The Bush Doctrine is Flawed and Too Costly in American Blood and Treasure, by Prentiss Smith
It is something to hear George Bush talk about spreading freedom and liberty all over the world. That is an ideal that America has always aspired to. But Mr. President, have you heard that we are a nation at war and a nation that has run up more red ink during your time in office than the last five presidents combined. We all want freedom spread around the world but not if it is going to cost American blood and treasure. This administration is mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren, and what is sad about this whole delimma is that Conservatives and most Republicans, who use to believe that fiscal responsibility was the key to a strong econonmy and a strong America---have not uttered a word. If Democrats had done the things that this administration has done since it took office, they would have not only been run out of Washington, they would have been run out of the country. It is hard to believe that so many honorable Americans have bought into the idea that we can participate in two wars, cut taxes on the very wealthy three times, spend 300 billion dollars on a war that has no end without paying for it. This administration and this president act as though money is growing on trees. These people have pretty much done whatever they have wanted to do since they took office. They are one of the most secretive and duplicitous administrations that I have seen in my lifetime, and I have lived through nine of them.
Today in America we have senior citizens who are struggling to survive under the weight of higher costs for their drugs that they need to survive, struggling to make ends meet because of the high cost of living that puts extra pressure on those who are on fixed income, which most elderly Americans in the country happen to be. Many of them live primarily on their Social Security checks. Social Security was created seventy years ago to insure that Americans were able to have some kind of saftey net in their latter years. It was created so that the elderly in this country could live out their retirement years with some measure of dignity. Social Security is the only income that the majority of seniors in this country have to live on, and so when we hear the president say that he is willing to spend political capital to change this enormously effective program for seniors---we need to understand that he is trying to do this when we have no money. The budget deficit for this year is projected to be 427 billion dollars, on top of the 412 billion dollars last year. Objective financial analysts put the costs of implementing the president s Social Security plan at over 2 trillion dollars. There is no money, and we are going to have to borrow that money from China, and Japan, and Europe. I wil say again---this administration is mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. And when you listen to the president, remember that almost all of the people who are deciding to change the program are millionaires. Many of them will not have to worry about Social Security, especially the president. His family is very wealthy, and that is wonderful, but he and none of his family will ever have to depend on Social Security to survive in an increasingly more expensive world.
Yes, as I said earlier, I believe as the president does that freedom and liberty are wonderful ideals to be spread around the world, but at what cost? Today, the brave men and women of our armed services are fighting a war in Iraq where they and their families are the only Americans making sacrifices. The president, who shirked his duty while serving in the National Guard, is not making any sacrifices. The congressmen, many of whom are Republicans and Democrats who have never worn the uniform are not making any sacrifices. And people like me, who have opposed this war from the beginning have not been asked to make any sacrifices. We all love freedom and liberty, but it is so easy to talk about spreading freedom when it is not you or your child or your family member that is dying or being maimed. There have been over 14,000 brave Americans killed or wounded in Iraq and over 300 billion dollars spent. The president will not even acknowledge that there have been mistakes made in Iraq. This administration does not even want to be questioned about its failed policy in Iraq. The costs in blood and treasure have been too high, and this president and his administration should be held accountable. They have not been held accoutable, and now they want to change the one program in this country that is working and has worked for over seventy years for the elderly of this country. They are doing exactly what they did in the run up to the war in Iraq. They said that Iraq was an imminent threat and now they say that Social Security is in a crisis. I submit to you that history will prove both of those admonitions to be exaggerated and false. Freedom is not free, but it should be shared by all of us who yearn for it
-- Prentiss Smith, March 2005
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