SHADES OF ENRON!
by Jericho Van Orman

To the surprise of almost no one, the Republican Party plans to make the ongoing "war on terrorism" the centerpiece of its campaign strategy for the 2002 Congressional elections. So much for the "bipartisan" spirit that President Bush promised he'd bring to Washington. So much for "United We Stand." Republicans, riding on the blood and stability of those young American men and women, will make a run for every elected office open to them and try to be elected to Congress in 2004.

But what do we do about the blood and the stability of our people here on the home front, the ones who already gave up potions of their lives in past wars? What's happening to them? They are now middle aged and hanging on by their nails to a precarious future or no future at all. They have now lost or are losing every thing they fought for and worked hard for. One such case has hit home for this reporter. While his case is no different from the thousands of others that have suffered through this debacle called the "Republican Regime", it's nonetheless a good example of what's insidiously eroding our society.  (read: “It's a Mess!”)  

My brother, a Viet-Nam War veteran, is on the brink of financial ruin. In the wake of corporate leaning, his company has elected to "blackout" their 401K, eliminate medical insurance coverage for everyone except those in management, and cut the hours of his work week. While what his company is doing is not illegal, the rank and file of employees, especially those of more that twenty-five years of seniority, which is the majority of that company's work force, considers it a dastardly move. In my brother's case, his wife, who is gravely ill, and his oldest daughter need constant medical attention and prescription drugs. The loss of his medical insurance, not to mention his full time hours and non-accessibility to his 401k savings, will surely put him into ruin -- after an adult lifetime of 'doing it' by the rules!

The irony of it all is that many prominent Republicans and their apologists, like Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Texas Senator Phil Gramm, likewise Rush Limbaugh, George Will and Pat Buchanan, just to name a few big mouths, all managed to avoid military service during the Vietnam era sitting out that war to give themselves a chance to pursue their education and their dreams, while my brother, the schmuck, believed the hype and responded to his draft notice at the tender age of eighteen.

Meanwhile the liberals these Republican folk like to smear -- such as Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and former Vice President Al Gore, the man who is actually our real president -- all of them Vietnam veterans -- are the ilk of the kind of people who could have kept all these domestic tragedies from happening. I'm convinced of that!

As long as the current war is going well -- "well" being defined as few American casualties, no new terrorist attacks on American soil and President Bush's approval rating hovering in the high 80s -- can you imagine that -- that may be the only issue the GOP can campaign on. Can they campaign on the economy and our pronounced domestic problems? No!

The current recession doesn't seem to be going away all that quickly and handing out billions of dollars in tax breaks, subsidies and other pork to corporate America -- the GOP's idea of "economic stimulus" -- isn't going to do anything for the more than the one million people who've lost their jobs since the Sept. 11 attacks. And don't forget Enron, the poster child for the kind of crony capitalism that is now being practiced in America -- like the company my brother works for -- a scam where a select few profit and everyone else gets screwed.

The U.S. is losing jobs, and/or hours and /or benefits at the fastest rate in 20 years. The majority of American workers never saw the gains from the 1990s economic boom. Homeless shelters and food pantries are turning people away for the first time in years -- people who have jobs, but can't afford to pay their rent or buy groceries. There are more than 40 million Americans without health insurance and thousands more families will add to those rolls as more and more companies eliminate their health insurance benefits. Is flag waving and patriotic blather going to help these people? No! But then again, the GOP doesn't care anyway. After all, they have been, are now, and forever will be the party of the rich and powerful. You won't hear anything from them about extending unemployment benefits, offering health insurance to the jobless or near jobless, coming up with more help for the working poor.

I think we aren't going to hear about any bold alternatives to the Republican plunder from the Democrats. I don't know why as here is their big opportunity to truly differentiate themselves from the GOP. Too bad they seem too timid to take them on. This party is not the Democratic Party I'm used to and it's not the Democratic Party I voted for. If the Republicans intend to use the war as a political weapon, then the Democrats should take Rove's words as a signal that the time for phony bipartisanship is over. And the fight begins with doing something real and substantive about the economic inequity that the GOP proudly stands for. And this goes beyond investigating the Enron collapse and that company's many, many links to the Bush team. It means taking a hard look at last year's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut plan that an earlier issue of PressPoints  (read: “The Big Giveaway”)  trounced, which mainly benefited the wealthy.

Frankly, you can't fight a global war, deal with a recession and cut taxes all at the same time without again running huge deficits. The GOP will scream that the Democrats are raising taxes. But the people appear to be already ahead of the politicians. A recent ABC News poll found 52 percent of the people they surveyed favored canceling the Bush Administration's tax cuts if doing so means avoiding budget deficits, compared to 32 percent who want to leave the tax cuts as is. One can only imagine the response if the question were framed as tax cuts versus increased national security or tax cuts versus unemployment payments and health insurance for the jobless or even the nation as a whole. The Clinton's were not all that wrong in fighting for a "National Health" program. Today the cost of that program looks cheap when compared to what's happening to us on our domestic front.

Let the conservatives scream about "class warfare" and "tax and spend liberals." Once the American people know the score, all the flag waving in the world won't help the GOP in the face of a slumping economy. If you doubt this, just ask President George W. Bush's father about how fast a 90 percent approval rating can disappear. I only wish that this horrible nightmare that came out of the Florida elections debacle would disappear!

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