Run, Gary, Run
A post from Gary Hart’s weblog:
“Democracy dies behind closed doors and democracy’s policies must not be made in secret. Let’s consider an ominous pattern forming under the Bush administration. First, massive tax cuts to enrich the rich are justified as Keynesian fiscal stimulants, while neo-cons privately confide that their real purpose is to destroy a social safety net constructed between the New Deal and the Great Society for the young, the old, the poor, the jobless, and the middle class. Second, three decades of progress on environmental quality are being secretly dismantled by destruction of the regulatory framework created to carry out Congressional (and popular) intent. Third, a consensus internationalist, multi-lateralist foreign policy, followed throughout the second half of the twentieth century, has, without Congressional hearings or debate, been quietly replaced with a unilateralist, go-it-alone policy of preemption. Fourth, the war on terrorism, launched on September 20, 2001, ostensibly to protect America against further terrorist attacks, has quietly–again without Congressional debate or editorial commentary–given way to a multi-front attack on organizations in venues as obscure as the Philippines that represent no concievable threat to the United States.”
Gary is still thinking about whether or not he’s actually going to run for President. I think he should.
UPDATE: Of course, a couple of days after I wrote that, Gary Hart decided not to run. Having thought about it a bit more, I think it’s probably the right decision, since a large portion of the electorate has always seemed to be resistant to candidates who were obviously intelligent. Hopefully if one of the Democrats currently in the field manages to beat Bush, they’ll think of Hart for a Cabinet post.