The Dumbing Down of the Presidency

Should anyone be surprised that thousands of poor people in Louisiana died while the federal govenment disaster bureaucracy that has been spreading around billions to Bush friendly corporations in the past five years did nothing? Should we surprised that FEMA is headed by a friend of a friend (ie. big money fundraiser) of W who was fired from his previous job of running an organization that held horsie shows? Who's responsible for this disgusting turn of events? Look in the mirror. If you are one of the millions of people who have tuned out politics and only voted, if at all, based on superficial soundbites you heard while watching your reality TV shows, then you are to blame. This sad state of affairs has been going on for at least 25 years. In 1980, a majority of voters decided it would be a good idea to vote for an actor...an actor! as President of the United States! Jimmy Carter was a good and decent man, someone who could get things done. Look what he has accomplished on his own since leaving office. How many houses have been built for the poor, how many countries have held fair elections, hell, how many books has he written? What Carter didn't have were spin doctors to make him look good. The Republicans had that area covered and the money from the venal corporate men who knew that once they had installed their operatives (Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al) in government that the gravy train would never end. Once these operatives were out of office they paid them off with corporate jobs they weren't qualified for but paid them millions so they would be ready to go back in and rape the federal treasury for their corporate masters when the next Republican puppet was installed. The evil right wing cabal provided the money and control of the national media to prop up Reagan and make him look competent while they plundered and stole. Twenty years later they ran a campaign aimed at potential voters who didn't like to pay attention to poilitices that pointed at the idiot son and effectively said, "How hard can it be to be President, Reagan did it." And so we end up with a so-called leader who is acknowledged to be (charitably) less than a genius. If voters are willing to settle for this, why shouldn't he appoint people with no qualifications to head disaster planning and relief? The lesson of Katrina is that elections matter...if you don't pay attention, people die needlessly.