Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:11:46 GMT

The far right has hijacked the Republican Party and poses the greatest danger to our nation in decades. Desperate to further their own agenda, the far right abuses power and does not play by the rules or follow the U.S. Constitution. They decide what they want to do and then pursue a win-at-any-cost strategy to achieve it.

The far-right's quest for power gained momentum in the 90's when they took control of Congress. They exercised their newly found powers by refusing to accept results of national elections and trying to force a twice-elected president to resign. They (1) engineered a series of fruitless investigations of the president (wasting $100 million), (2) misused our judicial system to entrap him, (3) forced his impeachment on an unwilling public in violation of the U.S. Constitution and (4) blackmailed House members to get the votes.

These abuses of power took place during a series of terrorist attacks. They diverted the nation, disrupted government and left us more vulnerable to attack.

With the emergence of the far-right Bush Administration, the nation began to suffer a number of reversals both in foreign and domestic policy, while incurring a soaring debt endangering future generations. Foremost among the reversals was a total mishandling of the war on terrorism:

(1) By subordinating terrorism to the far-right's agenda and missing several chances to prevent 9-11;

(2) By evading any responsibility for that disaster, trying to block even a review of what happened and then stonewalling the investigative commission;

(3) By diverting most of our military power from al-Qaeda, to an unneeded, costly and tragic war in Iraq;

(4) By pursuing a strategy for the war on terror that (a) increases rather than reduces the continuing threat to the United States and (b) is too limited in scope to protect us.

The far-right misjudgments during the Bush Administration went unchecked because Congress and the media did not do their job. Statesmanship in Congress is practically extinct and the media has lost much of its independence.

No extreme element in our society, whether to the far right or to the far left, should ever control even one branch of government. When an extreme faction controls two or more branches of government and exercises that control ruthlessly -- as the far right does today -- we lose the all-important check and balance and the will of the people is ignored.

Don't expect members of Congress or the media to help us take back our country. We will have to do it ourselves. In Congress the far right is creating a monopoly in the House by rearranging districts to their advantage. In the Senate they already have an edge that favors money and less populous states.

The only way to deal with this problem is for all of us to get "mad as hell" and drag our friends to the voting booth this November. We have the power, let's use it.

The articles below give the specifics and show the irreparable damage the far right has done to our country.

Returning Statesmanship to Congressional Leadership http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2004/05/30/returningStatesmanshipToOurCongressionalLeadership.html
How Subversive Politics Undermined Our Democracy and Endangered the Nation http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2003/10/16/howSubversivePoliticssUnderminedOurDemocracyAndEndangeredTheNation.html
9-11 and a Lack of Presidential Leadership http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2003/10/18/911andaLackofPresidentialLeadership.html
A Satire on the Bush War in Iraq http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2003/10/17/aSatireOnTheBushWarInIraq.html
The President Mishandled the War on Terrorism http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2004/03/02/waronTerrorismMishandled.html

Needed: A New and Bolder Strategy for the War on

Terror http://blogs.salon.com/0003052/stories/2004/05/29/neededANewAndBolderStrategyForTheWarOnTerror.html

FAR RIGHT MISGOVERNS