Bush is no Nixon

The brouhaha about Deep Throat naturally brought back some memories of the Nixon era and started me thinking about the differences between the Nixon administration and that of Bush II. I think the primary differences between the two are Nixon’s willingness to act against type and the caliber of another branch of government, the legislature.

The Men
We all know that Nixon “went to China”, but, unless you were alive when he was hunting “Communists”, you really can’t appreciate how much against type this trip was. And it was not his only action against type; the first SALT Treaty was signed in Nixon’s administration. He was willing to act to try to turn around a sagging economy, even though his attempt at wage and price controls failed. He introduced revenue sharing with the states, sought to protect the environment and started the first Consumer Product Safety Commission. He had the gumption to get out of Vietnam. I was never a fan of Tricky Dick, but you have to give him credit for being willing to act counter to his historical beliefs in an attempt to improve the world.

Contrast the above actions with those of a fellow liar, a more sophisticated one, Bush (we seem to be moving more and more to Orwell’s world of 1984). Dogma seems to override common sense. Inaction is preferred to action. The environment is not something to be preserved, but to be used. He’d rather share mandates with the states, rather than provide the funds to implement the mandates. And we all know, George started a war as opposed to finishing one.

The Legislature
No one outside New Jersey had heard of Peter Rodino before Watergate. Then, his strong hand running the Judiciary Committee made his name a household word. The Republicans – and the Democrats – on the Committee were nowhere near as doctrinaire as the current crop of legislators. Six of 17 Republican members of the committee voted to bring the impeachment articles to the floor of the House. Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater and other leaders of the GOP were instrumental in convincing Nixon to resign. Sam Ervin was like an old-time prophet lamenting the sinfulness of the administration.

Where do you see today’s legislators acting in the nation’s interest and dealing with serious matters, not such tripe as gay marriage and the Schiavo case?