Our world cannot afford President Bush at this time

Albert Kaufman

The story of our many US aircraft carriers getting 10 feet to the gallon puts a lot of our current environmental crises in perspective for me. Ten years ago it might have made sense to keep these big ships running, but at a time when our world faces a rapidly increasing human population growth (75 million people a year); global warming; increasing pollution; declining species; greater numbers and more catestrophic natural disasters than ever before experienced and a peaking of our oil supply it’s time for real leadership. I would argue that we are living with a President and Repubican Congress that is not caring about our future. I also suggest it is in this country’s best interest to fire them as quickly as possible and elect new leadership that will think better about our future. If we don't take these steps as soon as humanly possible we will continue down a dangerous path that will be become more difficult to recover from daily. That's if we can recover from global warming at all.

As the senseless war in Iraq continues our country is wasting billions of dollars a day. For whatever reason you believe the US is in Iraq, Afghanistan and every other country in the world, we would probably be living safer, less stressful and happier lives with a smaller military. Were we not spending such a large portion of our tax base on offensive and defensive weapons and military personnel, we might experience the kind of lifestyles that many other industrialized nations experience.

Living in Germany, I remember starting one position with 6 weeks of vacation. Americans work until May 1st just to pay their yearly taxes and where does this money go? A huge chunk of it goes to fuel a bloated military that would not be needed were our leadership better versed in diplomacy. Unfortunately, this has never been a strong suit for President Bush and it does not look like this will change anytime soon. Unfortunately, for the sake of the future of this planet and the future of our great-great-grandchildren we must find someone else to take the helm. Someone who understands the idea of 7th generation - someone who really understands compassion.

The message we are currently sending the world through our actions is that we are a bully of a nation. No other country’s concerns matter to this administration and even the 50% of the people who voted for John Kerry in the last election don’t seem to have a voice, either. Why does this matter? Well, much of the rest of the world is suffering right now because of how we in the US live our lives. We are 5% of the world’s population yet we use up 25% of the resources and cause 25% of the air pollution in the world. On a globe that is warming quickly who do you think everyone looks to as the cause of this problem? That’s right, Americans. For the 2.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day and the other billion people who don’t have enough to eat or drink – who do you think they look to as the cause of their misery? That’s right, Americans. It’s only a matter of time before we start reaping what we have sown and I’m afraid Bush is leading us to a time of more terrorist attacks here at home, not less.

Right now we need the best leadership available to help us out of our various crises. I haven’t even spoken much about how much wasted time we all experience due to suburban sprawl, traffic congestion and bad planning; how our farmland is being paved over to build new ex-urbs; or Bush’s terrible anti-civil rights agenda and how that’s dividing us and creating a depressed mood in the country. Never before in our history have we faced such a dangerous world - one filled with nuclear material proliferation. On these and so many fronts we cannot afford this President any longer. He must be removed – at once.

We need smart and seasoned leadership to take over and move us out of the danger zone. Someone or a group must step in who is wiser, dedicated to peace, and able to take a longer view of history than this President. I look forward to the day when it will once again be safe enough to travel the world and hope that we will be welcomed again on foreign soil. The sooner we get rid of this President the sooner we can start to reverse the years of bad policy that he has effected and the earlier we can begin to heal our relations with the rest of the world. It’s going to take a world working together to figure out how to avoid disaster. With President Bush representing us on the world stage and at home, the wrong message is being sent. Bush’s message is: “What We Worry?” Yes, President Bush, I am worried and I am scared, and for good reason. So now, please exit stage left and let us get on with the important work of rescuing this sinking ship called Earth.

By Albert Kaufman July 20, 2005