This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Thursday, March 30, 2006 12:00 AM

Bush's Card trick

Forget his meaningless staff switch. Bush is the most blinkered and rigid president since Depression-denying Herbert Hoover.

Read other letters about this article

  • Thursday, March 30, 2006 03:48 AM

    Banality of Evil

    Hoover was competent and compassionate.

    As the author points out, Hoover's rigid ideology (framework of ideas) was inadequate to handle the systemic problems leading to the depression and their aftermath.

    Bush lives in platitudes. I have been waiting for years for the Bush administration to collapse on what Hanah Arendt titled an article, "The Politics of Lying." One who lies must be much more consistent because at any time, the card castle of lies could come crashing down. This administration lies all the time, and then some. It is also impervious to reason as everything is part of a politics to win elections. They have successfully trashed the legitimacy of, to name a few, science, teachers, politicans, labor unions and the courts. Without legitimacy, wise authority breaks down and the very institutions needed to craft a creative solution have been removed from their rightful place.

    But, even more than this, the administration has practiced evil. Torture. Holding people without trial. Trashing the constitution with explicit actions such as illegal wire taps.

    "Eichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt, 1965 provides insight into this administration.

    And as others have pointed out, Bush should be prosecuted for plagiarism of George Orwell's classic, "1984."

Most Active Letters Threads

725

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
688

Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation

The "new" approach to Afghanistan touted by White House officials seems quite old
440

The face of rotted Washington

Evan Bayh demands more debt-financed war - fought by others - while boasting that he's a stern "deficit hawk."
329

Yes, it's Obama's war now

An uninspiring speech sells a dubious policy, but progressives who feel betrayed have only themselves to blame
252

America's regression

It's almost impossible to find a nation with as many torture advocates as the U.S. has.

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon