Isn't It Time for the Truth?
by Harry Browne
November 14, 2001

It is time for President Bush to stop the cheer-leading and speak the truth.

He said last Thursday, "This great nation will never be intimidated. . . . Life in America is going forward."

Who is he trying to kid? Last Friday at Los Angeles airport I saw people trying to check their baggage – standing in a line that was at least 200 yards long. I stood in five separate lines to identify myself and my carryon luggage. The soldiers in fatigues with submachine guns reminded me of a Third World country.

The politicians live in their own unreal world, with no idea of what's happening in America. How many times has Air Force One been late taking off? How many security lines have Donald Rumsfeld, Tom Ridge, and Dick Cheney stood in?

They care little about the traveling businessman who now must cut his work short at lunchtime in order to catch a 5pm flight. Or the individual who must get up at 4am to catch a morning flight.

Has the President noticed the hundreds of billions of dollars being added to federal, state, and local government budgets – spending piled on top of previous budgets, spending that's causing huge deficits and tax increases, spending that's coming out of the hide of American taxpayers?

When will he say straight out: "America rules the world by force, and the price of that is for you to pay high taxes and live in a nation that looks more and more like a police state."

No Neutrals

President Bush says, "You're either with us or against us."

Does that mean he'll bomb neutral Switzerland – the island of freedom, privacy, and security in the midst of socialist Europe – if it doesn't confiscate private bank accounts and otherwise act on every whim of our President?

Why doesn't he simply tell the truth: "America rules the world and I rule America. You will do as I say or I'll kill your people."

Opposition

The President keeps telling us that the world supports the American war against Afghanistan. But the truth is that he has bought the support of foreign leaders with your money – while public opinion polls show people in foreign countries are overwhelmingly opposed to American military attacks.

Why doesn't he just tell the truth: "We are destroying the last vestiges of love for America around the world – but that's the price we must pay for me to become powerful and popular at home beyond my wildest dreams."

Time for the Truth

When you know some of what politicians tell you are lies, you have to wonder how many of their other statements are lies as well.

What I want is the truth. I'd like to think I'm mature enough to handle whatever that may be. And I could prepare for the future much better if someone told me the truth – instead of all this rah-rah stuff.

America isn't leading the world. Leaders lead by example. And America is providing no example of individual liberty, personal responsibility, small government, or peace.
America rules the world. Rulers rule by force. They may succeed temporarily, but at an awful cost.

It is long past time for the truth – the truth that many more Americans will have to die to satisfy the politicians' lust for power.