Perky Protests

Sometimes, when I find myself feeling really “Bushed,” I remind me that I lived through the imperial reign of Richard M. Nixon and Spiro Agnew. The election of those two icons of nastiness fairly persuaded me that maybe democracy wasn’t such a good idea.

Agnew was a sleazy, name-calling student-basher (during the days of student protests over Vietnam), and Nixon came across as the sort of man you hoped had to get approval from his manager if he was selling you a used car. He seemed so obviously paranoid that the “shocking” news that he’d had his office and nearly all his conversations secretly bugged wasn’t really much of a surprise. He had an enemies list and a profound distrust of nearly everyone – a man who wanted that damn office soooo bad I doubt he ever gave much thought to what he might actually bring to it, and the country.

We survived those folks and we’ll survive Bush. We’ve had presidents before who’ve catered to the rich, damaged the environment, and tried to crush the freedoms guaranteed to us by law, precedent, and the Constitution.

The one thing, however, that makes me want to polish off my barricades and brush up my immunity to tear gas occurred the other day when Bush, during an interview, was asked what he thought of his brother, Jeb, as a possible candidate for the presidency in 2008. “He’d make a fine president,” was Bush’s comment.

I think it’s time for that whole family to get off of government welfare and get real jobs.