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American Politics - What can a sewer plant controversy teach us about democracy?

By Steve Lombardi

Life is like a sewer – what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Tom Lehrer

Here are the facts. The good people of San Francisco, over 12,000 of them, signed a petition in support of a Proposition, a local ballot effort to rename the Oceanside Sewage Plant after President G.W. Bush. Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a lawyer who interned with John F. Kerry’s legal team during the Presidential election in 2004, took offense to the San Francisco effort and wrote The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace, What must our enemies be thinking? The Wall Street Journal published the piece on November 5, 2008.

Mr. Shapiro raises an issue that probably needs little introduction but today we will explore why Americans might believe a mural or name of the sitting U.S. President on a tank that holds human waste is a legitimate expression of speech more important than fearing it being comfort to our enemies. So let's try to answer the question,

Is it disgraceful to follow the example of the United States President set by him through the eight years he has been sitting in office?

To that end let us examine the record of this President and his Administration and the example together they have set.

The end justifies the means –

America invaded Iraq on what was essentially a lie. There were no weapons of mass destruction and before the American invasion there were no terrorists or suicide bombers in Iraq. By the way, what end were we trying to accomplish?

Red States vs. Blue States –

Create competition and the American people will compete. Use hate as a tool for competition and in return you get the same. Pit brother against brother, get families fighting and guess what, they fight and yes you may get some blood on your suit.

Straights vs. Gays –

The argument has been made that marriage is a sacred institution involving only a man and a woman. That argument begs us to forget the number of divorces in America, the instances of spousal abuse, child abuse and homicides between spouses. Forget OJ Simpson, polygamy in Utah and the like, marriage is a sacred institution; or so goes the argument. Subconsciously we can't forget all of this and the Administration knows this so they have to stir up emotions so that people forget rational thought. Never hate your enemies, because emotions cloud your thinking. (The Godfather III) Well you’re getting what you asked for; did you think Americans with gay pride were going to sit there and do nothing after all the attempts to make them second-class citizens?

Hate begets hate –

The Bible tells us something about this subject. Mr. President you seem to use that Bible quite a bit during election campaigns, but then after the election put it away. It tells us that hate begets hate. You and the religious right shouldn’t be surprised at having the San Francisco sewer plant named in your honor.

Do As I Say Not As I Do –

Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you want the Red State Citizens and the Blue State Citizens to fight it out, for the red to disgrace the blue, to impose on one another their views no matter how disrespectful the process may be? Isn’t that the example your Administration set? Remember, the end justifies the means.

Maybe Mr. Shapiro is just missing the point -

Maybe the good people of San Francisco are being misunderstood. Maybe they really do want to follow your Administration’s example and there isn’t anything left to name. At the spending rate of $10 Billion or more per month it's just possible this is the most valued infrastructure object left in San Francisco.

When war consumes the resources of a nation the value of a good porcelain toilet is treasured. Dwight Eisenhower said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” - Dwight Eisenhower, 1953 speech.

Reap what you have sown –

Your administration sowed seeds of hate and discontent and now the fruits of your labor are coming to fruition. Mr. President, an odd thing about pointing your finger is how it can be pointed right back at you. And, remember the Dixie Chicks? Remember the campaign of hate that followed? Remember how you instead of taking the high road as any American President should have done, you fanned the flames of hate and discontent. Instead of just saying you heard what they said and that in America we have the freedom to disagree but that you liked their music; you just couldn’t leave it alone. You had to fan the flames of discontent that put them almost out of an entire industry. Say a few words against your Administration’s policies and like killing a fly with a sledge hammer you creamed the three Dixie Chicks. Was that necessary?

Hate is a cancer that spreads one cell at a time. David Pelzer, Author

Hate begets hate. Martin Luther King

Does the end really justify the means?

To disagree with the President during a war is un-American -

That was your campaign tactic in 2004. Here are two shining examples of the social order you sought to create:

Man Criticizes Bush On A Range Of Policies versus “Don’t taser me bro!” So now why do we hear your supporters shouting,

What did I do? What did I do? I didn’t do anything! Don't name that sewer plant after me Bro!

Bush-isms at work -

The Law of isms – McCarthyism, racism, sexism, Nazism – you name the ism and it was used in the 2004 election. In 2008 they called Obama a socialist while your Administration utilized socialist principles to bail out Wall Street. Capitalism on the way up; Socialism on the way down. Religious Right couldn’t be more anti-Christian in its message. They preach that killing is wrong and want us to outlaw abortion. The NRA is just another Republican supported group who scream “don’t take our guns away”.All the while they want to deny DNA testing to those convicted of murder and preach killing every man on death row. That is another example of Bushisms right out of the 2000 and 2004 campaign play books. Like the saying goes, live by the sword, die by the sword.

Mr. President they are trying to give you a history lesson -

Just maybe the good people of San Francisco are giving you a history lesson and saying, We didn’t start the fire!

