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