Did Bush Leave Us Bankrupt, Corrupt, Ungovernable?

[kpete]

Did Bush Leave Us Bankrupt, Corrupt, Ungovernable?

The conservatives destroyed the regulatory structure of the government. They removed the inspectors, administrators, regulators and replaced them with corrupt cronies.

The conservatives killed off, contracted out or sold off - "privatized" - so much of our in-common resources and heritage of public structures. Water systems, oil and mineral leases, government functions, elements of the military, etc.

The conservatives destroyed the rule of law, leaving behind public perception of rule by cronyism, favoritism and mob.

The conservatives destroyed public understanding of democracy, leaving behind a one-dollar-one-vote system that their Supreme Court just formalized, along with a corporate media that works to keep people uninformed. And to make matters worse, now the telecoms can argue before Federalist Society judges that their "speech rights" are violated by rules making them carry labor and progressive websites over the internet lines they control. And forget about the idea of them ever letting anti-corporate-rule candidates raise money on "their" internet.

more:
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=17272

[Go2Peace]

1. No, it started from Reagan and Democrats participated too.

Bush is an obvious target. but in a way he was "good", in that he was so OBVIOUS and took things to such a big extreme that it woke a lot of people up.

I get a little concerned when I see people focusing completely on Bush, because by doing so we miss the true cause of our condition. These are failed idologies, and also a failing social order with bancrupt values even amongst a lot of the population.

We have a lot of work to do, if we can even put it all back together at this point.

[3waygeek]

2. Yes, no, and maybe, in that order

The corruption started long before Shrub or even Poppy; they just rewarded it. The US is still governable, if just barely; the Democrats just need to show some backbone & lay the smack down on the Rethugs.

[mmonk]

Yes.

We needed a strong willed party to take control these last few elections but enough dems are for sale we can't seem to reverse course.

[Owl]

3. Yes.

[frazzled]

4. And I believe it was intentional

You know, they've been wanting to take government and "drown it in the bathtub" for some time.

But in the short term, it felt sort of like take-the-money-and run--leaving the country in a horrible state, which would ensure the predictable outrage at the next administration for being unable to fix it in less than a year ... thereby insuring their return to power (and mayhem) again.

Normally, I'm not conspiratorial. But I do believe that a portion of this was intended. It got out of control, sure (sort of like everything they did--they never thought out the long-term consequences of anything, like Iraq). But it wasn't wholly unintended or just purely ideological.

[sandnsea]

5. They "Katrina'd" the entire country

and no disrespect to the horrific devastation of Katrina which was clearly much greater than the rest of us. But as to the incompetence that allowed the devastation to be as bad as it was, the Bushies allowed the same incompetence to nearly destroy us all.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Yes

[L0oniX]

7. I blame Reagan, Bush, Clinton and then Bush.

All had a major part in our destruction.

[timeforpeace]

8. Ungovernable was dubbed the new catch phrase a month ago. See, it's our fault, not Obama's.

[fascisthunter]

9. The Wealthy Elite Have Been Chipping Away for Years

Bush is one moment in a long time-line, but yes, he was definitely instrumental in deregulating the system. Now rat fucker business men and women can do as they please, and that glass ceiling just got lower, much lower.

[zeemike]

10. OK Yes I am a tin foil er.

I think it was there plan to finely rid themselves of that pesky democracy thing that keeps them from being the king that they feel they deserve to be.

And the time is right...we have several generations of people that have been conditioned by the media to be docile and affraid...very affraid....and ignorant of the real world aground them.
They own the tools so why not use them?

[Lint Head]

11. Yes. He also left us tortured and accessories to murder.

He should be in jail for treason!