Looking back, I wish I had purchased a camera phone to ensure that I have at all times, a means of digitally recording those thought provoking moments in life that words cannot explain. As I pulled the drive through of local fast food restaurant on a recent evening, I noticed a beer can, standing upright, on the bumper of the truck in front of my car. On closer look, I noticed that the beer can was positioned directly over a “W ‘04” sticker. Initially, a million humorous thoughts about “redneck Republicans” and George W’s own documented past with DWI’s ran through my head, but after further reflection I now realize it represents a more serious thought.

As well know, drinking and driving do NOT mix. The drunk driver represents a person who has bad judgment. The beer can on the bumper of the truck kind of symbolizes the Republican party to me—a party full of bad decisions, which may be bring temporary relief but sure to end in tragedy.

During the height of the “Reagan Revolution”, conservative thought dominated our nation’s foreign policy. Stretching back into the Nixon and Ford administration, we see this same “what works now” type of philosophy. Whether you realize it or not, Donald “Rummy” Rummsfield, Dick “The Cardiac Kid” Cheney, and many other members of the present Bush administration had a direct hand in placing Sadam Hussein in power in Iraq. They saw it as a temporary means to defeating the evil “Iranians”. They didn’t bother to think of future consequences. So, when you think of the atrocities committed by men like “Chemical” Ali, thank Rummy for his own brand of “drunk driving.” (but keep in mind Westerners, Winston Churchill specifically, were the first ones to consider gassing the Kurds). When you hear the horror stories from the people of Iraq, thank a Republican, they put the system in place that allowed the torture to occur. When you see an innocent Iraqi child murdered in the streets of Bagdhad, when you hear of American soldier killed in the line of fire, thank America’s most notorious “drunk drivers”, the Republican Party.

For those of you still searching for the link between 9/11 and Iraq here you go…the Republicans are responsible for both. Not only did the Republican Party put Sadam Hussein in power, but they also made Osama bin Laden and the Taliban very rich and powerful. You see, during the 1980’s, we had a much different threat. Ronald Wilson Reagan was still living in the 1950’s…a time when he led a witch hunt against his friends in Hollywood trying to weed out suspected communists….He carried that fervor with him into the White House and was determined to battle communism regardless of the cost. Forget that he destroyed our economy with his spending, instead focus on the fact that he funded, with money and weapons, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in their fight against the Soviets occupying Afghanistan. Like a drunk driver, the Republicans in power didn’t bother to think, “what potential harm could this have on our country”…they saw it merely as a means to fight communism…NEWSFLASH: Communism was…and ultimately did kill itself…no man..no political system..no Star Wars program brought the Iron Curtain down…it fell because of the laws of nature.

Drunk drivers make very bad decisions. Sometimes their decision to drink and drive ends in tragedy, anger and outrage are expected and acceptable forms of response to their actions. It doesn’t necessarily make them bad people, just shows they are incapable of making competent decisions. They need treatment and our love and support. Republicans are the same way, incapable of rational thought but not “bad people” by nature.