The problem, Mr. Bush, is not that we are addicted to oil; it is that you are addicted to power and control and winning at all costs. How dare you turn this around. This reminds me of the drunk who spends the pay check at the bar and then berates the wife and kids for the bills not being paid or for needing food to eat. Addicted to oil--how could you make such an ignorant and unfounded statement? We are moving into the sixth year of your watch as President and you are just getting around to the fact that we have to look at alternative sources of fuel. Where have you been????
Global warming, caused largely from the emissions that come from burning fossil fuels, is not going to just affect tree huggers-it is going to, and is affecting all of us who inhabit this planet together. Protecting this planet should be the top priority of every country on the planet-we live in and on our lunch box. Where have you been?
I spent four weeks in New Orleans this fall trying to be of a least some small help there. Much of this area looks exactly as it did shortly after the hurricane went through. Your words and your actions do not match Mr. President-your cheerleading speeches in Louisiana and Mississippi about rebuilding this area have not been followed up with action. The greatest natural disaster in our country's history was given token mention at the end of your State of Union speech. Much of this area looks exactly as it did shortly after the hurricane went through. I was stunned that you could actually say in your speech in Tennessee, the day after your State of the Union address, how impressed you were and how proud you were of the American people for reaching out to those made homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Well I am proud of us also, however, I am not proud of, in fact I am deeply ashamed of the slow response by our government to this tragedy, not just initially, but to this day.
It did not take an expert in emergency response and crisis management in times of disaster to realize that the scope of the disaster along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was far beyond the capacity of any local or state government to manage or respond to sufficiently. The American people who watched the images of people crying and begging for help and for evacuation from rooftops and from the Superdome and Convention Center for days knew that. It was also apparent that the local and in some cases regional infrastructure of support and response to disaster had collapsed. We, the American people, watched this live on every news channel in the country-for days. People from around the world watched-saw what was happening for what it was-for days. No amount of spin can undo those painful and compelling images or reframe what happened and what did not happen in a way that makes your or your administration look good or blameless.
The true problem here is the pouring of so much of our natural resources into the black hole that your Iraq agenda has become. I am not talking about just the financial cost; that pales in the face of the cost of lives, both American and Iraqi that have been sacrificed in the service of your Iraq agenda. You started out your first term of office with a large surplus in the budget. Six years into your watch, we are dealing with a staggering deficit that will haunt my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and yours.
Why was Cindy Sheehan's tee shirt for which she was arrested and thrown out of our Hall of Congress before the State of the Union address considered anti-war or un-American? The tee shirt stated a fact, "2,245 dead", and asked a question. "How many more?" Is a statement of truth and an honest question unpatriotic and un-American? One of the hallmarks of an addictive system is that it is allergic to the truth and to reality. Criticism is perceived as a lack of loyalty or treason.
If there is an addictive process going on here, it lies in you and your agenda in Iraq. An addictive process is never satiated, requires more and more of a system's resources to sustain it, and is powerful, baffling and cunning. An addictive system does not deal with reality or take responsibility. It operates on illusion, delusional thinking and projection of blame. Addictive systems are sustained by denial, distortion of truth, telling of half truths, withholding key information, loyalty to, enabling of, and protection of the addict(s), fear of retribution, slogans, black and white thinking, and preying on people's anxiety and fear. Impression management and the control of information and people's emotions are the modus operandi of an addictive system. Hmmm, I think I have just described your administration Mr. Bush. Be careful who you call an addict; projections have a way of coming home to roost.
Megan Bronson is a mother, grandmother, nurse, psychotherapist and author who has grave concerns regarding the impact of the current administration's decisions on future generations of children, of not only this country, but of the world.
Email: meganbronson@comcast.net
