Category: Unwanted Political Opinions (Page 4 of 4)

Once upon a time, I worked with a programmer that wasn’t very good. Quite simply, his work was buggy, late, and was almost impossible for other programmers to work with, even though he was writing core infrastructure code. We put him through the standard HR rigamaroles – action plans and whatnot – but his work didn’t improve. Eventually we fired him – just days before layoffs cut off serious numbers at our organization. Afterwards, I went to his lead and said, “You must have known the layoffs were coming. I certainly did. Why didn’t you wait until then?”

“Because,” he responded, “I wanted him to know he was fired.”

There’s been a lot of talk about the Democratic Party and whatnot, and how they seem to be running on how their candidate ‘isn’t George W Bush’. This is often cited as a bad thing, and I certainly understand that going negative isn’t going to sell to the undecided voter. That being said, it never fails to intrigue me how the conservative friends I know are completely dissatisfied with Dubya, but plan to vote for him anyway.

I lean left, always have. In college, I almost joined a commune, except at the last second I decided I favored spending time with roommates that bathed. So it’s no surprise that I’m against Bush. I think the current administration will be seen as a disgraceful blot on our nation’s history. And personally, I’d like to see an election on November where Dubya, at the end of the day, knew he was fired.

It’s happened before. In Missouri, the citizens there voted in a dead man over John Ashcroft in 2000. Clearly, at the end of the day, John Ashcroft knew he was fired. Unfortunately, Dubya failed to check his references.

I don’t think that Kerry will die to add that extra umph, but I do think that a repudiation of Bush’s policies are in order – by his own faithful. First, though, conservatives need to get some backbone, and fire him. You can do it. Don’t worry about the presidency- Republicans will still control the House, the Senate and the Courts, so Kerry will be largely ineffectual until John McCain can run in 2008 and win in a walk.

However, it’d be nice if the conservatives could remember the ways that Bush has betrayed them. His economic policies aren’t conservative, he doesn’t favor states rights, and he stands by an Attorney General who has no regard whatsoever for civil liberties.

His foreign policy has been remarkable in its weakness – we’re overextended, with two newly-created unstable countries in a region full of people who hate us, and our allies no longer trust us, given that our rationale for war in Iraq has been proven to be a house of cards. If we really wanted to chase after terrorist breeding grounds, why not go after Saudi Arabia? If we really wanted to dethrone a homocidal maniac, why not go after someplace where people are killed in the millions? If we were really worried about weapons of mass destruction, why not go after the REALLY crazy guy who already has them?

Quite simply, Bush has betrayed pretty much all of the noble ideals of conservatism. He needs a rap on the knuckles. Maybe then, the next president that runs on the faith of his conservative base will remain true to the ideals that put them there.

If he loses, though, I’ll still miss Will Ferrell’s depiction of him.