Thoughts on a criminal inauguration

We are stunned. The worst has happened: Bush will soon be placed back in office. What now?



I fully understand the sentiment and I am in mourning along with a good portion of the world. But the question should be asked: Has the worst happened?



I appreciate the Get-Bush-out-of-the-White-House-at-all-costs sentiment. Bush's policies have been monstrous and I am not speaking hyperbolically when I say that it may well lead to our world's destruction.



From his illogical and immoral tenet of “preemptive invasion” and his subsequent war in Iraq, to his assault on civil liberties, to his war on the environment, to his doomsday energy policy, to his corporate whoring of the White House, Bush's presidency has been a disaster on multiple levels. There are already those who are talking about Bush's presidency being the worst ever in US history – no mean feat – and I tend to agree with them.



However, I am not sure that I am prepared to accept Bush as an aberration and that we might have solved our problems by getting a new president. Could it possibly be that Bush is simply the grotesque ultimate manifestation of what our country has become?



Bush did not invade Iraq solely because Saddam was a bad guy. Dick Cheney did not let the oil industry write the US energy policy as a matter of convenience. They did so because the citizens of the US asked them to do so.



Every time we bought another gallon of gasoline, every time we complained about the “high cost” of fuel, we cast a vote for the Bush Iraq invasion/energy policy.



As to Bush's unfettered support of corporate welfare, his lust for NAFTA-like free trade agreements, his union-busting ways and support for the secretive and undemocratic World Trade Organization; are these not natural outgrowths of the Walmartization of the world? And why has our country led the way in this demand for cheap products that can only come from unfair labor practices, damaging environmental practices and destructive local economy practices? Because we ask for it.



And Bush's environmental policy which has been universally lamented and lambasted by all the major environmental organizations; does it not serve to further promote our way of life? Our love affair with cars? Our desire for jobs? Is he not doing it all for us?



If this is the case – and I believe it is – would Kerry's election have stopped our train from crashing; or, rather, would he simply have slowed down the train's ultimate disaster?



Sure, when you're heading straight towards a cliff, slowing down is certainly a good step, but ultimately, you need to turn that train around. We need a change of heart – to repent, and turn from our unsustainable and unjust ways.



While today seems a black day, there is an advantage to having Bush in office: His policies are so overtly destructive that it's clear to many that change is imminently necessary. And this is an advantage, because while Bush may be president, he is not dictator. He cannot control us!



We can learn to stop being self-destructive. We can learn to respect the asthmatic's right to breathe clean air, Iraqi children's rights to true peace, my right to clean water, your right to a fair job, his right to marry who he wishes, her right to un-poisoned food. We can change!



Further, we can begin to be the change that we desire now. It doesn't matter that Bush is in office. We have the power. We can stop or severely cut back our buying of gasoline and start living in smaller circles. We can start growing our own food. We can refuse to fight in anyone's war. We can refuse to pay for their immoral wars. We can refuse to hate our enemies and work for a more peaceable world today. This moment.



Will it be easy? Nothing worthwhile is. Can it be done? Perhaps not all at once. Perhaps not alone. But none of us are alone. There's a whole ocean of people opposed to the politics of destruction.



Don't forget, in the last two years, millions of people took to the streets worldwide to oppose Bush's invasion. That is unprecedented in the history of our world! There is every reason to believe that today is the day the revival will sweep us away.



So, when they call your draft number, when they ask for your money to pay for the war, when they ask that you shop to save the economy, when they ask you to name names, anytime they ask you to buy into the System, don't. Just don't.



Let the Revolution begin.