Why Good Government Matters

What follows describes only one example of the adverse consequences of the conservative ideology which has dominated our politics for so long, but it is one which is highly symbolic of the massive failure of so many Republican policies which were crammed down our throats over the last eight years by those who had free reign to implement their the misguided ideas and untested opinions about the proper role of government.
For eight years the Bush administration tried, and for the most part succeeded in weakening the enforcement of laws and regulations regarding toxic chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants generated by industry. This is one of the results of their all too effective campaign to allow polluters to operate with impunity,hat is, without any effective oversight by the Federal Government of the harm being caused to all Americans from the introduction of such deadly toxins into our air and water:


WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Geological Survey scientists say they have detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the United States.
The USGS said about a quarter of the fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish. <...>

The USGS study found some of the highest levels of mercury in fish in the "blackwater" streams in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana.

I want to say something especially to all those "limited government" folks, most of them Republicans, many of them hunters and fishermen, and many of whom live in the Southeastern United States. This mercury contamination of fish stocks is the direct result of the policies which you favored, and which "your President" Bush implemented. This is why we can't eat the fish we catch, and why we also must be concerned about the fish raised in commercial fish farms. This is one reason why your children get sicker and have more developmental damage and learning disabilities. This is what happens when you try to shrink government to a size so small you can drown it in a bathtub. You endanger the health of your children, your parents, your grandparents and yourself. And mercury is just one of the many poisons which were allowed to increase, contaminating the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat by an administration dedicated to promoting the interests of polluters and the lobbyists who represent them ahead of public health and safety. A President so callous he joked about being the world's worst polluter in a high level G8 summit meeting last year.

Continued>>.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/8/19/18236/3773

Conservatives don't care about their children. If they did they'd care about global warming. What do they say about that?

"I don't care if the Earth heats up. I'm going to be dead anyway"

And Rahm Emanuel can stick it. He called Howard Dean a goo-goo (an advocate of good government) as a way of belittling Dean and explaining to Dean why the 50 state strategy was messed up and a waste of Party resources.

Of course, Dean was right. Emanuel was wrong. I'll take a goo-goo like Dean over a party loyalist (my team, right or wrong, for better or for worse) any day.

Good government does matter. If you want to hand the nation to people who don't care about good government, then vote for Republicans.

:dem:

-Laelth