Democracy consists of a fabric of rights, protections and responsibilities. Our democracy is endangered as the Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft/Rumsfield Administration tears it apart thread by thread. They claim to cherish US-style freedom and democracy and feel duty-bound to spread it throughout the world. But their actions show that to be a lie.

Creating Fear
They attack our Constitutional rights, largely under the guise of the “war on terrorism.” For example, our freedom of speech has been jeopardized by post 9/11 changes in FBI domestic spying guidelines. These changes, coupled with a climate of fear, have led the government to infiltrate some groups whose only “threat” was expressing their views.

Expanding Empire
The expanding empire of US military bases and the efforts to maintain the US as the sole superpower makes the world safer for large corporate “citizens,” and less safe for human citizens. The high unemployment rate in Iraq is an example of this. US administrators awarded most Iraqi reconstruction project contracts to US-based corporations, which tend to hire US Americans and low-wage foreign workers, not Iraqis. This violates the “right to work” clause of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Imposing Their “Morality”
The Bush Administration has actively tried to impose their version of morality on US Americans and the rest of the world. They would deny the benefits of civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples because, in their view, marriage can only be between a woman and a man. They would also deny a woman’s right to control her own body, and put roadblocks in the way of safer sex education to youth in developing countries.

The Bush Administration has become the worst kind of “Big Brother.” They say they know what is best for us, and how to protect us. We say, “No.” We say,

“Bye, Bye, Big Brother.”

Published by the Syracuse Peace Council – Founded in 1936