The beauty of the Bush philosophy of governance is that it creates and accelerates those very conditions of stress (radical economic inequality promoted by tax cuts for the wealthy and concomitant cuts in public services for the less well-off) that then provide fertile ground for popular acceptance of measures intended to further worsen conditions for the subject class. An example would be to purposely inflate the housing bubble and then use the succeeding bailout to further enrich the wealthy elites at the cost of the average worker. Or to execute a reckless Medicare drug expansion plan, catering to pharmaceutical companies and knowing it would lead to insolvency, to set the stage for drastic future cuts in Medicare – and other entitlements, while they’re at it. The same principle applies in foreign policy, such as in retreating from Bill Clinton’s tentative rapprochement with Iran and North Korea as Bush’s first order of business, demonizing these countries as evil, and then setting in motion offensive strategies once those countries predictably react. The principle is evident in attacking and occupying Middle Eastern countries, then justifying the war on terror by pointing to the increased radicalization ensuing from the invasion.
From Anis Shivani: Bush’s ‘Decision Points’ Is A Terrifying Journey Into the Authoritarian Mind
I’m very skeptical of this as it fits the mold of crack-pot conspiracy theory; but, I can’t say that there isn’t a good point in there somewhere. It’s much more likely that W didn’t fully think out the consequences of his actions, sure that his ideology was correct and things would work out in ways consistent with his beliefs.
