Bush using Katrina to advance extreme agenda

When 9/11 hit, President Bush put into place some of the most draconian limits on civil liberties since the McCarthy era. The so-called "Patriot Act" passed in the middle of the night with virtually no member of congress reading the entire act. This legislation advanced many right-wing goals of restraining "objectionable" speech, and cloaking the government in secrecy.

Now, President Bush has opportunistically seized upon another disaster and wants to use it to advance another right-wing goal: making government so small you can "drown it in a bathtub".

The President has said it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild New Orleans. To pay for those costs, Bush will seek cuts in current government programs. As long as we're in Iraq, our military budget really can't be cut. As long as we have a huge deficit, we can't cut out our interest payments. Those two items take up the majority of the budget.

So where will the cuts come from? Most likely from the "new deal" programs that Bush has tried to turn into the "raw deal" in the past such as social security. This is going to be another attempt to continue to give tax cuts to the rich at the expense of cutting services for the poor, sick and old people in our country.

Don't let the President get away with "framing the issue" this way. When disaster strikes, we all have to help. The richest in our society pay less of their income in taxes than any other group. Yet they benefit the most from the infrastructure and protection those taxes buy. Let your Senator and Representative know that it's time for everyone to dig into their wallet and pay their fair share.