Why Americans must vote to get rid of Bush

The United States is rapidly being undermined from the top down. From the beginning, our democratic election process was subverted and made a mockery of by Bush-Cheney and the Republican establishment at the state government and judicial level both state and federal. Once in office, after losing the popular vote by over a million votes, Bush has blundered his way to the present leaving the environment, education, civil liberties, the economy, and international community in his wake. As a citizen of the US the last four years have been dark ones. The environment is slowly being sold to businesses for exploitation. 'No Child Left Behind' is damaging our public school system by setting standards for schools while cutting funding. Proposals to eliminate Head Start, a program for pre-school children of the lowest economic class, would leave thousands of parents with no place to take their children while they try to eek out a living on $5.25 an hour. The Patriot Act gave unconstitutional powers to law enforcement to spy on anyone for any reason. I can, under the Patriot Act, be held without charge indefinitely, with no attorney, and no trial. Many people I know are working harder and longer for less; that is if they can find a job. The same children being left behind will be paying for the $1 trillion deficit bush has created. Yet the richest people and all corporations in the country continue to benefit from tax cuts. Bush turned the tragic events of 9/11 into a never ending battle cry that has alienated not only the international community but also many in the states who did not want another war. The US military is engaged or consulting in conflicts from Southeast Asia to South America on top of the more publicized Iraq and Afghanistan. I have seen military spending escalate while soldiers and reservists pay and benefits are being cut: they are dying everyday in a foreign country that did not attack us and was not a threat to us. The Bush administration will come to an end. I would prefer that it happened this November rather than in 4 more years for the good of my country and the world.

Jonathan Elisha Mull

Bush President Bush terrifies me. I have had more sleepless nights worrying about my leader than I have about Al Qaeda. Here is a man who is a failed entreprenuer, a C-student who attended an Ivy League school on his family name, leading the most powerful nation in the world. Many people both here and abroad write him off as a fool or an idiot. I don't believe that to be the case. He is a canny man, he has to be. He posses a politician's guile and a zealot's sense of self-righteousness. Having won the presidency with less than a majority of the popular vote, he nonetheless has acted as if he had a mandate. I fear that a second term will in his mind be another "mandate" for the same policies we have seen thus far. That terrifies me more.

Jon Beidelschies United States Citizen

Since taking office, George W. Bush has consistently pushed policies that benefit only the richest of Americans while hurting the vast majority of the country. He has done his best to eliminate civil liberties, destroy decades of progress on environmental issues, give tax breaks and subsidies to companies that dump poison in the poorest of communities, and put our family and friends in harms way abroad. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush's policies abroad have spread these problems to the rest of the world. Enough is enough. In 2004 we need anyone but Mr. Bush to win the Presidency.

Megan Fitzgerald

I am a 38 year old woman living in Florida. I was absolutely embarrassed for our state when Bush "won" the election. I purposely voted against him as did several of my friends and family. When a man uses trickery and deceit - and invokes the name of God into his speaches to win over the religious community and to steal an election, we are all in trouble. I knew it when it happened. This has been like a nightmare come true. I would love to go on and on about my feelings for this administration, but I will spare you all the details. You all know them already, you see them every day, and you feel them as each and every day we are being robbed both financially and of our civil rights. We are not a democratic society anymore. We are a capitalist society. I am a peaceful person, who loves the beauty of nature, my fellow man, and the world as I've known it previously. I am so disheartened by what direction my country is heading into that I have voiced my opinion of leaving our country if Bush is not thrown out. I urge each and every one of you who may read this to let your voice be heard - tell your family, friends, neighbors, strangers on the street, and anyone else who will listen. And go out there and vote!!! Peace, Love, and Light to All!

Aimee Byron, Tampa, Florida

Dear Boycottamerica: I am an American who feels as if I no longer have a country. What happened to all the ideals we were taught as children? What happened to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from illegal search and seizure, due process and the list goes on and on? I now live in fear. Fear of my own government. Imagine, a law abiding citizen who has not even been cited for speeding, now living in fear that what they say or think may be misinterpreted! I am ashamed as I watch my leaders illegally invade and occupy a foreign nation. I am ashamed to watch my military storm Iraqi civilian's homes and terrify it's occupants. I was angry when I read "Project New American Century" and learned that it's authors called for a regime change in Iraq prior to their stealing the election two months later. I was astonished to read in the same document that they thought they needed a "second Pearl Harbor" to convince the American people that such an invasion was justified. I was stunned when my car was vandalised because of anti-war bumper stickers and flags. I was embarrassed by my Congress' changing the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries" and referring to the French as weasels. This is what my country has become as a direct result of the Bush administration. My motto for this new year is: Bush lied. People died. Out the door, 2004! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak out.

Peace. G

Yes it is a good article, remember 75% of Americans did not vote for Bush. Half that could vote didn't and a half a million more people voted for Gore than Bush. In other words, roughly 24.9% of eligible voters help to put "the shrub" in the white house. Most of which are uneducated christian fanatics. However I am quite optimistic we can get him out of the white house this year if Wes Clark gets the nomination. I shudder to think what Bush is capable of if he gets another 4 years.

JD

There are so many reasons that I will not vote for George W. Bush that I hardly know where to begin. The state of the world and the role the United States has taken is embarrassing. Bush has managed to run up the deficit, cut funding to some of the most important social programs, and rolled back some of our most important environmental protections. The pre-emptive war in Iraq was based on lies. The US Patriots Act violates our most important civil rights. I feel less safe than I have ever felt, thanks to the cowboy in the White House. I'm not afraid of terrorism, but I'm afraid of my government.

Meryl Ibis