My fellow Americans, before the State of the Union address on Jan. 31, which the president will likely fill with proclamations of patriotism, freedom and democracy, let’s take a moment to be honest about the real state of the union: damaged.
Since President George W. Bush’s last State of the Union address, America has traveled in search of a promised democracy that we have come no closer to finding. Democracy will not be found overseas in countries suffering from tyranny, corruption and poverty. Democracy, like peace, starts at home.
Over the last 12 months, death tolls resulting from the war in Iraq have soared, with an estimated 2,238 Americans now dead and approximate Iraqi civilian deaths ranging from 10,000 to more than 37,000.
We can no longer ignore the perils of this war or the lives it has taken. We need to be bothered by headlines noting the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians, like women shot dead when police attempted to clear traffic by shooting rounds into the air, like the U.S. military interpreter found dead by gunshot in a car in Baghdad, like the two Iraqi civilians who lost their lives to a roadside bomb or like the kidnapped American journalist Jill Carrol, whose life still remains at stake.
Mr. President, the union is in shambles and hopes for resolve continually grow dimmer as the plans for a reconstruction of Iraq’s infrastructure and government continue to fall short.
Many of the planned reform projects are failing as a result of an increased need for security because of the continuing insurgency. In a project aimed at bringing drinking water to more Iraqis, only approximately 34 percent of the original 8 million civilians it was to affect will now receive clean water. The Washington Post reports also show that 125 of the 425 electricity projects underway will not be completed, due to a $3 billion shift in funds.
Yet we continue to pour money into a war effort that damages our nation and its ill state of democracy. Let’s face it: We are no closer to democracy and liberty than we are to discovering Tuck’s fountain of immortality.
Iraq, unfortunately, is only one pressing concern for this disheartened union. Attempts to fight terrorism outside of Iraq have also presented great costs to America in the past year. The costs associated with war (civilian and soldier casualties and the nation’s growing debt) outweigh the marginal benefits of increasing our nation’s protection with little evidence that we actually prevented terrorism.
Ties between the administration and its citizens have also been crippled by Bush’s unwarranted domestic spying, which continues to leave Americans unsatisfied with their government. According to a recent poll by the Post, 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Bush handles ethics in the government.
Extensive government tax cuts throughout the years and increased spending on homeland security will cost Americans dearly in 2006 as deep spending cuts mark the president’s agenda. While the 2006 budget will cut funding for the Department of Homeland Security by $1 billion this year, its overall budget ($29.6 billion) still remains $3 billion higher than it was in 2004, the Post reported.
Sadly, education will be one of the big losers this year, as its already small budget will face a $1.5 billion cut. Preceding the passage of 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act, aimed at strengthening education by requiring students to achieve 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014, the president said, “If our country fails its responsibility to educate every child, we’re likely to fail in many other areas. But if we succeed in educating our youth, many other successes will follow throughout our country and in the lives of our citizens.”
Instead of following his own advice about national education, the president has spent the year promoting a Social Security reform bill that, if ever passed, would be so watered-down, its reforms would be useless. Focusing attention and funding back on a reform program that truly showed immense promise, such as the NCLBA, would be a huge step in the right direction for the future of America, particularly its youth, whose education is often overlooked and its importance underestimated.
Sadly, this week’s State of the Union address will be much less about presidential mistakes and how to correct them than it will be about avoidance.
Come Tuesday, the president will likely speak to our fears in an attempt to justify massive spending on all the wrong programs. He’ll stand in front of an American flag and he’ll preach to us about patriotism and democracy and cutting frivolous spending and greedy lawyers and illegal immigration. He’ll avoid all the key issues, but relentlessly shout his untiring support for the war in Iraq and the war on terror. He’ll be the king of the strawman argument. But the last thing America needs is a scarecrow as a president, frightening off other nations and alienating it with conquests.
This is our moment of opportunity. We must be brave — brave enough to acknowledge courage as more than combating the terrors of other nations. We must be brave in combating the terrors right here at home, starting with the administration.
The president can wave his flag as high as he likes, but that won’t change the crippled state of the union.
