’Governing, just that simple’

What’s so hard about it, George W. Bush wonders. Everyone makes governing
such a big deal, like it’s complicated or something. They are the ones who
make it complicated, with all those shades of gray and “nuance” stuff.
George brushed all that nonsense away and whittled the governing process
down to one cure-all for domestic governance and one for foreign policy.

For domestic policy his Swiss Army knife was tax cuts, especially for those
who didn’t need them. Want to create more jobs? Just cut taxes. Is the
dollar losing value? Cut taxes. The stock market shaky? Cut taxes. Americans
can’t afford health care? Cut taxes. Federal deficits exploding? Cut taxes.
Gotta rebuild an entire American city destroyed by a hurricane? Cut taxes.

Governing a nation – just that simple.

Likewise, George W. Bush believes he can solve the world’s troubles with a
simple, single tool – democracy.

Like Johnny Appleseed, he sprinkles the stuff wherever he thinks he sees
trouble. Democracies, George says, are always peaceful nations – never mind
the obvious contradiction of such a statement coming from the only nation on
earth currently waging two wars in the Middle East and threatening a third.
That would be exactly the kind of unnecessarily complicating nuance Bush so
dislikes.

Bush says that when people are allowed to vote for their representatives in
open and fair elections, all kinds of good things happen. (Again, ignore
that man behind the curtain – his deficits, his spying, the dead piled high
about his feet.)

Democracy, George cheers, “is on the march.”

Well Yesterday democracy goose-stepped its way into Palestine. The
Palestinian people voted in free and open elections, and they turned their
fledgling democracy over to terrorists – Hamas.
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 — The radical Islamic group Hamas claimed
victory Thursday in voting for the first Palestinian parliament in a decade,
saying it won a clear majority of seats and had the right to form the next
government claims, although unconfirmed officially, were followed by the
resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and the rest of his cabinet.
Resignation was a formality following parliamentary elections, but Qureia
acknowledged that Hamas had likely won a majority in the 132-seat
legislature and should be given the opportunity to form the next cabinet.
(Full Story)
The Palestinian elections mirror those earlier in Egypt, where that nation’s
free and open elections led to major gains for Egypt’s version of Hamas, The
Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile in Iraq, George has been trying to force-feed democracy to the
three waring tribes that live don’t want to share that land between them,
because it’s not a real country. The British created it early in the last
century, and were about to give them some lessons in democracy, as they did
in India. But they never got around to it. Seems the tribes stopped killing
one anohter just long enough to chase the Brits out. Now they’re trying to
chase us out too, so they can go back to kiling one another — their own
simple solution to governance.

When George insisted the Iraqis hold free and open elections and, the
majority tribe, the Shiites, dominated the results — DUH!. The minority
Sunnis were not amused. The third tribe, the Kurds are going their own whey
(Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)

So, you see … democracy – just that simple.

Simple is, as simple does. And if George is anything, he’s a simple fellow.
If only governing were as well.

You can almost hear George screaming — “damn those nuances. Damn them!”

Damn those stupid voters in Palestine. What’s wrong with them anyway? We
give them the vote and who do with it? Instead of voting to for the guys we
like, the utterly corrupt and ineffective, Fatah/PLO, they vote for
Palestine’s version of the IRA. Imagine that! Who could have? (Not George,
that’s clear.)

Damn those Iranians. Give them a democracy and the rule of law and they
can’t put the world’s most provably guilty mass murderer on trial.
BAGHDAD: Judges in the trial of Saddam Hussein tried to remove a newly
appointed chief judge on Tuesday, a dispute that forced an abrupt
postponement of the proceedings and deepened the turmoil in what was
supposed to be a landmark in Iraq’s political progress.

Ask almost any Iraqi in Baghdad what they should do and he/she will respond
without shame or hesitation, “Why bother with a trial. Just hang Saddam.”
Iranians, you see, have their own simple governing traditions. The ones we
are trying to force on them are too full of … of…. hmmm, what’s the term
I’m looking for?… Ah yes, nuances.

Damn those Egyptians. Then last right thing they did was build pyramids.
It’s been down hill ever since. When George told them they had to get on the
democracy bandwagon, or else, they screwed that up too. Of course the
Egyptians, the second largest recipient of US money, did as they were told
and announced their first free and open elections.

Then things got complicated. When the polls showed that candidates from the
opposition Muslim Brotherhood might just win, Egypt’s first “free and open”
elections became a lot less free or open. What does a fledgling democracy in
that Muslim world do when the other side polls higher? Well you start
re-simplifying the process — you forbid them from running, and, if they
insist, throw them in jail until after the election.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian authorities released 260 supporters of the Muslim
Brotherhood detained during a crackdown on the opposition Islamist group
during parliamentary elections late last year, the Brotherhood said on
Thursday. (Full Story)
Democracy – just that simple.

Source: News For Real
http://newsforreal.com/

—
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a ’fair use’ of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

“A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles.  It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt.  But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake.”
–Thomas Jefferson