Bush’s legacy one of government distrust

Tom Ridge, former President George W. Bush's homeland security chief, reveals in a new book that Bush and his top advisers pressured him to raise the “terror alert” level in November 2004 to help Bush with the election. Isn't it nice of Ridge to tell us about this now, when no one can be held accountable and he can use it to sell a book?

It's staggering to realize the level to which Bush seeded every single level of government with political operatives. Democratic U.S. attorneys were fired. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was a political crony, with no experience in handling emergencies. The energy department was sold out to the oil companies. Every Bush appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department came out of the very industries they regulate, and which generously fund the Republican Party. Partisan politics even infected science.

The saddest legacy of the Bush administration is that it makes the public even more cynical about government. This makes it more difficult for those of us who believe that the purpose of government is to make a better future for our country.

Jeanne Lipman

Marion