Commentary
Rating
George W. Bush’s Presidency
by Jeff Nygaard and Billy
Golfus
With the low approval
ratings President Bush has had recently, Access Press thought it
would be interesting to poll a few regular readers/contributors
for their review of the Bush presidency. To that end, AP sent out
a request to ten people, evenly spread across the political spectrum,
asking for their views. After several reminders and prods, we print
here the only responses we’ve received
so far.
Bush Presidency a Disaster
by Jeff Nygaard
I think the
Bush presidency has had a negative effect on the lives of most people
with disabilities. There are two basic reasons I say this, one a
general reason, and the other specific. The general reason is that
the Bush administration’s general preference
for “market” solutions to various problems has a bias in favor
of people with more resources. That is, in a market setting, the people who
have more money—and thus more ability to purchase products and services—tend
to thrive, while those of us with lower incomes and levels of wealth come
out on the short end. Since such high numbers of people with disabilities
also have limited incomes, this orientation reduces access to many things
for people with disabilities. In terms of health care, the higher costs involved
in support and care for people with serious or chronic conditions make this
population unattractive to “the market.”
Specifically, there
are a number of policy proposals made by the Bush administration—in
the areas of health care, housing, education, and employment—that
would have serious negative consequences for people with disabilities.
Without going into details, I must mention proposed cuts in the
Section 811 housing programs, cuts in vocational education funding,
a failure to fully fund IDEA, cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, elimination
of TBI, epilepsy, and hearing programs, and the very dangerous
idea of moving the Social Security program away from a system of
social insurance and toward a system of private investment. All
in all, this administration has been a disaster for people with
disabilities.
Jeff Nygaard worked at Access Press from 1994 to 2002, serving as
editor during the year 2001. He now works as a writer, focusing on
media and social policy. Nygaard says that he has no political party
affiliation, and did not vote for President Bush.
Worst President in My Lifetime
by
Billy Golfus
America is relentless in the
way it ignores gimps.
George Bush may be the
worst president in my lifetime. Certainly he has hurt the disability world, since his way is to rob from
the poor and give to the rich. I would rank his presidency
as rank.
What I don’t like about Bush’s presidency is that
he favors the rich, that he has made America a hated country, that
he has no regard for human life or freedom, that he uses torture
which has not been an American value until this administration, that
he postures in costumes and that he lies. Other than that he
is a president lacking in even average intelligence and education.
I don’t like the Democrats
or the Republicans, since they seem to be very similar. Neither party
has a real regard for the values we say we stand for: peace, freedom,
individuality and tie dye. Bush has cut programs to help people,
including basic programs for disabled folks. He has castrated the
ADA because it might have been expensive to his business friends.
We are at the low point in American history——the low
point—— and
it is an open question if America will survive. Manufacturing and
technical work is outsourced to other countries leaving behind only
do-gooder jobs, a situation which is bad for the gimps and bad for
America. As W C Fields said, “Everybody’s got to believe
in something, and I believe I’ll have another drink.”
About himself, Golfus
writes: I’m trying to write and make
movies about the way disabled folks are excluded or kept invisible.
I have a non-profit organization, the National Disability Awareness
Project which is not making a profit nor has any funding. I’ve
been around the block. Most of my disabled friends have gone to the
big wheelchair in the sky and I miss them terribly. I was brain damaged
in 1984.
