The passing of President Gerald Ford, “Oatmeal Man,” got me listening again to Gil Scott Heron and wondering about how little our country has learned in the last 30 years.
The pardon you gave, this time, was not yours to give.
They call it due process and some people are overdue…
Said they were going to slap his wrists and retire him with $850,000
And America was shocked! America leads the world in shocks…
The man who tried to steal America is not in jail…
The poor and ignorant go to jail, while the rich go to San Clemente…
and pardon us, while we get sick…
we have an understanding of Karma; what goes around, comes around…
And here we are looking at the long job ahead of cleaning up after the “national tragedy” that has been the Bush administration and its adventures to enrich the corporate class. Illegal wiretaps, the suspension of habeas corpus, the lies and fabrications to start an unnecessary war, the abandonment of a just military action, the sell-out of Americans to a system that crushes those without the cash to pay their way. How did we come back to this? Did we just get fat and happy, losing our way? Were we hijacked, hoodwinked or harrassed into letting go of our rights?
Will the Bush Administration ever really be held accountable for the damage it has wrought on our system, nation and reputation? Will they pay for the hundreds of thousands of lives they have destroyed with their “pre-emptive strike” foreign policy? When will we see the full impact of their ruinous fiscal policies?
The answer of course, is no, the administration will never truly be held accountable. They will trot out all of the same old tired reasons used to send Nixon to San Clemente. National security, health, etc. The MSM and their corporate ownership structure will ensure the short term legacy of this administration and the political wonks and bureaucrats will wrap the rest in the ponderous obscurity of the archives. And the Democratic candidate that will succeed him will inherit a system so fundametally broken that he will be lucky to escape the worst of what Jimmy Carter had to deal with during his years in office. Stagflation, anyone?
