Updated 2006-02-14; see below.
June–July 2005
Renunciation of Support for George W. Bush
In light of this President’s continued failure to prosecute a strong and effectual War on Terrorism, I hereby renounce all support for the administration of George W. Bush.
I cast my vote in his favor out of vain hope that Bush would finally take matters of national security under control; that single issue, the issue of American survival, outweighed all else in my practical judgment. And on that very issue, George W. Bush has failed.
At home, as expected, he has denigrated freedom, upraised theocrats, and put forth a domestic agenda more well-suited to the nineteenth century than to the twenty-first. Abroad, as I had feared but had hoped would not be true, his foreign policy has continued devolving into a pattern of big talk, empty words, and appeasement-by-default. He has embraced our enemies and comforted murderers, then sold away our closest natural friends and allies in the global struggle against terrorism; in the mean time, American national interests rot in a cesspit—and American soldiers continue to bleed onto the infertile sands where he tries futilely to plant seeds. We are on the losing side of a war of attrition; and as our wounds fester and boil, our enemies circle above, waiting and watching and smiling behind their hands.
If civilization indeed survives the onslaught of barbarism that continues to roll forth in wave after sickening wave, future historians shall mark the Bush Administration as an epoch of weak will, lost opportunity, blind fumbling, and petty betrayals.
Bush is still, by far, the lesser evil between the two major candidates offered up on the ballot of November 2, 2004. And of course, we do seem to be stuck with him now. However, he shall now have to continue wrecking both freedom and security without any further shred of my moral endorsement.
Strong leadership is amongst the rarest of traits; and though valuable at the best of times, it is most vital of all for a nation beset by insidious threats and subtle turmoil as America is today. Yet alas, we find ourselves, at this juncture, with no strong leader at the helm—and none likely to arise in the immediate future. We thusly do have little choice but to stumble blindly on, eyes closed and prayers on our lips. I, as an American, look to the future with hope in my heart but fear heavy in my mind.
SIGNED— Jonathan Quince
Addendum
It has come to my attention that some might interpret the above words as a call for President Bush to pull out of Iraq. I cannot state this more emphatically: No, no, and no a thousand and one times!
The U.S. should and must stay the course in Iraq; as such, one of the only policy actions for which I still give Bush credit is that he has bucked the political opposition and kept military control in the region. Bush’s Iraq policy may be half-baked, yet it is still a lesser evil than succumbing; for America to slink home with her tail between her legs would instigate total and near-immediate catastrophe, whereas the current course will at least postpone the same.
I supported the Iraq invasion from the beginning; and indeed, since 1991 I had consistently advocated the forceful termination of Saddam Hussein and his regime. Nothing has changed in that regard—and since I have been right all along, nothing shall. My sharp criticism of current policy, rather, was a statement that this American military venture has been executed with abysmal weakness. My order is to annihilate terrorism with radical and unrelenting prejudice: Soldiers currently given police work must be ordered to fight a war. To do otherwise both undermines America’s entire reason for entering the theatre and leaves American soldiers suffering a far higher loss of life and limb.
(Incidentally, the current dishwater-weak policy also results in much more death and strife for Iraqi civilians in the long run; but nobody really cares about them, anyway, so I shan’t mention them.)
If (or when) Bush pulls out of Iraq, the last shreds of the Bush legacy shall be forfeit and Bush shall officially go down in history as a miserable failure. God help America on that dark and treacherous day. Until then, persistence in Iraq gives both the sitting President and America at large some final shreds of dignity and hope for the future.
—J.S. Quince 2006-02-14