The War Against the Common Good

Bushspeak: Freedom = freedom to plunder a nation's wealth
Democracy = free market capitalism

When George W Bush uses the words "freedom" or "democracy", he is not talking about civil liberties, or the ability of citizens to freely elect their leaders--no matter how hard he tries to pretend otherwise. He's talking about free market capitalism--the freedom of multinational corporations to plunder a nation's wealth for their own profit. Like another imperialist before him--Woodrow Wilson--Bush seems to think in terms of "making the world safe for democracy," but in his case (and probably in Wilson's case, as well), "democracy" is simply another word for American-style capitalism. When Bush talks about "spreading freedom and democracy" throughout the "greater Middle East", he is talking about making Middle Eastern countries safe for American corporations to operate in, without oversight or restraint or conscience. In this world view, nothing belongs to the people of a country; everything belongs, instead, to whoever holds the reins of power in that country. And this is true, whether we're talking about what BushCo is doing to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, or what they are doing to the people of the United States.

Just as the War on Drugs is actually a War Against the People, the War on Terror is actually a War Against the Common Good. Since the days of FDR, the idea of the Common Good has been sacrosanct, but no more. When Bush and his cronies invaded America and set up a Green Zone in the White House, they immediately began dismantling the safety net that Americans have depended upon since the devastating Depression of the 1930s. BushCo swept into power with a mandate, but not with a mandate from "the people", as they like to pretend. No, Bush's mandate was from his corporate cronies, and was a mandate to gut safety and labor regulations, pollution controls, pension plans (including social security), public health care programs, public school funding, and any other program that might help people at the expense of corporate profit. They came into power talking earnestly about tax "reform" and social security "reform" and public school "reform", as if there was a dire need to reform these programs for the good of the people. Of course, the good of the people had nothing to do with it, unless we're talking about the good of a handful of extremely wealthy people.

The War on Terror (in which Bush ingenuously includes the invasion and occupation of Iraq) is a smokescreen and a diversion, meant to hide what these people are really doing: plundering the national treasure of any country they can get a foothold in, including our own. The War on Terror is not about keeping anyone safe. Judging by their curiously delayed responses to the World Trade Center attacks and Katrina, they obviously couldn't care less about our safety. No, the so-called War on Terror is about helping the weapons industry, the petroleum industry, and any other industry that profits from war and destruction (like KBR and Halliburton and Blackwater) make and keep obscene amounts of money.

To these pirates, the Common Good is a concept every bit as outdated and quaint as the Geneva Conventions. In their immoral world view, what's theirs is theirs, and what's ours is theirs, as well.
There is no "Common Good"--only vast amounts of booty to be plundered. :evilgrin:

THOSE WHO HAVE NO TALENT HAVE NO BUSINESS IN GOV'T

The GOP and their man Bush have no talent/skills for winning anything:

Out witted in war and foolish in Governance, they plow on hoping their guesses result in success. The score shows a disaster 12 years long...the last 5 has been a CLUSTER FUCK of mega proportions.

Bush and his GOP must go if America is to be rescued.

Vote Blue for Gods Sake....

IMHO. Thank you for saying what I've been thinking but couldn't phrase so elegantly. :yourock:

BushCo sure gives us a lot to write about, doesn't it? I'm so glad to have found DU!

:hug:

I wonder who thinks up these ambiguous slogans?

:puke:

They are stealing the "commons" from right under our feet and we're just standing around and letting it happen. Ultimately, people have the power to change it, but they've got to be lulled out of this coma - right now.

K&R

You kick ass, yes, indeed you do.

:hug:

If we really had free markets, there wouldn't be so much corporate welfare and pay to play lobbying. There is no level playing field, and no really free market, it's quid pro quo arrangement with the Republican leadership.

I've been thinking this for a while. When Bush talks about freedom, the red staters get all excited, as if he's talking about their freedom. The joke's on them. He has as much contempt for them as he does for us. They're just suckers he can manipulate by tossing out loaded words: freedom, democracy, abortion, gays, Jesus. They fall for it every time.

But this sure makes all Dubya's speeches make a lot more sense, huh?

Just to point out that regardless of what it's called, a market that is not to work against the common good must be regulated, and therefor is not in actual fact "free".
Though admittedly it does depend on how "free" is defined. After all, we do live in a free society; even back when it was significantly more free than it is now, it was in fact regulated.

and rape. He is the devil.