FLAIT

of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Sound familiar? That's the Preamble to the Constitution.

You'd think the President of the United States would not only know those words by heart, but respect them and govern by them. But I get the impression that if that paragraph - probably the most famous in all of American history - was put in front of George Bush or any Republican, they wouldn't recognize it because ever since the Republican Party took control of Congress in 1995 and Bush became President in 2001, they have governed contrary to it.

Let's take the Preamble phrases one at a time (also keep the Presidential Oath of Office in mind):

establish Justice - GOP cuts in money and resources to government agencies that enforce regulation and provide oversight, especially involving finance and securities, have led to the collapses of Enron and WorldCom and a possible $2 trillion loss in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Deregulating the telecommunication industry in 1996 was supposed to drastically lower the costs of everything from cable TV to long distance phone calls. But it hasn't happened. However, the legislation did allow media company's to merge, and as a result, a handful of corporations now control most of what you see, hear, read and view (I know Clinton signed the bill but "deregulation" has always been pushed by the GOP).

"Energy deregulation" was supposed to lower utility bills but that hasn't happened either. All that brilliant idea accomplished was that it created blackouts in California and allowed government to ignore the power grids even more then they did before.

I can go on. But it's obvious that the Republican Party agenda of "less government" for the rich and powerful, and less "established justice" for everyone else, is why the country is falling apart.

Of course Republicans would argue that "establish Justice" has nothing to do with "big government" regulations and the phrase is really about equality and fairness for the individual. But when you take the Preamble in it's overall context, I'd say "establish justice" means "enact law" and enforce "the rule of law" for the People...in Order to make a more perfect Union.

But fine, let's assume it does have to do with equality and fairness for the individual, even though secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity would cover that. Where's the equality and fairness when a Republican dominated government blatantly favors the rich and powerful and allows them to do whatever they want at the expense of the individual?

insure domestic Tranquility - The Karl Rove strategy of governance is to divide the country along political lines. That's because the only priority of this White House is to keep the Republican base riled up to insure the poll numbers of a brainless, arrogant, incompetent, immature and hypocritical President don't collapse.

It's a strategy that's been designed over the last twenty years to keep conservatives busy by giving them one opportunity after another to shout GOP talking points at "liberals." And ground zero for this bellicose attitude is conservative talk radio, where ridiculing "liberals" and "big government" with immature wisecracks can be heard day after day after day. Tell a lie long enough, and the weak-minded believe it.

So an arrogant and belligerent Republican Party - whose brainwashed base is always looking for an argument - is not only responsible for the nasty discourse and partisanship that surrounds our politics today, but responsible for the complete lack of Tranquility there is between the People and their government as well. And that's exactly how the GOP wants it because it reinforces their rhetoric that "big government" doesn't work.

provide for the common defence - In 2001 Bush ignored indications and intelligence to a possible terrorist attack, opposed investigations to determine why the 9/11 attacks weren't prevented and why he wasn't better informed, and then stonewalled the 9/11 Commission when they tried to find out.

After 9/11 Bush failed to provide funding and resources to the cities and states so they can prepare for an attack, and lied, exaggerated and misled the country into an unnecessary war that has not only turned out to be a colossal disaster, but has done wonders for terrorist recruiting and fund raising.

Our military was already stretched dangerously thin while fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will obviously stretch them that much more. So it remains to be seen if our armed forces can mobilize and respond militarily if they ever had to (you think al-Quaeda or our other enemy's will take advantage of such vulnerability?) .

In his acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican convention, Bush said "We have seen a steady erosion of American power and an unsteady exercise of American influence. Our military is low on parts, pay and morale. If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, Not ready for duty, sir." (Bold mine because of its hypocrisy and irony.)

Of course it wasn't true. But it very well could be true now.

promote the general Welfare - Bush and the Republicans allowed the assault weapons ban to expire, haven't done anything that would bar terrorists on watch lists to buy guns, and have ignored the fact that .50 caliber guns and ammunition - which can put holes in manhole covers or a 747, in flight - are sold just like any other firearm.

They instituted a drug benefit plan that is a windfall for the pharmaceutical company's and a rip off to seniors, haven't done bubkis about rising health care costs, turned a budget surplus into an exploding deficit, substantially increased the debt, and want to add personal accounts to Social Security (which would be like hitching a fully loaded U-Haul to an '84 Volkswagon).

They have manipulated and even changed scientific reports and findings to fit their backwards 17th century Christian conservative agenda (and go after those who call them on it), appeased the oil, coal, gas, timber, banking and insurance industry's by allowing them to write their own legislation, and dismantled FEMA to the point it couldn't respond to a hurricane; despite the purpose of FEMA is to respond to hurricanes (that would be like putting blinders on ambulance drivers).

And putting an unqualified crony in charge of FEMA was only the beginning for this President. According to columnist Molly Ivins, Bush made a timber industry lobbyist head of the Forest Service, put a mining industry lobbyist who believes that public lands are unconstitutional in charge of the public lands, put a Monsanto lobbyist second in command at EPA, put a utility lobbyist who represented the worst air polluters in the country in charge of the clean air division at the EPA, put someone whose previous job was teaching corporate polluters how to evade Superfund regulations in charge of Superfund, put a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute on the Council on Environmental Quality, and allowed a former lawyer for Chevron Texaco to be put in charge of an FTC investigation into recent price-gouging by oil companies.

And the egregious cronyism-patronage doesn't end there: a lawyer and real estate developer, but more importantly for this White House a top Republican donor and fundraiser, was elected Chairwoman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS). And a former interior decorator and GOPAC Chairman was elected Vice Chairman of the CPB board (for more blatant Bush cronyism, check this in Time).

Whose side is Bush and the Republicans on? Certainly not We the People.

Perhaps they misunderstood this part of the Preamble and thought it said "punish the general welfare."

secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity - The Bush administration has arrested Americans, put them in jail, kept them there without charges being filed, without indictments, without speaking to a lawyer and without out any "due process."

Also see the Patriot Act, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay.

December 2005 insert: Bush is using the NSA to spy on Americans without warrants or any legal authority to do so.

As you can see, with the exception of the rich and powerful, Bush and the Republican Party don't give a damn about anyone or the Constitution (that sound you hear is our Founding Father's spinning in their graves). So it's ironic that conservatives, who gladly gave the Republican Party the power to implement their reckless agenda, are being hurt by the Republican Party's reckless agenda just like everyone else. Unfortunatly, they're is too busy shouting at "liberals" to realize it.

It's not an accident that the Constitution begins with We the People.

Not We the Rich, not We the Powerful, not We the Corporations, not We the Lobbyists, not We the Republican Party, not We the Conservatives, not We the "Moralists," not We the Religious, not We the Self-Righteous, not We the Sanctimonious, and not We the Arrogant.

And it's certainly not the We the Tom Delay's, We the Karl Rove's, or We the George Bush's who "blindly go fourth..."

It's We the People. Never forget that.

May 2006 insert: Bush has consistently overridden "We the People" by adding a "signing statement" to over 750 laws passed by Congress. It allows him to simply ignore any statute he wants.

This is the second of a four part series that explains how the Republican Party - with the help of passive, afraid of their own shadow Democrats - is destroying America and why we need "big government" to rebuild it.

Part three will appear in the fall of 2006.