The Bush manifesto envisions a world dominated by U.S. interests where all nations are governed by "a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise." While Bush obviously believes the United States to be the perfect model thereof, nothing could be further from the truth.
While it may be true that U.S. Americans have more freedoms than much of the world, many of those precious civil rights and freedoms have, in essence, been made moot by the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act last year. Moreover, how free is someone who, from birth, is given a social identifying number and is forced to pay income taxes under the pains and penalties of having one's assets confiscated and/or of being sent to prison? Are U.S. citizens not, in a sense, nothing but indentured servants to their government system?
As for a democratic government "of, by, and for the people," a close look at how the U.S. government is presently run reveals a veritable plutocracy (or government ruled by the wealthy) in which faceless corporations enjoy the same rights as citizens. Only, the former has much greater buying power and, thus, undue influence on government policies and decision-making.
How democratic is a government where third party candidates, who have jumped all the hurdles, collected all the necessary signatures and legitimately made it onto election ballots, are time and again summarily excluded from televised election debates?
While it may be true that U.S. Americans have more freedoms than much of the world, many of those precious civil rights and freedoms have, in essence, been made moot by the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act last year. Moreover, how free is someone who, from birth, is given a social identifying number and is forced to pay income taxes under the pains and penalties of having one's assets confiscated and/or of being sent to prison? Are U.S. citizens not, in a sense, nothing but indentured servants to their government system?
As for a democratic government "of, by, and for the people," a close look at how the U.S. government is presently run reveals a veritable plutocracy (or government ruled by the wealthy) in which faceless corporations enjoy the same rights as citizens. Only, the former has much greater buying power and, thus, undue influence on government policies and decision-making.
How democratic is a government where third party candidates, who have jumped all the hurdles, collected all the necessary signatures and legitimately made it onto election ballots, are time and again summarily excluded from televised election debates?