What was your share of the tax cut?

This piece was written in the spring of 2004. One of the things that is very much on my mind is the ongoing war in Iraq. This is a conflict that never should have happened. The administration got us into this war on false pretenses. We all know that the two major reasons given at the beginning, namely WMD and Al-Qaida connections have proved untrue. After spending almost 700 American lives, thousands of Iraqi lives, and many billions of dollars, the situation is very perilous. It is clear that the Iraqi people do not want us there. We must find a way to ameliorate this difficult cunundrum.

Since there is no government ready to take over in Iraq, we probably cannot simply pull out. We thumbed our noses at the United Nations, and even NATO. Now it is obvious that the only possible solution is to have one or both of these institutions take over the occupation of Iraq until a viable government can be formed. I think the United States can forget about any easy access to Iraqi oil. The only solution to our need for energy sources is in reducing our need for oil by conservation and by finding alternate forms of energy.

Meanwhile the job of the American people is to make sure that this administration only gets eight more months in office. To elect this administration for another four years is national suicide. We cannot tolerate four more years of tax cuts for the wealthy, reduced medical care, more military adventurism, and ballooning budget deficits. Most of all the loss of constitutional rights cannot be allowed to continue. We must reverse these losses or we will have no reason to fight for an America that no longer exists. Our democracy itself hangs in the balance. I am very frightened about the possiblity that our president will precipitate more crises in his almost hysterical attempt to stay in power. Let's be willing to stand up to a very dangerous situation in our country. We must stop this right wing takeover in its tracks. May God have mercy on us if we don't.