The seat-of-the-pants, faith-based President

[PurityOfEssence]

There was an article in the L.A. Times today that was shocking simply for the mere offhanded acceptance with which it can be written these days. Things like this should cause an uproar when printed, yet they don't, because we've been anesthetized to all this.

He doesn't listen to any contrary opinions. He doesn't accept any fact, science, data or perspective that doesn't support his preconceived rampages. Systematically, he's ridding all levels of the government, industry and society of anyone who disagrees or is independent. The ugly stonewalling on creating the Homeland Security Department until he could abolish all of the unions and have unquestioned firing authority are despicable when viewed through the prism of destroying worker rights, but they're CHILLING when seen as an extension of having total dictatorial control over intelligence and enforcement. Intelligence with a bias is worse than useless: it's incorrect.

No human being is smart enough to see what's coming; this is why planned economies fail, and this is the downfall of totalitarianism. Unfortunately, though, downfalls take time and often many, many lives.

It is, literally, a form of psychosis: reality is what he says, regardless of any evidence. Couple this with a belief in an afterlife and personal guidance by a supernatural being, and he is bound by none of the qualms of decency that hold humankind together. He is the proverbial bull in a china shop. Not only that, he's a myopic, skittish, ignorant and vindictive bull; truly, he's an example of the arrested development that can happen to the extremely privileged.

Just making it up as he goes along.

Oh, and those pants are burning.

[whistle]

1. That's the way Joseph Stalin did things....

...and we know Bush's admiration of dictators.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. Nah, he listened more. That IS the way Hitler did it...

It's a good analogy, though, and Stalin almost lost the war for being such a blockhead, yet even he probabably listened more than Junior does.

A reassuring lesson on this is how the Allies won World War 2: our intelligence staffs were huge, and we organized along the model of the interdependence of talented people, whereas the Axis staffs were much smaller and relied on the presumed superiority of the individual.

Compare the size of Bletchley Park's staff to Doenitz', and it's painfully clear how we won the Battle of the Atlantic; it's like a microcosm of liberalism vs. conservatism: the former prizes the group, and the latter prizes the self.

The problem is that the leader myth is so seductive, and by transference, many put their hopes in the dynamic leader. What a load of crap.

[boobooday]

2. He reminds me of certain students I have

The ones who do their homework in the hallway ten minutes before the beginning of class, and then turn it in, and then confront you, indignant, when they get less than an "A."

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Webster Green]

3. Got a link to the article?

You've got me curious to read it.

[PurityOfEssence]

7. Here it is

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bushbooks3may03,1,5710077.story

[Frances]

5. If Washington and Jefferson and Adams

could see how Americans are moving toward restoring King George to the throne, they would probably turn over in their graves.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Hamilton wouldn't have much trouble with it, though

but he'd sneer with incredulity at Junior's intellect, and rightly so.

[RoyGBiv]

6. He runs the country like he ran his business...

And we all know what happened there...

Shrub really does strike me as an archetype of a certain kind of business leader. I've run across several like this. Often, they seem to achieve great success, as long as everything goes exactly the way they want it to, but their carefully constructed plans always fail -- and fail dramatically -- the moment chaos reasserts itself.

And you're right. It is a form of psychosis, one far too many people have. Maybe that's why so many find themselves able to identify with him.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. kick