My wife and I were talking the other day:
Me: "What would you want to do if Bush somehow got to remain in office at the end of his term?"
Her: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Say there's another terrorist attack, or the war in Afghanistan or Iraq's going worse and the Congress votes some measure to keep him in office a little longer to 'get us through this rough patch'"
Her: "You mean like he faked a terrorist attack?"
Me: "I don't care if he did or Al-Qaeda legitimately did one"
- A long silence -
Her: "I'd want to move to Canada."
Me: "I was thinking that too, but what if the Canadians shut down the border and refused Americans entrance to their country? I bet a lot of Americans would head north."
Her: "I guess we'll see in the next two years what happens."
Canada's only 8 hours from here by highway, but honestly, I think if we expatriated, we'd do better to hit a place like New Zealand. I'd even consider a place like Singapore or Malaysia. It makes me sick to my stomach to even consider any of this, but I have to. Given how much Bush has changed the answer to every question asked of him to one of "national security" and "protecting Americans at all costs", which seems to include torturing people, or having them sent to other nations which will torture them, detaining American citizens forever without charge, spying on all Americans regardless of cause, and seeking extraordinary powers to circumvent Congress and the Judiciary, I can only imagine what crimes against liberty would be perpetrated by a President Bush in a period of time beyond his normal term limits where he's not beholden at all to voters. It scares the hell out of me.
My friend Michael posited this after the 2004 theft^H^H^H^H^Helection : Bush was not elected in 2000 - he was selected by the Supreme Court. What if he decides to run for another term on that loophole ?
Venezuela, I have heard, is a pretty good place too.
Andrea, that's a great insight from your friend, and damned scary. Now I'm all the more worried because the 22nd Amendment makes it clear that no person can be elected more than twice...shit.
have you by any chance watched "loose change" yet?
Sheila, I have not seen the movie. Could you send me a link to it?
Ok, wake up, reality check here. After all that Bush, Cheney, and especially that idiot Rumsfeld have done to f*ck up this country, is there really much, if any, chance of him re-elected in 2008? It is certainly something to discuss, but in reality, I think he knows the pulse of the people, and wouldn't want to put himself through all of that again. I must admit with some degree of shame that in 2004, I voted for Bush, but that was only because the other candidate (Kerry) was totally inept in my opinion, and at least Bush was the "known" quantity, idiot that he may have been. What they have done in particular to the military is the reason I'm getting out when my enlistment is up in 2008, and another reason why I laughed out loud when it was suggested by my supervisor that I apply for Officer Candidate School in the spring, once I'm done at Ship. Because then, if you're a commissioned officer, your term of service becomes "indefinite", meaning they have you for as long as they want/need you. You can resign, but good luck with that. It's just a shame how much Don Rumsfeld, and to a lesser extent George Bush, have f*cked up this country. And to be honest, I think they can read the writing on the wall. I have my doubts whether the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld triumvirate would even want to stick around after '08. But maybe I'm wrong.
Jeff,
Yeah I think the majority of the country is completely unhappy with Bush as his approval ratings show, but the big question is: how much of that majority would show up to vote no on Election Day due to their dissatisfaction? There's still 33% of the country that approves of Bush, and when the percentage of total voters in the last election was less than that 33%, it's possible that the "Bush Base" could be energized enough to vote him back into power.
Not only that, but imagine if bin Laden were found, or there were another terrorist act, or whatever that could change the desires of the electorate. Please note that I'm not stating the Bush has bin Laden hidden somewhere or is planning another attack, merely that either incident could greatly impact:
A) Bush's desire to run again for office
B) Bush's ability to convince the public that he should stay in office