President Bush is sliding down a long steep slope, heading for a tall cliff. Like anyone else in that situation, he has been trying to grab onto something that might arrest his fall. The political issues he is latching onto are little more than straws, however, so they have been shredding in his hands as soon as he grabs them. There are lots of substantial roots available to him, but he prefers to avoid dealing with root issues, so his slide continues.

     When I say that the President is clutching at political issues that are “straws,” I mean that they are not addressing real problems that affect the lives of ordinary Americans. Instead, they are carefully vetted issues which appeal on an emotional level to Bush’s base (the 31 percent), but which don’t actually improve anyone’s life.

     Here are some examples.

     First, he tried to repeal the estate tax. This is a tax that raises large sums of money, but which only the very wealthiest 1 to 2 percent of estates ever pay. Contrary to the Bush administration propaganda, much of the money in those estates has never previously been taxed. If the estate tax were repealed, it would cost the U.S. Treasury about $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00) over the next ten years. That is about three times the total amount appropriated for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to date.

     In a time of record budget deficits and national debt, every tax break given to the wealthy results in an increased debt, which must be paid by future generations. That straw quickly fell apart when the repeal was recently voted down in the Senate.

     Next, he tried to pass an amendment to the U. S. Constitution to ban gay marriages. Like the estate tax, this is an issue that does not affect the lives of most Americans. The number of gay marriages that take place is very small, and they do not have any impact on the lives of most Americans.

     Of course, writing bigotry and discrimination into the Constitution is a terrible idea. Even many social conservatives who are opposed to gay marriages recognize that the federal government should not be given the power to meddle in a matter traditionally left up to the states. The amendment has now been voted down in the Senate, and did not even receive 50 votes, much less the 67 needed to pass a constitutional amendment. Yet Bush is sliding toward a cliff, and so he is likely to continue grasping at that straw.

     Bush has also proposed a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. Yet burning is an officially sanctioned method for disposing of old and worn out flags, so it is not the mere fact of burning that he wants to get rid of. Instead, he wants to ban the burning of the flag if the intent is to express disapproval of the U.S. Government or its policies.

     The amendment actually gives Congress the power to prohibit “the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” What exactly is the “physical desecration of the flag?” It is not defined in the amendment, so Congress would get to prohibit any use of the flag that it did not approve of.

     I would be willing to bet that most Americans have never even seen a U.S. flag being burned, except on television. Even there, it is most likely to have been burned in a foreign country, where the amendment would not have any effect. In other words, this is an issue that does not affect the lives of most Americans. Although this amendment addresses an imaginary problem, and threatens to give Congress unprecedented power to ban unpopular speech, it is very close to passing in the Senate. It comes up for a vote this month, and already has 66 of the 67 votes it needs to pass. The House of Representatives has already passed it.

     A few spineless Democratic Senators like Hillary Clinton and Diane Feinstein are actually supporting this perverse attack on freedom of expression.

     It remains to be decided, but I am hoping that this straw also fails to stop Bush’s slide over the precipice. The Senate’s vote on this issue comes up this month. If you want to help, tell Clinton, Feinstein and the other senators who are supporting this amendment that Congress should not be weakening the First Amendment by seeking the power to ban political expression.

     This straw vote can help keep Bush sliding toward the cliff.

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