Blessed

This letter to the editor appeared in the Marquette, Michigan, Mining Journal shortly before George W. Bush's election to his second term as US President. I forget the date my letter was published; 11-1-04 is just a guess. Now Bush is a lame duck President and the task at hand is to vote out of office those in Congress, whether Republican or Democrat, who followed his misleadership.

     Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." So, cursed are the warmongers. Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." So, cursed are the arrogant. Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." So, cursed are those who hunger and thirst with power-lust and greed. Jesus said, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." The basic notion of this highest law, this golden rule, is to treat all humans with that fundamental consideration, respect, and compassion with which you wish others to treat you. The opposite of the law of the golden rule is the law of gangsterism, the might makes right law, the do as I say not as I do law. Thus we learn from the Bible that George "Warmonger" Bush and his cronies are not just liars but are [rhymes with "sham"] liars.
     I can imagine no greater sin than jingoistic warmongering, ordering an invasion and war of occupation with zero regard for the golden rule or even for the ancient traditional minimal standards of just war. That Bush was lying about his Iraq war and had ulterior motives was evident from the get-go, even before the evidence exposing his lies mounted. A look at America's history of military intervention, with "regime change" meaning tossing out a democratic government and putting into power a dictator or an oligarchy more often than meaning the converse, with maximizing U.S. power and profit being the determining factor; a recollection of those Cold War decades when the U.S. really was threatened every moment by thousands of hair-trigger weapons of mass destruction; a reading of Bush administration foreign policy position papers; and observing Bush's contempt for international law and for the UN all lit in my thoughts a neon, "Mendacious power-tripper!" whenever I heard him spout his war propaganda.
     I hope that Americans reject Bush's boss of bosses, might makes right, pay tribute to American foreign investors or be crushed by the iron fist foreign policy and vote him out of office.
     President Bush may yet save his soul by repenting of his sins of warmongering, of prevaricating to the people, of by the occupation worsening the global terrorism situation, etc. If he does not, may God (but not the voters) have mercy on him.

          Brian Leekley
          Marquette, Michigan