Bush and the Twelve Steps

Posted on August 27, 2004 in Accountability

Bush has made much of his status as a “recovered alcoholic” and a practitioner of the Twelve Steps. With all his talk of “being the instrument of God”(see Step 11), it seems that he skipped over steps 8 through 10 which are the necessary prerequesites to deeming oneself a Divine Servant:

8. Made a list of persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people except when to do so would injure others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Bush is overdue for making amends to many people: Al Gore for stealing the election, the survivors and familes of 9-11 victims for not having given due attention to terrorism before the incident, the people of Iraq for causing massive destruction, the working class for having squandered the surplus and placing the burden of the deficit on others — to name just a few things. Undoubtably, he uses Step 9 in the most elastic possible manner — but seeing that the white collar criminals who support him are prosecuted and the absurdly wealthy pay more taxes is not causing them harm in the sense that the Ninth Step means.

We have yet to see him follow Step 10 for any of his wrongs. The blame has always been shifted to someone else.

So, do not jump to Step 11, Mr. Bush, until you have worked through all of the previous 10 steps. You’re not yet fit to declare yourself cured of your disease until you have faced up to all the ill effects it wreaks on others through you.