Throughout his 2004 presidential campaign, Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry repeatedly accused Republican President George W. Bush of using his policies and politics to create “Two Americas.” These two Americas are obvious to anyone who’s observed that the number of people in the middle class has decreased, causing many to fall into two categories: the very rich or very poor (more so the latter).
While this bothers me, the topic of financial disparity has already been addressed this year from CNN to the pages of The New York Times. The issue I want to focus on is the blatant “double standard” this president fundamentally formed that divides the wealthy from the poor, the black from the white and big business from the little man.
Here in Richmond, we deal with this each day as young African-American males serve years in jail because of Republican-imposed mandatory minimum drug sentences. Yet the same circumstances present themselves to Republicans such as Rush Limbaugh and Noelle Bush, and they get off with a petty slap on the wrist.
This Bush-authored logic of two sets of rules extends into businesses, as those who line the wallets of Republican leaders manage to always get the loopholes. Thieves like Martha Stewart and Kenneth Lay – corporate leaders who cheated, lied and stole from the American people – will probably serve a lesser-combined jail time compared with someone convicted of simple drug possession.
Is it fair? No, but the Bush administration clearly promotes perks to the leaders of big business at the expense of the little man.
Further evidence lies in the skyrocketing gas prices we all must face. As gas and oil prices rise to more than $2 per gallon, we wonder who benefits from these high prices? Perhaps it’s the Bush family estate in Texas. Much of their financial wealth lies in the success of the oil industry. Or maybe it’s the Halliburton Corporation, which is incidentally owned by friends of the vice president.
While the smart move would be to invest heavily in alternative fuel sources, such as solar or electrical cars so that gas companies would face competition and lower their prices, the likelihood of Bush funding an alternative fuel source is as likely as finding a weapon of mass destruction in Iraq.
While Bush and his wealthy business-owning cronies ride around the country in plush airplanes, the average everyday American worker struggles to pay for a tank of gas to go to work. Common sense would say that when living expenses increase, an increase in minimum wage should follow, however, Bush is opposed to this.
Another governmental strategy to help the average everyday American family in this prolonged recession would be an easier way to file for bankruptcy and an escape from large amounts of debt by paying pennies on the dollar. However, Bush is also opposed to this and made it harder for anyone to file and declare bankruptcy.
Why would he work to keep someone down? Because the same big corporations that own the oil and gas industries also control the banking world, which contributed millions of dollars to Bush’s re-election campaign.
This same process also sealed the death warrant on any type of national health care system. Health insurance companies and privately owned hospitals made substantial contributions to Republicans to ensure that we will never have a universal health care system that allows the poor to receive the same treatment as the rich.
Bush went a step further by trying to protect the pockets of hospitals and big insurance companies: he sought to place a cap on financial damages awarded to those who win malpractice suits resulting from shoddy health care.
It doesn’t end there. Bush also stood up for the price-gouging health care and insurance industry when he stopped Democratic Party efforts to allow medicine from Canada to enter the United States. This competition would make American companies lower their prices, and ultimately lower their profits.
As we go to the polls on Tuesday, we need to remember all of Bush’s fiascos and failures in fairness. The opportunity to fire him now presents itself. I, for one, say we send him packing back to Texas and bring in a new president who will bring America back on course while leveling the playing field between the rich and poor.