FLAIT

During WWII my parents and grandparents were rationing everything from food to fuel. They sacrificed at home while our soldiers were sacrificing even more overseas.

In 2001 as we were headed to war in Afghanistan, the only sacrifice President Bush asked of the country was to "go shopping" (for gas guzzling, tax deductible SUV's no less). Then as he pushed us into a war in Iraq, he called for more tax cuts.

So while American soldiers were risking their lives everyday - without the proper Kevlar vests and armored protection - Republicans were not only celebrating their selfish tax cuts, but had the nerve to demand more.

What's wrong with this picture?

If cutting taxes is so important, why haven't Republicans cut taxes specifically on our brave troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq? Heck, why not go so far and make 100% of their pay tax free, and repeal Bush's tax cuts to pay for them (with the military stretched dangerously thin, they are using tax free bonuses to entice reenlistment. But soldiers have a difficult choice to make because if they don't re-up, they could be subject to "stop loss" orders, remain in Afghanistan or Iraq, and get nothing.)?

I'll tell you why. Because in a time of not one but two wars, Bush and the GOP's priorities were to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

That sound you hear is FDR spinning in his grave...again.

But wait, there's more.

Hurricane Katrina not only destroyed the Gulf Coast, but it put the squeeze on an oil market that was already getting tighter. So Bush had no choice and tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).

The sole reason for the SPR is to have access to oil in the event of a crisis. So when the SPR's tapped, it is an emergency. But Bush treated it as if he was tapping a keg at a frat party.

Once he opened the SPR, why didn't President Bush ask Americans to ration gas - say a 10 gallon limit at the pump (20 at highway rest stops) - at least for a few months, to ensure that by say Feb. 1, every drop that was taken from the SPR was replaced?

But that's asking a lot from this President because we're assuming he understands what tapping the SPR means. Perhaps we should be asking simpler questions:

1. Does Bush realize that the SPR must be replenished ASAP?
2. Does he intend on replenishing the SPR?
3. Does he have a plan to replenish the SPR?
4. Does he care about replenishing the SPR?

While I believe gas taxes should have been higher a long time ago, I would have supported waving the federal gas tax during the rationing period to give motorists a break on the rising prices. However, to make up for the loss of revenue, it would have been a few cents higher when the rationing ended (and if necessary, a few additional pennies would have been added on top of that next spring).

Over a thousand were killed and a million people lost everything they had, including their home. So is it asking too much for Americans to sacrifice by rationing gas and to pay little bit more?

That's what presidential leadership in a national emergency during war time is all about. But as we've seen over the last five years, this President couldn't lead a pack of girl scouts out of the mall.

(Should Hurricane Rita take out more oil rigs in the Gulf and/or the refineries around Houston - and/or destroy the natural gas infrastructure in the area which would create shortage problems of its own - it will not only make the nations fuel supply even more precarious, but more gas will have to be drained from the SPR. That should force Bush to call for some sort of rationing because he'd have no choice. But since this obstinate White House believes that energy conservation, under any circumstances, is for wimps, they could very well treat this problem with the same shrug they treat everything else with).

As for rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, it will run into hundreds of billions of dollars. But with a straight face Bush said there's no need to raise taxes because we can pay for it by cutting "unnecessary spending."

Ah, Mr. President, so you mean to tell me that you've been spending our money "unnecessarily" for five years?

Why wasn't that "unnecessary spending" cut years ago? It could have funded the levee reinforcement projects around New Orleans!

But I don't understand. I thought Bush and the Republicans were already "cutting waste, fraud and abuse" so we can "live within our means" under "physically responsible budgets" (this is called illustrating the absurd by being absurd).

Based on their track record, I wouldn't let a Republican budget a trip to McDonalds.

That said, let me see if I have this straight: We're fighting two wars - neither with an end in sight - we're supposedly fighting a global war on terrorism, we're supposedly trying to keep the homeland safe, Medicare and Medicaid costs are skyrocketing, there's missile defense to deploy (the GOP is hoping you've forgotten about that), there's a $300+ billion deficit (there was a surplus when Clinton left office), an $8 trillion debt (it was under $6 trillion when Clinton left office) and we have to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (and whatever destruction Hurricane Rita leaves behind). And we're supposed to pay for all that without a single tax increase?

Yup, sounds like more Republican logic to me!

So I have a few questions for Republicans:

1. What has to happen - how big does a war have to be, how big does a natural disaster have to be? - for you to support any tax increase to pay for them?

2. If you won't support any tax increases to pay for two wars and an entire region that needs rebuilding, what would it take...three wars and two regions that need rebuilding?

3. What has to happen - how big does a war have to be, how big does a natural disaster have to be? - for you to sacrifice?

4. If the GOP is the "party of responsibility," why are they handing the bill for all this to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and their children?

5. Just about every person that has run for President has said they'd "never raise taxes unless there's a crisis, war or natural disaster."

Well?

So I was right - The Truth Behind George W. Bush* - this is the GOP's strategy: Cut taxes, borrow and spend, start an unnecessary war, ignore the country's infrastructure, including the levees around New Orleans, so one way or another - by war and/or a natural disaster and refusing to raise taxes to pay for them - it'll put the country on the brink of bankruptcy. And the only way out is to make drastic cuts in Social Security and Medicare, thus fulfilling the GOP's goal of dismantling those nasty "big government" social programs; a process which they compassionately call "starving the beast."

This is the first of a four part series that explains how the Republican Party - with the help of passive, afraid of their own shadow Democrats - is destroying America and why we need "big government" to rebuild it.