| By
Arnie Kesler
Looking
back, no one can deny how much our world has changed in the past four
years. We Americans have survived terrorist attacks, watched a slowly
sinking economy, exposed rampant corporate fraud, and invaded two countries.
George
Bush did a lot to stop terrorism. He signed the Patriot act, designed
to fight terrorism while cutting back our civil liberties. He stood by
while thousands of Muslim Americans were rounded up and held without trial
in post 9/11 hysteria. Tax cuts were sent out, and I was the proud owner
of a check for $200 on not one, but two occasions. Granted those tax cuts
didn’t help struggling families so much as they did millionaires,
but hey, for $400 I may not care that my lungs are filling with the poisons
he allows to be spewed into our American sky, poisons that previously
were outlawed by the Clean Air Act and still are outlawed, when the Clean
Air Act is enforced. After making me fear Saddam Hussein I was glad he
sent my friends over to Iraq, to oust a brutal dictator, and replace him
with anarchy. I was glad he was prepared to rebuild Iraq for the Iraqi
people. I am glad he opposes more fuel-efficient vehicles on our streets,
after all, if we cease our dependence on foreign oil, haven’t the
terrorists won?
In
November, we must ask ourselves can our nation truly survive four more
years of abuse at the hands of George W. Bush, or is it time for a changing
of the guard? John Kerry, the man nominated by the Democratic National
Convention is nothing like our beloved leader.
Where
George W. opted out of Vietnam to serve in the Texas Air National Guard,
Mr. Kerry served in Vietnam and became a decorated combat veteran. After
the serving, Kerry joined an anti-war group, to ensure the war in Vietnam
would end. His support of veterans has not ended there, however. Where
George Bush slashed combat pay and veterans benefits, Kerry hopes to increase
both.
Where
George Bush ignores and defies the international community, to everyone’s
disadvantage, Kerry has long been an expert on international relations.
Kerry’s plans for the economy include supporting the middle class,
creating new jobs, expanding health care, and all while reducing the national
debt, which has grown to almost hysterical proportions.
He
plans to re-implement and re-enforce all the environmental laws the Bush-Cheney
administration has trampled upon, while keeping our national parks safe
from drilling.
In
education, perhaps one of the most important issues to the average RVCC
student, Kerry promises to, “offer a fully refundable College Opportunity
Tax credit on up to $4,000 of tuition for every year of college and offer
aid to states that keep tuition down.” (www.johnkerry.com). Bush’s
plan calls for no such benefit.
Where
our president mislead us into Iraq, with no exit strategy fair to the
soldiers who fought, nor the Iraqis we liberated, John Kerry plans to
make right. The international community will be called upon to help us
rebuild Iraq for the Iraqis, not for Haliburton. It would be foolish,
not to mention a waste of paper, to list everything President Bush has
done wrong these past four years. It would be far more foolish however,
to allow him another four years of wrongdoing at America’s helm.
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