Bush Threatens to VETO General Aviation!!

A while back I wrote that George W Bush posed the greatest threat to general aviation it had seen in decades. I based that assessment on his proposals for user fees and his desire to give the airlines “more say” in a system already designed for them, a system that often tolerates rather than accommodates the average general aviation user. Some Bush apologist wrote in that he didn’t see how I could make such a claim as he made the totally illogical association with the implementation of light sport pilot provisions and a general uptick in general aviation activity. Neither of those really had anything to do with the Bush Administration, other than they happened on Bush’s watch.

Well, Mr. Bush Apologist, tell me how you can defend this President’s idiotic and heavy-handed policies toward general aviation now! Even though the House and Senate have come together to pass a FAA financing bill that bases upgrades in the system on gasoline taxes, funding it in the same manner it is today (with some increases), the President has let it be known he will veto any FAA financing bill that doesn’t contain user fees and that doesn’t give “the airlines more say”. (More say!!!? What, like no safety inspections at ALL!!!) There has never been another stance on a any subject since the Invasion of Iraq where Bush has demonstrated how totally out of touch he is. All we can hope for is there are enough bi-partisan votes to override the veto when it comes.

There’s no way we can impeach him over this, but I’m going to propose we change the Constitution to allow for Presidential Recalls so we never have to suffer for years again under a President who is two sheets into the wind and so out of touch with the country he governs.

I believe John McCain is also a proponent of user fees. So, every general aviation pilot out there needs to think long and hard about whom they’re going to cast their votes for in the next election. Republican or Democrat, it makes no difference. If they are for user fees financing of the ATC system, you better vote them right out of office before they vote you right out of the sky!