I want to start the New Year off with a
new article and a new regional and national focus. This year the column
will be renamed, 'Truth Justice and Equality,' with weekly subtitles to
fit the specific weekly topic. This way, I have the flexibility to write
about a wider range of issues and interest to our growing readership. This
week subtitle of Truth, Justice and Equality is 'Two Years of Republican
Domination.' Now that the Republican Controlled, U.S. Supreme Court handed
the Presidency over to President Select Bush in a successful coup d' etat,
we must now come to grips with the reality that the Republican Party controls
the U .S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate is 50/50 with VP Select
Dick Cheney having the power to break any tie vote.
Personally, I don't think there will be
a lot of ties in the Senate, because of the Southern Dixiecrats in the
Senate will vote with the Republicans on most issues. As I heard one reporter
from Texas say, 'A Democrat in Texas is a Republican anywhere else.' The
Republicans certainly control the Supreme Court and the White House. What
will this 'unholy' alliance mean locally, nationally and internationally?
Locally, for those of us in Illinois, the Republicans also control the
Illinois State Senate and the Executive Branch.
Nationally, the Republicans have no excuse
for not 'making America a better place during the next two years. That
is until the 2002 Congressional elections. The Republicans can do whatever
they want. They can take all the credit if their agenda is the right agenda
for today. Conversely, they must take all the blame if their agenda is
out of date of divisive.
What's in the cards for the nation? There
will be more military spending even though the U.S. is the strongest military
power in the history of the world without any comparable adversary. This
brings us to the international arena with serious talk of a 'Ronald Reagan'
type of starwars missile system, which will cost the taxpayers billions
of dollars. Even the so-called experts state that this system is a pipe
dream, the repercussions are twofold. One will be a redistribution of wealth
to the military industrial corporations and two a heating up of the arms
race in a number of nations.
If you live in China or Russia, and you
think a space-based system could shoot down your missiles, but you can't
stop their missiles from hitting you, then all hopes of cooperation is
shot to the blazes or wherever it is. So much for cooperation on building
a space station; so much for Global Trade; so much for World Peace! We
don't need a war to grow and expand the world economy, Mr. Bush.
The pattern of bringing back previous Bush,
Reagan and Ford Administrations' personnel is not a good sign. Select Bush
went all the way back to the Ford Administration to rename the 1975 Secretary
of Defense to the same job in 2001. This tells me that VP Cheney will be
the real president and former President Bush will be the real Chief of
Staff. Get ready for a trip back in time.
Lastly, I want to give my version of the
biggest stories of last year. Some stories are on everyone's lists, the
Olympics, the Presidential Election and Middle East Conflict. But what
about the Million Family March, The 2000 Census Count and the biggest story--The
weather around the world. The weather is the biggest determinant of our
quality of life, but few have paid attention to the increasingly violent
and destructive weather changes we experienced in the year 2000. Remember
the floods, forest fires, record heat and droughts, and earthquakes around
the world. Here in the U.S. we have had record snowfalls and cold temperatures
in the south during December. It almost as if God is punishing us for allowing
the election to be nullified by a few without any objections in a nation
of 283 million people.
This leads me to the ramification of the
2000 census. For us in Illinois, we will lose one congressional seat in
Washington, and as James Brown would say, 'You can bet your bottom dollar
that it will be a Black Congressman.' New York State and Pennsylvania both
will lose two seats while Georgia, Florida and California all gained two
congressional seats. For those who say so what, I say, 'population means
federal dollars returning back to your state, and more money should mean
better services and infrastructure improvements. The next time you hit
a pot hole and need front end work, ask yourself, 'What difference have
it (election) made?'