Bush's Hometown Paper Endorses
Kerry
Kerry Will Restore American Dignity
2004 Iconoclast Presidential Endorsement
Few Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago if he had
promised that, as President, he would:
• Empty the
Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal
irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
• Cut
Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veterans’ benefits and military pay.
• Eliminate
overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
• Give
tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by
policy encourage their departure.
• Give
away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
• Involve
this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
• Take
a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the
United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to
repay.
These were elements of a hidden agenda that surfaced only after he took office.
The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the
things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.
Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry, based not only on the things
that Bush has delivered, but also on the vision of a return to normality that
Kerry says our country needs.
Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives
to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American
economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our
founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and
President Bush has announced plans to change the Social Security system as we
know it by privatizing it, which when considering all the tangents related to
such a change, would put the entire economy in a dramatic tailspin.
The Social Security Trust Fund actually lends money to the rest of the
government in exchange for government bonds, which is how the system must work
by law, but how do you later repay Social Security while you are running a huge
deficit? It’s
impossible, without raising taxes sometime in the future or becoming fiscally
responsible now. Social Security money is being used to escalate our deficit
and, at the same time, mask a much larger government deficit, instead of paying
down the national debt, which would be a proper use, to guarantee a future
gain.
Privatization is problematic in that it would subject Social Security to the
ups, downs, and outright crashes of the Stock Market. It would take millions in
brokerage fees and commissions out of the system, and, unless we have assurance
that the Ivan Boeskys and Ken Lays of the world will
be caught and punished as a deterrent, subject both the Market and the Social
Security Fund to fraud and market manipulation, not to mention devastate and
ruin multitudes of American families that would find their lives lost to
starvation, shame, and isolation.
Kerry wants to keep Social Security, which each of us already owns. He says
that the program is manageable, since it is projected to be solvent through
2042, with use of its trust funds. This would give ample time to strengthen the
economy, reduce the budget deficit the Bush administration has created, and,
therefore, bolster the program as needed to fit ever-changing demographics.
Our senior citizens depend upon Social Security. Bush’s answer is
radical and uncalled for, and would result in chaos as Americans have never
experienced. Do we really want to risk the future of Social Security on Bush by
spinning the wheel of uncertainty?
In those dark hours after the
He let us down.
When he finally emerged from his hide-outs on remote military bases well after
the first crucial hours following the attack, he gave sound-bytes instead of
solutions.
He did not trust us to be ready to sacrifice, build up our public and private
security infrastructure, or cut down on our energy use to put economic pressure
on the enemy in all the nations where he hides. He merely told us to shop,
spend, and pretend nothing was wrong.
Rather than using the billions of dollars expended on the invasion of
The Iconoclast, the President’s hometown newspaper, took Bush on his word and
editorialized in favor of the invasion. The newspaper’s publisher
promoted Bush and the invasion of
Again, he let us down.
We presumed the President had solid proof of the existence of these weapons,
what and where they were, even as the search continued. Otherwise, our troops
would be in much greater danger and the premise for a hurried-up invasion would
be moot, allowing more time to solicit assistance from our allies.
Instead we were duped into following yet another privileged agenda.
Now he argues unconvincingly that
Once and for all, George Bush was President of the
We should expect that a sitting President would vacation less, if at all, and
instead tend to the business of running the country, especially if he is, as he
likes to boast, a “wartime president.”
What has evolved from the virtual go-it-alone conquest of
Kerry has remained true to his vote granting the President the authority to use
the threat of war to intimidate Saddam Hussein into allowing weapons inspections.
He believes President Bush rushed into war before the inspectors finished their
jobs.
Kerry also voted against President Bush’s $87 billion for troop funding because
the bill promoted poor policy in
Kerry’s
four-point plan for
The publishers of the Iconoclast differ with Bush on other issues, including
the denial of stem cell research, shortchanging veterans’ entitlements,
cutting school programs and grants, dictating what our children learn through a
thought-controlling “test” from Washington rather than allowing local school boards and
parents to decide how young people should be taught, ignoring the environment,
and creating extraneous language in the Patriot Act that removes some of the
very freedoms that our founding fathers and generations of soldiers fought so
hard to preserve.
We are concerned about the vast exportation of jobs to other countries, due in
large part to policies carried out by Bush appointees.
Funds previously geared at retention of small companies are being given to
larger concerns, such as Halliburton — companies with strong ties to oil and
gas. Job training has been cut every year that Bush has resided at the White
House.
Then there is his resolve to inadequately finance Homeland Security and to cut
the Community Oriented Policing Program (COPS) by 94 percent, to reduce money
for rural development, to slash appropriations for the Small Business
Administration, and to under-fund veterans’ programs.
Likewise troubling is that President Bush fought against the creation of the
9/11 Commission and is yet to embrace its recommendations.
Vice President Cheney’s Halliburton has been awarded multi-billion-dollar
contracts without undergoing any meaningful bid process — an enormous
conflict of interest — plus the company has been significantly raiding the funds of
Export-Import Bank of America, reducing investment that could have gone toward
small business trade.
When examined based on all the facts, Kerry’s voting record is enviable and
echoes that of many Bush allies who are aghast at how the Bush administration
has destroyed the American economy. Compared to Bush on economic issues, Kerry
would be an arch-conservative, providing for Americans first. He has what it
takes to right our wronged economy.
The re-election of George W. Bush would be a mandate to continue on our present
course of chaos. We cannot afford to double the debt that we already have. We
need to be moving in the opposite direction.
John Kerry has 30 years of experience looking out for the American people and
can navigate our country back to prosperity and re-instill in
Kerry has a positive vision for
That’s
why The Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or
even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country.
The Iconoclast wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry.
http://news.iconoclast-texas.com/web/Columns/
Editorial/editorial39.htm