In the last week an avalanche of proposals and guidelines have poured from the Bush Administration. Conveniently, it has all come to pass in the same week the Administration raised the threat level of terrorism to an orange alert.

Is this coincidence? I find it doubtful.

By bringing out such highly controversial legislation when the media is already saturated by far more pressing matters and while the public is consumed with concern, it’s less likely that many Americans will take notice of these far reaching proposals. Even those who do are too busy taking action on more urgent issues—like keeping America out of war.

The anti-war protests may be exactly what the Administration is hoping to achieve. The larger segment of protestors is liberal and mainstream. Therefore, those who would oppose the myriad of actions are too busy on other fronts.

I’m not suggesting that Bush doesn’t really want to go to war. It’s clear that is his goal. But he’s found a strategic way to make even the anti-war protests work to his advantage.

This is typical of far right stealth tactics and is becoming evident that it’s just one more underlying motive for the Administration to continue its warmongering. By doing so, many extreme pieces of legislation will slip through with little challenge, as the media and society focus elsewhere.

So what has the Bush administration attempted or succeeded in during the last week?

Once again, House Republicans have taken up a bill to ban late-term abortion, allowing no exceptions for the life and health of women. It is backed by Bush’s long-time pledge to sign it. This is despite a Supreme Court ruling that without an exception to save a woman’s life it is unconstitutional.

Also approved by the House is a renewal of the 1996 welfare-downsizing measure that leaves women and innocent children in the streets once they’ve used up the maximum allotted time on welfare.

What’s new this time, however, is that vocational education, a necessity for many on welfare to attain a decent paying job and overcome financial hardship, has been eliminated. Furthermore, despite current economic conditions and economic decline that will result if Bush has his way with war, states will be required to have 70 percent of their welfare recipients working 40 hours per week by 2007.

But not to be outdone, new federal guidelines have been issued allowing students free rein to lead vocal prayers at school-sponsored events. If students are prevented from doing so, the schools—already on a tight budget—that have placed the limitations can lose federal funds.

Besides serious concerns with these latest actions, what I find truly bothersome is that public trust in our current president has been so eroded by the Administration’s shenanigans. Its ongoing deceit and its disrespect for our Constitution and democracy have damaged the Administration’s integrity.

Like the boy who cried wolf, should a real state of emergency arise, a large segment of society, including myself, will unlikely have faith in the Administration’s claims, regardless how truthful they may be. This could place all of us at risk, including Bush’s flock. The modern day version of Aesop’s fable might become The Boy Who Cried Orange Alert.
 

Kimberly Blaker’s The Wall™ appears weekly. She is editor and coauthor of the The Fundamentals of Extremism: the Christian Right in America. Send your comments to Kimberly Blaker: TheWall@TheWall-OnChurchAndState.com   © 2002, Kimberly Blaker

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