Isn’t it ironic? The Republicans have been in total control for six years now. Ostensibly, they have been making Americans safer by fighting the war on terror. Supposedly, their main objective is to protect the American way of life, protect our freedoms, protect our prosperity.

The FBI, however, just reported that “there were nearly 1.4 million violent crimes reported last year, led by robbery, murder and aggravated assault” (Reuters, U.S. Violent Crime Rose in 2005, 9/18/06). Robberies and murders rose by more than 3%, and assaults rose by almost 2%. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty believes the rise in violent crimes is caused by increased gang involvement and methamphetamine use; he also believes the rates will continue to rise.

Thank God the President is working so hard to keep us safe, huh?

I don’t know about you, but I think I feel more threatened by the meth addicts and gang members that might live just a couple doors down than I do by the terrorists in Iraq.

It really isn’t all that surprising that violence is increasing. When people are poor, oppressed, frustrated and fighting to survive, they often behave desperately. Joining gangs or doing drugs are things that desperate people do.

Perhaps the Bush administration could try concentrating its energy on the struggles faced by Americans here at home. Protecting American jobs or finding ways to provide everyone with healthcare could help people afford to feed their families without resorting to crime. Finding realistic ways to educate our children could keep them out of gangs and off drugs. Americans don’t need to be preached at about morality; we don’t need to concentrate our strongest efforts on eliminating foreign terrorism. We need education. We need healthcare. We need jobs that will actually allow us to pay our bills and fill our gas tanks.

The Republicans have had the power; they have proven that they cannot improve our lives. In their hands, we have lost our jobs, our freedoms, our soldiers and our safety. Only 853 more days left in Bush’s term. Then we can start cleaning up this mess.