Bush's Budget Proposal: Is This Who We Really Are?

[RJnAbbysNana]

Published on Friday, February 10, 2006 by CommonDreams.org

Bush’s Budget Proposal: Is This Who We Really Are?

by Robert Freeman


It’s a cliché but it’s true: budgets reflect priorities. It was never so true as it is for President Bush’s new budget proposal.

Bush’s budget expresses in financial terms what he wants our country to profess itself to be. That is what a budget is, after all: a testament of who a society is and what it wants to become. For, as with individuals, a country becomes those things it chooses.

Bush wants us to choose and to proclaim that we prefer war over peace, debt over solvency, enriching the wealthy over helping the poor, and enriching ourselves while impoverishing our children. When you lay aside all the unctuous homilies and put your money where your mouth is, that is what Bush’s budget actually says.

Most of the wars our nation has fought have been forced on us. World War II and Korea come to mind. But some wars have been wars of our own choosing. Vietnam and Iraq stand out. Those wars were not forced on us by evil enemies, they were foisted us by deceitful leaders.

The problem that Bush’s budget confronts us with today is that there is not enough money to both fight his $1+ trillion war of choice AND take care of the nation’s needs at home. The question the budget proposes to answer, therefore, is, “Who do we throw out of the lifeboat?” Coming from Bush, the answer is foreordained.

<snip> (reluctantly)..........

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0210-23.htm

[Firenze777]

1. postively elegant and simple way to phrase it

thanks for the find.

[OneBlueSky]

2. "Bush wants us to choose and to proclaim that we prefer war . . .

over peace, debt over solvency, enriching the wealthy over helping the poor, and enriching ourselves while impoverishing our children. When you lay aside all the unctuous homilies and put your money where your mouth is, that is what Bush’s budget actually says." . . .

succinct, and right on target . . . recommended . . .