Avowed aim: Drug free population
Policy: Prohibition
Effect: Increasing drug use, esp among the young
Avowed aim: Less violence
Policy: More violence than sex on tv and in movies, drug prohibition, cheap and easily available firearms
Effect: More and more horrific violence, less ability to empathize with others, crime very profitable, tens of thousands of gunshot murders
Avowed aim: Healthier population
Policy: Cheap, legal alcohol and tobacco, tolerance of pollution, overuse of antibiotics, subsidized gas and coal, lack of pedestrian-friendly cities, fast-food, no universal healthcare
Effect: Cancer epidemic, widespread heart disease, resurgent TB, superbugs, obesity epidemic, millions of uninsured
Avowed aim: Free press
Policy: Media consolidation into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations
Effect: A more monolithic and tame press that is ever deeper in bed with its corporate masters and their political bedfellows
Avowed aim: Combat terrorism
Policy: War
Effect: More hatred for America, a giant live-fire training ground for terrorists, more and better terrorists
Highly questionable elections that would not pass a "global test"
Avowed aim: Reliable elections
Policy: Partisan election officials, contempt for the equality of the voters, dirty tricks
Effect: Highly questionable elections that would not pass a "global test"
Avowed aim: Healthy economy
Policy: Tax cuts for the rich, deficits, corporate consolidation, lax oversight
Effect: Increasing inequality, additional risk in the global economy, more powerful and unaccountable corporations
Avowed aim: Educated population
Policy: Chaos, fragmentation, low standards, low expectations, wrong priorities, where to start?
Effect: An overall uneducated, misinformed, incurious and conservative population
Result: Bush wins and his friends make billions as the world becomes a more dangerous place.
Democrats, we cannot overcome this by moving to the center.