An article in the New York Times reports that “Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations. The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues.” Incredibly, he was even “ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.”
Sadly, this should come as no surprise. In fact, it will likely be the most enduring legacy of the Bush administration: The attempt to turn the entire government into a machine designed to support, promote and prolong the power of the Republican party. This takes precedence over the general welfare of the country or any other concern. We have seen it time and time again.
It’s what lies behind the appointment of political cronies to lead important government agencies such as FEMA, and what then leads to such avoidable disasters as the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. We see it in other appointments where the paramount qualification of the candidate is their loyalty to Bush in specific and Republicans in general. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is the ill-fated attempt to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, a decision so bad that even other Republicans could not get behind it.
We see it in appointments and policy decisions in almost every other department, such as the Bureau of Land Management which, as noted in a NYT column “was told early on in the Bush years to make drilling for oil and gas their top priority. A demoralized staff has followed through, but many describe their jobs the way a cowboy talks about having to shoot his horse.” We see it in the scandal involving the firing of federal prosecutors, apparently because they were not willing to promote a Republican agenda. We see it the administration’s censorship of the Climate Change Science Program, as well of virtually any science programs where the work is at odds with the Republican political slant.
It’s all part of the administration’s efforts to turn our democracy into a Republican autocracy.
At this point, for anyone who hopes that at least some aspects of the government can remain even slightly free of a Republican political agenda, and function in the public interest instead, the only hope is to wait for that glorious moment in January 2009, when Bush finally exits the White House. Only then can we begin to overturn the effects of what will surely go down in history as the most damaging presidency in our history.