None So Blind

None So Blind

A triumphant George W. Bush, emboldened by finally being elected to office, will inaugurate his second term on January 20.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

A triumphant George W. Bush, emboldened by finally being elected to office, will inaugurate his second term on January 20. Festooned with gospel imagery, his address will rededicate this nation to waging the “war on terror” and championing democracy abroad, and call for building a new “ownership society” at home. His lavish celebration will produce limousine gridlock in the capital, as right-wing Republicans, corporate chieftains, lobbyists and retainers pay tribute to the President who has consolidated their hold on all three branches of government.

Bush starts this second term blind to the consequences of the havoc he has wrought and misleading the very voters who returned him to office. His record is one of failure: aggressive war on Iraq that has led to thousands of American and Iraqi deaths; officially endorsed policies that led to torture in Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and elsewhere; a botched assault on terror that has isolated America while replenishing the ranks of terrorists; exploding fiscal and trade deficits, with the dollar sinking in value; inequality not seen since the Gilded Age; the worst jobs record since Hoover; and indifference to the threat of catastrophic climate change combined with growing dependence on foreign oil. Meanwhile, Bush’s failures have increased Americans’ kitchen-table concerns: good jobs leaving, replaced by jobs with lower wages and fewer benefits; a broken healthcare system, with millions unable to afford adequate care; failed promises to invest in schools along with cuts in college grants at a time of soaring costs; a retreat on clean air and water.

Now Bush promises to make things worse. The ideologues who crafted the disaster in Iraq have been rewarded and retained; the realists who dissented have been purged. His first legislative proposal is to curb the rights of citizens to recover for damages caused by the negligence, fraud or malpractice of corporations or doctors. His highest priority is to privatize Social Security, most likely by slashing guaranteed benefits by some 40 percent while borrowing $2 trillion to pay for private accounts that will primarily reward Wall Street. His budget will extend the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while cutting investment in education, healthcare and support for essentials from food stamps to home heating for the elderly. He’s announced a renewed effort to pack the courts with right-wing judicial reactionaries intent on rolling back the rights and liberties of Americans and returning to the days when labor unions and environmental, wage and safety standards were outlawed as illegal restraints on trade.

Bush won re-election with the most negative campaign in memory, wrapping himself in the flag, assailing his opponent’s character and practicing a politics of fear and division. Right-wing appeals mobilized his base while he disdained efforts to woo moderates and independents. He now pledges to govern the same way, using the right to discipline GOP dissenters and scorning bipartisanship, even on matters of war and peace.

The Bush team is sophisticated in propaganda, well versed in the uses of deception to avoid accountability. Bush’s policies, however, are damaging this country, and his priorities are not widely shared. Democrats would be well-advised to oppose them, but with the fainthearted among them already wringing their hands and sounding retreat, an aroused progressive movement will be needed to provide the necessary backbone. A majority of Americans are already experiencing buyers’ remorse; Bush’s razor-thin victory on election day may have witnessed the height of his popularity. The central question of his second term is how soon Americans, recognizing their error, will demand a change in direction.

We can not back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x