What A Reversal of Fortune: We've Met The Enemy & It's Our Very Own Leaders

Remember when conservatives warned that dope-smoking hippies were going to destroy America? How ironic since it is our conservative leaders who are doing most of the damage.

While those oh so liberal Democrats will no doubt have their own chance to screw things up and as it is have been feckless helpmates of the Republicans, the fallout from the 1994 Contract on America through George Bush's Reign of Error is simply mind boggling:

* Tax cuts for the rich at the expense of everyone else, including programs like Head Start that actually work.

* Runaway big-government deficit spending.

* Economic policies the reward Wall Street and punish Main Street.

* A bomb-first-ask-questions-later foreign policy.

* Despite 9/11, a flimsy homeland security apparatus and a military that is focused not on defense but projecting American might.

* Two failed wars.

* The embrace of torture and rejection of international convenants.

* Making a hash out of terrorist prosecutions.

* Failure to confront the crises in health care and education.

* An energy policy predicated on foreign oil global warming denial.

* Executive power grabs that have skewed the system of checks and balances.

* Bad behavior by people like Tom DeLay and Paul Wolfowitz who go on to second and third careers as public personas whom we are told should be taken seriously.

* Using their bully pulpit not to lead and inspire but to feign piety, sew fear and wage culture wars.

Oh, and by the way, arrests for dope smoking today exceed those for all violent crimes combined.