Brad found this article in the Dallas Business Journal and its actually quite disturbing. I urge all of you to go and read the article and spread it on your blogs or through email (to your Senators and Representatives specifically) because its a fine example of how the current administration is steeped in cronyism and is on the fast track to making this a fascist nation.
In brief, Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was relating an anecdote at a Dallas Housing Authority forum.
"He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years," Jackson said of the prospective contractor. "He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.'
"I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.'
"He didn't get the contract," Jackson continued. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."
This is utter bullshit. To deny someone a contract simply based on their political views is wrong. The contractor who told Jackson his views was exercising his right to speak freely about the president and should not have been denied a contract for doing such.
Why is this so wrong? Imagine a country where the National Institutes of Health, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Science Foundation, The Environmental Protection Agency, The Center for Disease Control, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Central Intelligence Agency etc. so forth and so on only granted money to, protected, and hired people who not only implicitly supported the president but also refused to deal with anyone that outwardly spoke against the president? That is totalitarianism, not democracy. These agencies exist to extend opportunity to those who are in need and to protect the citizenry. They do not exist to reward only those who are loyal to the president and penalize those who disagree with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment