opinion colume
October 11, 2002 3:26 p.m.

So I Was Thinking, by Levi Harris

The Indiana State University Statesman, Friday, Oct. 11, 2002, pg 4.

I have got to hand it to George W. Bush. I didn't think the little bugger had it in him, but in a matter of about a month and a half, he has truned the tide of the pre-election politices against the Democrats. H's pulled our attention away from the diseased economy and the public deseration of civil rights and whipped us all intoa quasi-fascist fervor over a piddly Middle Eastern sandbox half a world away. And now that he's conviced America that ousting Saddam Hussein is as vital as life adn breath, the Democrats cain't say a word to counter the absurdity of this militancy. Bush has the entire Democratic party by the balls.

The election is only a little more that three weeks away, and the Democrats are going to have to scratch and clawfor every seat. The American People are scared. We're fighting terror. We're probably going to ar. And when we go to war, we need strong gutsy Republicans in charge.

And now, thanks to Bush asking for a Congressional vote before the election for a resolution authorizing him to use for in Iraq, no Democrat can feel free to stand up for what's right. If they do, they'll be seen as unpatriotic and divisive. The president will blame Democrats for obstructing the progress of safty and liberty, and undecided voters will swing to the right and give the Senate back to the GOP.

Most people agree that the Democrates have little chance to win back the house in November. And Curious George will obviously be in charge of the White Primate House for at least two more years. So if the Republicans regain control of the Senate, Bush will have almost unmitigated authority to put his polices in place at home and abroad.

There'll be no one to rein in this damnable 'war on terror." There'll be no one to hold the excutive to fiscal responsility with a necessary tax increase. Roe v. Wade, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Medicare, Social Security, education --they will all lie at the mercy of the Republican party. A true American nightmare from hell, just in time for Halloween.

What scares me most about a goverment dominated by Republicansis the jud9icial appointments Bush would be able to make. I believe thyat Congress benefits from a balance in party distribution, but I do not trust conservatives as judges. Bush could pack the courts so full of right-wing stalwarts that it would be decades before decent people with legitimate grievances could get a fair shake at justice. Judicial activism would take a backseat to run of the mill legislative status quo, and social progress would grind to a halt. Perish the thought.

So yes, I understand the Democrat asolutely have to hold onto the Senate; conscince or no conscience, America is probaly better off for now if they shut up and tow the line so they can raise hell later. But I wish just one of them would stand up tall and demand that the White House stop blowing smoke up America's general ass.

For the life of me, I don't know how someone as moronic as Bush could be clever enough to pin the opposition to the ground the way he has. I wish the brains of the operation would meet and untimely demise, thought. That may seem cruel, but we're about to glut the desert sand with prescious human blood as a sacrifice to someon's ruthless political savvy, and I'd just as soon one Republican stratgist die as see a host of yo8ung men and women slaughtered to win elections.

What has Saddam done, anyway? He's supposedly building all these weapons of mass dstruction, but we've had Iraq locked up tighter than a wetsuit for a decade. We shoot down their planes and we patrol parts of their borders. We've suffocated them with trade s embargo.

So my question is, what in the hell is Saddam building his nukes with? The only answer I can come up with is that he's building them with nothing but sand and oil. That's why we've got to get him: with his new method of using sand and oil to stockpile a nuclear arsenal, we could trun Texas into one giant war machine.

Seriously, though. Who believes that this is reallya bout saftey? We consider North Korea a rouge state and we know they have nukes, so why arent' we going there? We know for a fact that Israeli army fired missles --most likely ones we've provided--into a crowded street this week and killed seve Palestinian civians. But we aren't going to bother them.