FANATICISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE

By Mario Soares Reprint | | Print |

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LISBON, Nov 1 2004 (IPS) - George W. Bush is a political catastrophe both for the US and for the world, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. In the US we find the predomination of an uncompassionate conservatism, an inclination for retaliation and violence, disregard for human rights, unilateralism, religious fanaticism, irrationalism, and a blind drive to combat terrorism that does not seek to eradicate its many and complex causes, among which poverty and humiliation stand out in clear need of redress. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the cult of rationality and dialogue, multilateralism and respect for the United Nations, laicism, tolerance, and giving priority to human rights and sustainable development with social and ecological dimension. This is the gap that today separates us. If we do not have the courage to state the truth, sooner rather than later we will begin to slip towards the abyss the US is now headed for, surrounded by hatred and incomprehension, as its social fabric grows increasingly brittle and trapped in the quagmire of Iraq.

George W. Bush has the great capacity to be clear, direct, and not deceive anyone. He is a radical of the right — a ”neo-con”– and a religious fanatic convinced that he has a direct line to the God in whom he believes, not the compassionate God of the best Christian tradition but a ”righteous” God who exacts ”an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.

My view of the US president is not informed by subjective motives. I do not know him, but I know what he thinks and who he surrounds himself with. I knew his father when he was vice president and later when he became president. My relations with Bush Sr. were always cordial and respectful despite the fact that he was a conservative and a republican.

Bush junior is different. I consider him to be a political catastrophe both for the US and for the world.

There is no doubt that he is a legitimate president, having won the last election with a majority of the popular vote. And it is obvious that in a democracy all votes are equal, whether of the rich or poor, the educated or the uneducated. But respect for democracy neither proscribes close analysis of the electoral results nor does it sanction depriving those in the minority of their inalienable rights.

As a democrat and friend of freedom, I think it is important to recall that in a democracy, an election is decisive, but it is not everything — far from it. Democracy implies respect for the rule of law, for international law, and for the human rights that were tragically compromised in the prisons of Guantanamo, Abu Graib, Baghdad, and now Falluja — as was justice itself in the broadest sense. Another characteristic of democracy is the system of checks and balances among the branches of government so highly lauded by great American political theorists like John Rawls.

But it is precisely this system that has been missing from American democracy since Bush and his team took power. It is symptomatic, and extremely grave. This election was not like others. It reinforced the power of a fanatic, President Bush, and his cabinet, which is not only conservative but, more seriously, intent on implementing a counter-revolutionary plan aimed at transforming the physiognomy of the United States that we know and at dominating the world.

It should be recognised that the victory of Bush is also the first sign of a major crisis underway in the United States, and indeed in the entire West if the European Union remains incapable of producing leaders who have the courage to acknowledge the differences in values that, for some time now, separate the two sides of the Atlantic.

In the United States we find the predomination of a uncompassionate conservatism, an inclination for retaliation and violence, disregard for human rights, unilateralism, religious fanaticism, irrationalism, and a blind drive to combat terrorism that does not seek to eradicate its many and complex causes, among which poverty and humiliation stand out in clear need of redress.

In Europe, on the other hand, we have the cult of rationality and dialogue, multilateralism and respect for the United Nations, laicism, tolerance, and giving priority to human rights and sustainable development with social and ecological dimension.

This is the gap that today separates us.

If we do not have the courage to state the truth in a timely fashion, sooner rather than later we will begin to slip towards the abyss the United States is now headed for, surrounded by hatred and incomprehension, as its social fabric grows increasingly brittle and trapped in the quagmire of Iraq.

The coming years will be trying. But the world is alert and world opinion and counts a lot in this day, even in the United States. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)