We are still suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome

[SonofThunder]

Hi Everyone, I just posted this to my blog and I was looking for your feedback. Thanks in advance

http://itsmyblog.com/2011/12/we-are-...ment-syndrome/

During the years of the George W Bush Presidency (2000-2008) there was a constant outpouring of vitriol and hate from those on the left and in the Democrat party. This was mostly due to the fact that George W Bush was a Republican, but it was always couched in terms of the Anti-War movement. Every day there was a new article about how evil Bush was or how despicable someone in his administration was. Rumsfield was the devil, Cheney was Darth Vader, Bush was Hitler.

These hit pieces came in the form of outbursts from celebrities, such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam singing “no blood for oil” and pretending to decapitate George W Bush on stage using a Halloween mask depicting the president’s face. These hit pieces came in the form of protests where people would create effigies of President Bush and dress him in Nazi garb. These hit pieces came from journalists who would write articles pretending to be anti-war but really just displaying partisan hackery. These hit pieces even came in the form of presidential candidates making wild claims about George W. Bush such as this gem from Howard Dean:

“I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far — which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved — is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?“

This constant barrage of attacks from pop culture, journalists, and politicians on the left was summed up by a term that Charles Krauthammer coined: Bush Derangement Syndrome:

the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush.

This is a very accurate description of the vast majority of the outcry against the Iraq War and against George W Bush. It was based on nothing. It was based on no philosophy, no ideology, no principle, only a strict hatred for all things Republican and all things Bush. It was an emotional knee jerk reaction that would cling to the nearest political excuse in order to attack Bush, which was most often the Iraq War.

But Bush Derangement Syndrome didn’t affect only those on the left. Sadly, the principle side effect of Bush Derangement Syndrome was that it caused Republicans to lose their ability to think objectively and rationally and to simply defend George W Bush at all costs. As a result, Republicans en mass defended the TSA, the DHS, the Patriot Act, the nation-building in Afghanistan, and the nation-building in Iraq. Despite being exactly the opposite of George W Bush’s platform in the 2000 election, Republicans twisted reason and rationality to never before seen limits to justify the president’s actions. This even included such left-leaning policies as the No Child Left Behind act and the largest social program in history: Medicare part D. At the end of his presidency, there were even Republicans cheering his multiple stimulus plans where he would simply mail out checks to every American household, and abhorrently, there were even Republicans cheering his TARP plan to funnel money to bankers – the same bankers that caused the economic collapse.

I know this is true, because I was one of the victims of Bush Derangement Syndrome. I was a lifelong Republican who couldn’t help but react to the hate and negativity by defending my President. I shut down my brain and didn’t think objectively about the WMD or terrorism in general, or the concept of Blowback. It wasn’t until 2007 that I started to awaken to reality, when a little known candidate by the name of Ron Paul started speaking up in the GOP presidential debates. I heard him tell Rudy Guliani that our government caused 9/11 and I was outraged, so I went to the internet to try and find out what was wrong with that crazy windbag.

That is when my personal journey towards liberty began. I Googled “Ron Paul” and I decided to watch some videos of him speaking, to learn more about where he was coming from. It wasn’t long before I came across a video like this one: The Amazingly Accurate Predictions of Ron Paul (this is a more recent version)

I literally couldn’t believe what I was watching. What the heck was the Federal Reserve? I didn’t have a clue. Either way, here was this guy telling us exactly what was wrong and exactly what was going to happen. Nobody listened to him. They all laughed at him and they all ridiculed him. The more I read and the more videos I watched, the more I saw Democrats and Republicans dismissing him and disrespecting him, even though he was exactly right about everything he said.

If he could be so right about the economy, the Federal Reserve, and the housing bubble, then maybe he was also right about the war in Iraq?

This caused me to re-evaluate my entire way of viewing politics. I decided to start reading some of the books that Ron Paul had recommended. I decided to look at the references in those books and start reading the referenced books as well. I decided to start going to websites like the Ludwig von Mises Institute – it is a treasure trove of information on the scholarship of liberty. From that site I became informed about excellent authors such as Frederic Bastiat, Hayek, Mises, Thomas Woods, Tom DiLorenzo, and yes, even Ron Paul.

After all of my personal education, reading, and watching videos, I found myself cured of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Whenever I heard Republicans defending Bush’s policies and big government programs that Republicans had supported, I felt sorry for them, and frustrated that they were still afflicted.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves today in another GOP Presidential Primary race where Ron Paul is being disrespected, dismissed, and outright attacked for his views on Foreign Policy, because he holds the same policy that George W Bush did during the 2000 Presidential Election. If you just take a quick look at any of the headlines in the news, or the statements of GOP establishment members such as the Governor of Iowa, or at any of the “conservative” blogs such as RedState or Hot Air, you see an unbelievable amount of hate and vitriol directed at Ron Paul. Despite 4 years of more proof and evidence surfacing that Dr. Paul has been right about everything he’s said, Republicans are still reacting with a knee jerk defense of recent Republican policy.

Clearly, large numbers of Republicans are still suffering from the side effects of Bush Derangement Syndrome. As a result, Ron Paul is having a lot of difficulty in the presidential primary race, even though he is the Republican with the best chance to beat Barack Obama. It is unfortunate, but because of this disease we may find ourselves with four more years of Obama, four more years of disastrous foreign policy, and four more years of economic depression.

It is very challenging and frustrating to try and cure someone of Bush Derangement Syndrome but it is worth it and we should all follow the gracious example of Dr. Ron Paul, for if you stick to your principles and you are guided by liberty, people will eventually come around. It is our duty, the people who have been cured, to try and spread the antidote and rescue our country. Persevere, keep the faith, and we can rid ourselves of the scourge of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

[SonofThunder]

bump because the front page is so active today

[The One]

bump because I'm down for helping a brotha out.