Are we doomed to another 4 years of Bush?

I suspect there will be another devastating attack (or series of attacks) on American soil before the election, and that despite Bush co's obvious incompetence and ideological lunacy on virtually every policy front, the SOB will be reelected, and by a significant margin.


And if you thought Bush's first term was a bitch, just wait for the sequel. Don't expect to find out that this crowd are really simply sanctimonious plutocrats, genuinely interested only in slashing taxes for the uber rich, and willing to cast off the relgious right and the rest of the nutjobs now that they've won reelection. It's not going to happen that way. They're going to put the pedal to the metal on all three major policy fronts: economic, social, and foreign policy, no matter the consequences - and believe me, there will be consequences. Indeed, it's going to be an epochal disaster for the country.


Expect a grand push for deeper tax cuts, deep spending cuts (on social programs), cuts in environmental and other regulation, cuts in labor and workers' rights, and a push to make all these cuts permanent. Expect ever more medieval judges to be nominated to the courts, and between one and three Supreme Court Justices, in the Scalia/Thomas mold, and quite possible an overturn of Roe V Wade, and other Major Bugaboos to the right. Expect legislation curtailing civil liberties that goes far beyond Patriot Act II. Expect a draft to be reinstated sometime in 2005, and potentially an expansion of interventionism in other parts of the Arab and Muslim world, including the invasion of at least one more Arab state (Syria? Iran?) - no matter what the rest of the world thinks.


And expect that some combination of all these things will be dynamite to social and civil order in this country. In fact, expect political violence. It may begin with some precipitating event, or series of events - another terror attack, followed by the resintatement of the draft and riots in the inner cities, for instance - and when one mixes in the prospect of economic collapse (after another terrorist attack, a total shakedown in the housing market, the devaluation of the dollar, or some combination) it is an ugly portrait indeed.


Just a few years ago, if someone had pitched this scenario to me, I would've recommended that they consider a career writing apocalyptic, dimestore science fiction novels, or increase their dosage of Prozac, but now I feel just as eminently dismissive of those official voices in Washington and the press who see an imminent return to moderation, and a politics of consensus. It will come ultimately, but not until things are wholly FUBAR in this country.