Consensus Is Growing Within Our Nation and Government

"Opinion"

12/07/2005

Paul Munnis

Thanks to Representative Jack Murtha and other members of the Democratic and GOP leadership such as Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Senators Schumer, Biden, McCain, Graham, Clinton, Warner, Kennedy, and many others too, there is consensus beginning to form concerning what to do about Iraq and other key American government problems.

It looks like a minimum troop reduction of coalition forces of at least 35,000 will happen for sure during 2006. This is because of two key reasons: coalition governments are pulling out their troops and there are a large number of U.S. military enlistments that will end during 2006. We do not have troop replacements due to poor enlistment and retention activities as well as poor foreign relations.

It also appears that of those U.S. troops that do remain in Iraq their mission will slowly change from leading aggressive ground combat operations to an increased support role with Iraqi’s performing the day to day policing and occupation duties. Our Air Force will give help to the Iraqi ground forces as requested while the Army and Marines will slowly withdraw from urban combat and take up positions of guarding oil fields and providing border security and also performing interdiction duties of those who enter Iraq illegally. Crack U.S. soldiers will be imbedded in Iraqi units and we will call in U.S. air cover and military strike forces as needed to keep the peace. It also appears that Bush plans to side with the Shiites and leave the Sunni’s to just go hang. That will not sit well in Saudi Arabia, the land of Sunni money and religious homecoming. That siding with the Shiites will assure a civil war within Iraq. The Iraqi election on December 15th will seal that fate and further characterize the politics of Iraq in the days to follow.

Another consensus growing is that G.W. Bush and his Administration have mismanaged the war effort in Iraq. They have had several opportunities to do things right but they continue to screw-up just about everything that they attempt. A consensus of ineptness has formed and it ranges from corruption of un-bid for awards of contracts to Bush Administration cronies to bad appointments of unqualified people. There are also charges of large-scale raids of the American Treasury as it applies to rebuilding Iraq with money that cannot be accounted for by U.S. and Iraqi politicians. When accountability is lacking then the worst must be assumed. In due time that aspect of governing will be sniffed out and if charges are warranted they will be brought and prosecution will happen.

Consensus also exists in the matter of the treatment of POW’s and enemy combatants and also concerning matters of CIA rendition. All torture and abuse must end and a return to the rules of the Geneva Convention must apply. This issue will be resolved in a matter of days. This could cost Alberto Gonzales his job. That will be decided in the next Congress.

Much blame seems to be traced to the doorstep of the Vice President and he may be asked to step down by the next Congress in 2006. If not then he will be muzzled. There is consensus that he is a major part of the U.S. problems.

The biggest problem however is what to do about the ongoing conduct of the war because the president has proven inept at directing the war effort for satisfactory results. His track record is one of fouling things up at key junctures of the war effort as he did for example in his poor handling of the evolution of the Iraqi Constitution wherein he allowed it to set the stage for a Church run state and for a Civil War to result. On the home front, Mr. Bush no longer has the confidence of the people of America and his record of lies and poor governance raise important questions. Should the war be taken out of the hands of Mr. Bush? Should Donald Rumsfeld be replaced? Should a Senate war group be formed to provide oversight? Should Mr. Bush be retired and replaced with someone more competent? Americans are becoming especially sensitive to falling into a habit of impeaching presidents whom we are unhappy with and so there may be an attempt to let him continue his term as a lame duck president.

Consensus for a change of leadership in the House and Senate is forming as Tom DeLay will not be in the House driver’s seat for a crucial period and Senator Bill Frist will be asked to give up his position of majority leader over his now confirmed but un-acted upon ethics violations.

A strange kind of consensus is also growing about hiring people to fill empty slots in the Bush Administration. The consensus is that it looks bad on your resume to have been associated with this Administration and it may be a career buster. The result is a lack of hiring and a lack of applicants.

Among Union leaders and rank and file members there is a consensus that the Labor Department needs to be staffed with people who work to create American jobs and behave to support the interests of the majority of Americans who are working people. To most that means cleaning out the Labor Department and staffing it with more responsible people.

As sad as it is, there is consensus growing not to throw good money after bad in a rebuilding effort inside of flood zones and areas of high danger of flooding in New Orleans. It is abetted by a perception of corrupt government in Louisiana that has been the image for years and it crosses Party lines. A rezoning of New Orleans will result and with it a sort of triage for restoration will be employed. Where there is private insurance for rebuilding and a willingness to do so, that will be the first reconstruction effort as long as they are not in flood zones. All else will be carefully scrutinized. We doubt that the slums of New Orleans will ever be restored. Levies will be rebuilt but likely not to Category 5 Hurricane standards. Much flood land will become recreational property. A federal low income housing effort will take precedence in New Orleans.

These are areas where there is not yet consensus. The debates on these will take place for awhile longer as our nation moves forward to resolve the Bush mess that is the Iraq War. In spite of the propaganda to the contrary the U.S. economy is also a mess. A sleeper of a huge problem is also waiting just over the hill for us in Afghanistan where America also faces tough choices with failed attempts at defeating al Qaeda and a governance mess of major proportions. The American people will debate these matters awhile longer and then act swiftly to resolve them. The year 2006 is going to be a year of change in American government and it will bring changes of major proportion across America government.

In the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, new alliances are being formed to get our government running again. The neo-con ability to jam new legislation down the throats of an electorate who has had a bellyful of them and their destructive governance is now stalled for the rest of this session. When the next Congress convenes then the neo-cons will be much less powerful and they will have to face the voters in November of 2006 and give an accounting of their stewardship. It may be nasty to watch the blood-letting that results.

Consensus is quietly forming about what to do about the federal deficit. It is clear it must be cut in half as soon as possible and that two emergency programs are needed One is for energy conservation and the other for health care and pension reform. New taxes are likely but not necessarily – more likely it will be a temporary sales tax on luxury goods and services or bond drives as we have witnessed during other war efforts. Likely Social Security will be fixed at the same time by apportioning part of the sales tax or bond sales to fund it and to assure solvency.

Consensus is also slowly growing about what to do about the divisive appointment of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. Judge Sandra Day O’Connor may come to realize the full meaning of a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court as she stares a draft notice fully in the face concerning her retirement request.

Consensus has arrived on the handling of illegal alien workers. They will be rounded up, sent home, while children born to them in this country will be stripped of their de facto citizenship.

Finally, consensus is rapidly growing concerning the 2006 election that many GOP cronies who empowered Mr. Bush and supported him in his folly while they did his bidding for reward will be retired and replaced with new blood. That will change the committee structure of Congress and force them to resume their oversight responsibilities which they shamefully abdicated and thus they allowed much of the chaos in government to form.

The American ship-of-state is slowly righting as ballast is being shifted around to accommodate our wallowing government structure that is the Bush Administration. We will soon be sailing a trim ship once again while the captain may not appear on deck very much in the future.