I have respect for the Office of President of the United States. But—considering the fact that the man who now holds that office

has trashed the American economy, squandered a hard-won surplus and managed to plunge this country into a national debt which has never before been equaled, while increasing the unemployment rate to near-Depression levels;

at the same time, he is tearing up the social safety net;

repeatedly tries to placate the public by announcing the launching of good-sounding health and education programs, and then refuses to back them up with the necessary funding;

is giving our national forests and other natural resources to corporations for economic exploitation;

blatantly disregards the rest of the world's concerns over the state of the environment;

enjoins states and cities to be major participants in securing the nation against terrorists, then provides no funding by which to do this; and then erodes local governments and emergency services of their ability to conduct even their normal functions by activating National Guard units, taking away the personnel of police and fire departments and airport and seaport security guards and screeners;

and most of all, is positioning himself and his cohorts to stifle any opposition to his policies by repealing large sections of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the name of "national security" (the cry of all tyrants throughout history);

pontificating about long-standing and high-minded American ideals and worthy goals as if he were reading T-shirts and bumper-stickers, while trampling on those ideals and goals by his actions;

and is further alienating former friends and allies, and the vast majority of the peoples of the world by arrogantly leading the United States into an ill-disguised campaign of colonial conquest, economic if possible, military if necessary, of the rest of the world, beginning by launching a war in the Middle East which any student of history and geopolitics knows will lead the United States and any other country with the bad judgment to collaborate with it, into a decades-long morass that will make Vietnam look like a toddler's birthday party, will further decimate the American economy by adding the burden of a long and expensive war, will lead to the wanton slaughter of military personnel and innocent civilians alike—and will further create fear and hatred for the United States with the inevitable result, not of quelling terrorism, but creating new generations of terrorists.

George W. Bush, his cohorts, and his policies constitute a disaster of global proportions.

I have respect for the Office of President. But for the man who currently holds that office, I have only fear and disgust.

For God's sake, get that man out of there in 2004. If it's not too late by then. . . .

Don Firth