American Crossroads

In 2000 Bush took the presidency from Al Gore. Most of those who have studied the election believe that Gore won. If he'd pressed his case, America would have gone in another direction and I can't help but wonder how that would have played out.

9/11 most likely would have happened. Gore might have taken us into Afghanistan. But he wouldn't have taken us into Iraq and a war that has cost us so much. Wonder how much? Go to www.costofwar.com and see how much the war is costing America and where that money could have been spent on a state by state basis. It's like watching a train wreck.

Gore understood the problems in New Orleans and I believe he would have kept the money in the Corps' budget. Would that have mitigated the disaster? Somewhat. Would the response have been better? I willing to bet it would have. Gore would not have put incompetant buddies in such positions of authority nor would FEMA been solely geared toward terrorist attacks.

Instead America has Mr. Bush who will go down in history as having fundamentally altered the country in ways too sad to contemplate.

But for a moment, let's look to the future.

The recovery of the dead in the south continues. And from our 'leaders' were advised not to play the 'blame game'. And they intend to have hearings (some closed door) to determine what went wrong.

I suggest that the best people to judge what went wrong are American's citizens. WE should hear the facts and make the judgment calls. We should not trust the whitewash and politics that will flow out of Washington. It's obvious there was failure on ALL levels. However, no matter how bad a state or local emergency response plays out, the Feds damn well better know what they're doing.

And so, folks, 2006 & 2008 are looming. I tend to vote Democratic, but have jumped the fence more than once if I felt the candidate on the Republican (or Libertarian) side had more savvy. It's time to set partisan lines aside and vote for candidates who is compentant, intelligent, honest and willing to weigh dissenting views. No more cowboys, no more cronyism.

Use the Bush administration as your benchmark of how bad it can get. Remember the war dead in Iraq and the bodies floating in New Orleans. Demand answers from your legislators and vote for the best person.

America can't handle many more years of stupid government. It's time to show the bums the door.