What do GWB and Nero Have In Common?

What do the Bush administration and Rome’s Nero have in common? Plenty. Let’s review.

Religious violence is at an all-time high since the Holocaust. More “religions of peace” are doing and saying things that I am sure are making their prophets look down and think “Don’t make me come down there.” Churches are burned to the ground, mosques are blown up, religious service attendees are killed and almost all of them are in response to some other religious slight on someone else’s point of view. Who do those in the Middle East blame? The United States.

The percentage of seniors and families living at the poverty line is higher than ever, even controlling for population growth. A recent study shows an alarming number of people with single incomes qualify for public-supported meals. We also have proof of Walmart employees on government healthcare programs.

The efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as noble as they may be, have been politically bungled to the point most Americans have no confidence in the Bush Administration’s ability to manage either campaign. The president makes comparisons between Japan and Iraq and says that's proof democracy can take hold in the Middle East, forgetting the minor point that Japan attacked us first.

Republican scandals seem to appear almost daily. The White House official in charge of government procurement is indicted. The Majority Leader of the House is indicted. The vice president’s Chief of Staff is indicted. Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunnigham was indicted and resigned. After the screw-ups following Katrina, someone should be indicted.

The federal debt approaches $8.3 trillion dollars, thanks to the Republican borrow-and-spend fiscal policies, providing every man, woman and child in this country a personal bill of almost $30,000 each.

Menial job growth, paced well below job losses, continue to cause more and more Americans to work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. Bankruptcy filings, even with the new law, are still running at a record pace.

To all of the above, the Bush Administration and the Republicans running the House and Senate all tell us “things are good.” Like Nero, who famously fiddled while Rome burned, GWB and the Republicans live at such a level of denial that the comparison to Nero is more than valid. We are seeing history repeat itself and the only people who can change things are the voters.