IN THESE TIMES

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Weapon of Mass Distraction

By Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.February 11, 2004

President Bush used his State of the Union address as a weapon of mass distraction and ignored the actual imminent threats to our country. He cited our pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq as a lesson that other nations have learned, but his words were a major distraction to the real moral lesson that Bush is teaching our children: “The end justifies the means.”

At the same time, the president ignored the real and imminent threats to our country:

  • Nearly 20 million Americans unemployed or underemployed and an official unemployment rate of 10.3 percent for African Americans.
  • 44 million Americans with no health insurance and no plan to insure every American—with minorities comprising 52 percent of the nation’s year-round uninsured population.
  • A poverty rate now at 12 percent nationally and rising to nearly 25 percent in 2004 for African Americans.
  • Under-funding by $9 billion his own domestic priority—the No Child Left Behind Act—while using public dollars to fund vouchers to private and parochial schools that can discriminate.
  • With no solution offered to the fiscal crisis that’s confronting 45 of the 50 states that face deficits.

While President Bush wants to make “national security” his issue in the 2004 campaign—using fear to scare the American people into voting for him—we are still vulnerable because he is more concerned about giving no-bid contracts to his corporate friends than in adequately protecting our borders, providing enough money to inspect boats in our ports, fully equipping and training first responders, improving our domestic nuclear security and protecting our communities against bio-terrorist attacks.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. represents Illinois’ 2nd District.