SO MANY BARBARAS, ONLY ONE GEORGE - PART I of IV

--THE JOURNEY FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM

TO THE HEART OF DARKNESS

by David Fierst

 

 

 

“You just don’t luck into things as much as you’d like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it’s friendships or opportunities.”

 

Barbara Bush

 

 

 

For they (scribes and pharisees) bind heavy burdens and grevious to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

 

Matthew 23:4 KJV

 

 

... the poor have disappeared from the culture at large, from its political rhetoric and intellectual endeavors as well as from its daily entertainment. Even religion seems to have little to say about the plight of the poor... The moneylenders have finally gotten Jesus out of the temple.

 

Nickel and Dimed by

Barbara Ehrenreich, New York,

Henry Holt and Company 2001

 

 

 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 

Matthew 25:40 KJV

 

 

Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are:

... 4) folly or perversity. This book is concerned with the last in a specific manifestation, that is, the pursuit of policy contrary to the self-interest of the constituency or state involved. Self-interest is whatever conduces to the welfare or advantage of the body being governed; folly is a policy that in these terms is counter-productive.

 

March of Folly by

Barbara Tuchman, New York,

Random House, 1984

 

 

 

A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.

Proverbs 14:15 NIV

 

Boxer scores 100% by the AFL-CIO on labor.

 

www.issues2000.org/domestic/barbara_boxer

 

 

 

No, the kind of fasting I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn.

Isaiah 58:6 Living Bible

 

 

Cruel, cocky and corporatized George W. Bush is the son of the above quoted Barbara Bush, who prides herself on her down-home style. However, when I read her words, I get the same feeling I did when I read Leona Helmsley’s statement that “only little people pay taxes” (which, in the case of the Bush Administration, is quite true). In any event, by all accounts, George W. Bush was influenced more by Barbara Bush than just about anyone.

 

Nonetheless, average Americans would have more reason for hope if 3 other Barbaras - Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbara Boxer, and Barbara Tuchman had W’s ear. (Since Barbara Tuchman is now deceased, W would have to devote some time to study to gain any insight from her).

 

First, to understand Bush is to realize that cruelty is the oil that lubricates his family. When Barbara Bush speaks of building “step by step,” she cruelly mocks those of us who don’t have the kind of connections W. had and continues to have. When ultra-right winger Ann Coulter told a disabled Vietnam Veteran that “it was because of guys like you that we lost the war,”* she wasn’t talking about W., whose connections kept him far from the battlefield. Barbara Ehrenreich reminds us in Nickel and Dimed that most of us weren’t born in a Connecticut suburb like Ann Coulter or born into a dynasty as in the case of Barbara Bush.

 

Second, if cocky George W. Bush had read a little of recent history, he would have realized his ill-advised Iraq scheme was destined to become an unholy mess. Since the whole enterprise is not going as swimmingly as hoped, W’s cockiness is turning into, what else - - cruelty - - he is now looking for someone to blame for the so called “failure” of WMD intelligence in Iraq. No matter that Cheney was determined to prove WMDs existed in Iraq and the neocons have been itching to get Saddam for years. Yet, even a cursory reading of Barbara Tuchman’s March of Folly would have indicated to Mr. Bush his administration was under the same “self hypnosis” over Iraq as previous administrations suffered before the catastrophe of Vietnam. As Lewis Lapham, quoting Ambrose Bierce, notes: “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”**

 

Thirdly, George W. Bush is so corporatized he has never taken a position favorable to the common man and contrary to corporate interests. However, Senator Barbara Boxer from California received a 100% favorable rating by the AFL-CIO for her pro-labor voting record. She has consistently voted for such working man’s issues like increasing the minimum wage and against such farces as allowing workers to choose between overtime and comp-time and the so called Bankruptcy Reform Act. It would be nice to see W. work for the average person once.

 

It is unlikely the influence of Barbara Bush will ever lose its grip on George W. Bush, the perpetual adolescent. However, the rest of us can ponder the examples and thoughtfulness of the non-Bush Barbaras. Since Hunter is now gone, we need to re-double our efforts to understand how we have allowed W. To lead us from peace and prosperity to war and economic chaos. From Barbara Ehrenreich we can contemplate the lives of people who perform menial tasks for minimal pay. Barbara Tuchman has written about the folly of governments choosing courses of action contrary to their own self-interest. Barbara Boxer provides us with an example of an individual willing to fight for common people. Part II, then, begins with a review of the world of the working wounded portrayed in Nickel and Dimed.

 

* What Liberal Media Eric Alterman, New York, Basic Books 2003

 

** “Stitches in Time” Lewis Lapham, Harpers April 2005