Ideology of Friendism

I think I've figured out the thing that really bugs me most about the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. I know very little about Ms. Miers beyond the fact that she's one of the President's cronies. And that's the rub for me. It sure seems that our President's seeming addiction to personal relationships has hamstrung his ability to effectively lead our nation. If you're his friend, he trusts you and will nominate you for an important role. And to be perfectly honest, I don't have a huge problem with that type of philosophy to a certain degree. I think that personal loyalty and relationships are really important. But it does seem to me that the meritocracy we cherish in American culture (be talented, work hard, get ahead) is being throttled by the cronyism of the Bush administration. There's a fine line between personal loyalty and nepotism, and I feel that the line has blurred quite a bit recently.

Mike Brown as FEMA chief? That obviously didn't go so well.

Karen Hughes as America's face to the Muslim world? Interesting choice. Smart lady, but what does she know of Islam and Arab culture? She's a former TV news reporter who has essentially been a spin doctor for the administration. What does that say about our sincerity in dealing with the Muslim world? She recently made the public statement that "our constitution references 'one nation under God'". Um...no, it doesn't. That's the Pledge of Allegiance, and the phrase was added in 1954. An innocent enough mistake, of course, but then she restated it a second time in an interview. That's either foolish or reckless, and haven't we had enough of both in our relations with the middle east?

Harriet Miers as Supreme Court justice? Is this just the latest in a long line of cronies? I'm betting that Ms. Miers is a very, very smart person, but it sure does seem that her primary qualification for the job is that she's a very smart lawyer who happens to be a good friend of the president. For Pete's sake, we're not a banana republic - can't we stop acting like one?