Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Time for a truth-check on anti-Bush propaganda

It’s been over three months now that America has been in full election mode and more recently since John Kerry emerged as the Democratic candidate for President. In this time, I have heard and seen hours of news coverage, articles, and editorials pontificating on all of the hindsight viewpoints of what everyone else, especially the Liberal Left, would have done differently than George Bush did since January 2001 when he took office.

It seems as if this president, who stood up for what he believed and did everything he could to combat our enemies, has been under constant fire himself, from partisan politicians during a time of great importance in our country’s history. Lets review the facts:

The Blame: Critics say that George Bush has led the country into an economic crisis, with mounting job losses and a recession.

The Truth: George Bush INHERITED a waning economy from his predecessor and had to make the best of a bad hand he was dealt. Considering the market crash that began in March 2000, I’d say he’s done pretty well in the time being, while unemployment is low and dropping and the economy is on the rise.

The Blame: George Bush didn’t find any weapons of mass destruction and therefore his basis for going after Iraq was refuted.

The Truth: Saddam was given 12 years to comply with worthless UN resolutions which were never backed up with force, and there WAS irrefutable evidence that Saddam was attempting to build a weapons program AND that he was a sworn enemy of the U.S. How long did the appeasing Left think we should have waiting to give him time to sell off his weapons or smuggle them out to terrorists to do his bidding? His money was just as dangerous as any weapon he could have devised. But of course had we not attacked, and had Saddam funded a devastating terrorist attack on the U.S., President Bush would surely be blamed for that. Catch 22.

The Blame: Bush provides only the wealthy with tax breaks while the middle-class suffer

The truth: If you’re earning $20K-50K a year and have children and consider yourself wealthy, please step forward. What’s that? No one raised a hand? Well, that’s because middle-class Americans across the board have received over $1000 a year in tax breaks and many parents received $400 to $800 refunds from Bush as child tax credits.

Also, please remember, you can’t get back refunds on taxes you didn’t pay in! Of course the wealthy will receive larger tax breaks dollar-wise (they earn more and pay more taxes to begin with) but the percentages are stacked against the wealthy with an increasingly penalizing tax bracket as income rises. How fair is that?

The Blame: Bush is a Bible-thumper who uses his faith to impose his will on others.

The Truth: Like it or not, our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, as painful as that is to the melting-pot society we have become. Our founders created our constitution to be the basis of a moral society, and one that would not work without morality. The idea that there is no good and evil and that everything is relative is laughable.

It sure would be refreshing to see someone out there publish something in support of our president. He sure has supported America during his very difficult term in office. Where are the journalists and writers who are thankful to be living in such a great country with all our freedoms, paid for by our military who gave their lives? Surely between now and November 2004, we’ll hear from some of them.

Ryan Magnon

Lawrenceville Ga.