This is really a matter of free speech –

How soon you’ve forgotten the Dixie Chicks. Let me take you back to June 2006, standing on the stage with Natalie at Shephard’s Bush, the scene of the crime. She voiced opposition to your war and followed up with her Texas slant of “Just so you know we are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.” To most of us it was no big deal. Natalie was entitled to her opinion and this country is better off with the freedom she enjoys to express her opinion. What came next was what should have shocked everyone. They got the cowboy boot from the record business after you added fuel to the fire. What did you say then? Did you take the high road as any President should? I’ll remind you; you said it was just a matter of free speech. And maybe that is what this is all about in San Francisco. You take a look at the evidence and see what you think. Not all of the American people agreed with what Natalie said, but that didn't mean they agreed with you either.

Protesting the Dixie Chicks

President Bush versus Natalie Maines – to quote you Mr. President, it is a two way street. Main Street America is a two-way street of ideas.

“They can say what they want to say. … They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt just because some people (want the President’s image up on the sewer plant.) … Freedom of speech is a two way street.”

Everyone dislikes a bully -

Toby vs. Dixie Chicks – The American President is supposed to take the high road and set an example that brings the country together, not further apart. The President of the United States shouldn’t exploit the differences between the American people. After all did Toby Keith ever serve in the armed service or was it enough to send someone else’s kids to die while young Toby made millions of dollars playing his guitar? Remember the name of Mr. Keith’s band? The Easy Money Band. Like you Mr. President Toby Keith looked more and more like an ignorant bully. With his war of words Mr. Keith did nothing to improve country music and neither have your war of words improved the United States.

This is more than names and murals on sewer plants -

What’s really going on here? The Peter Principle is something we learned about in Psych 101. The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence." Are the good people of San Francisco really asking the question; Were you smart enough for the job? Is a person who butcher’s the Kings English like you do intelligent enough to be President of the United States?

Participation Trophy Syndrome –

Parents all across the United States demand that youth soccer hand out participation trophies. Trophies handed out not for merit and hard work, but just for showing up at the season ending banquet. Only losers want a participation trophy; winners want to win one. It’s the trophy that encourages making just showing up a trophy event. “You mean I have to work at this job?” You've got to give me a trophy (paycheck) because I showed up; is no different than you've got to vote/support me because I'm your President and we are in the midst of a war. To do otherwise gives our enemies the wrong impression.

Only losers want a participation trophy; winners want to win one.

The motto of your 2004 election was do/say anything to just win! There’s something to say about the attitude that acts and says anything just to win. It’s the attitude I saw with the kids who actually wanted, no expected, a participation trophy. When you pit red against blue, black against white, gay versus straight, American against American, brother against brother, just to win, then don’t complain when you start to hear and see the same mentality being used by your detractors. You started it in 2000 and in 2004 we all knew you were not up to the job, but you won; because to do otherwise would have been un-American. And that is what Mr. Shapiro seems to be saying. As bad as you are if we don’t support you we give comfort to those who dislike you; our enemies. Mr. President you took office with just under half of America hating what you stood for. And to no one's surprise the American people still hate what your Administration stands for; probably more than our enemies do.

Live by the sword, die by the sword - Thugs R US

Here is the lesson to be learned. You’re getting what you asked for. You’re getting attitudes like those set by your Administrations. You unsheathed the sword, lived by it for eight years and now you can’t get the good people of San Francisco to re-sheath their own. Mr. President you are dying by your own sword. Like you said to the Dixie Chicks, it’s just a matter of free expression.

and where will this go, what will you do next, what do we expect you to do ...

What most of us expect to happen now is not for you say something Presidential but instead for your Administration to punish the good people of San Francisco by taking away their federal sewer dollars. It's the thug mentality that we've come to expect from your Administrations. Nothing more and nothing less. In the commerce of free expression the rules have been changed under your presidency. And they haven't been very presidential.

You’re not playing by my rules, so I’m taking my ball and going home.

“This is a metaphorical expression meaning that living one's life in a certain way will, in the end, affect one's destiny. The proverb comes from the Book of Matthew, verse 26:52, which describes the apostle Peter drawing a sword to defend Jesus against Roman soldiers, but is told to sheath the weapon: Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

—Matthew 26:52, King James Version

While the expression strictly-interpreted means “those who live by violence will die by violence”, it is also used for a variety of situations which contain an element of poetic justice. For instance the proverb could be used to describe a person who regularly drives under the influence and is ultimately killed in a vehicle accident caused by their intoxication. A deeper meaning alludes to "those who judge will be judged" in reference to Mathew 7:2 and Luke 6:37 which can also be interpreted as poetic justice for those observed to be wrongfully condemning others. Other variants on this phrase are also commonly used."

This is simply Poetic Justice –

You'll get no sympathy from most Americans. Let me ask Mr. Shapiro a question. Isn’t renaming the sewer plant simply a literary device in which vice is being punished? Isn’t this the President’s Poetic Justice?

"Poetic justice is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct. In Western literature, the structure of poetry, prose and drama to have justice originates in Aristotle's Poetics. Aristotle says that poetry is superior to history in that it shows what should or must occur, rather than merely what does occur."

Your biggest mistake was not putting my mother on your cabinet –

The sewer plant is your participation trophy.

On November 5, 2008, the same day Mr. Shapiro’s article ran in the Wall Street Journal my mother had her 81^st birthday. Like I’ve said before Mom had a way with words. She wasn’t an English major and never attended college. But Mom had a way with offering simple advice. Mr. President if you knew my mother you would know that she doesn't like you and that as she was quick to point out when we did something stupid, “God is punishing you.”

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).