For four long years, those on the left have been nurturing their anger and feeding the flames of outrage with each new travesty committed by the brazen radicals in the Bush administration. To abandon the rage was to lose the war, and so, they soldiered on, exchanging harrowing tales in cyberland of shredded treaties, furious allies, environmental pillage, and fascist audacities. The flames grew into a wild inferno of fury and disdain, focused with precision on an administration that was to be defeated at all cost. Multi-millions of hard earned dollars were donated in bits and pieces; thousands of hours of barely-free time were freely sacrificed to the cause. But when the election passed, and the Evil Emperor and his Goon Squad trumpeted their victory, the once vast conflagration became an immeasurable tract of burnt-out devastation and smoking ruins. The survivors still wander aimlessly, trying to asses the damage and completely unsure about how and what to rebuild.

In the memorable words of Ben Franklin, “Experience is an expensive school, but fools will learn in no other way.” Our nation was given a choice, and it chose the way of the fool. On the one hand, we could join the world as one among equals and struggle to curtail our greedy and irresponsible use of the world’s resources, our hatred-inspiring preemptive wars, and our profligate ways. On the other, we could continue along the path blazed by George Bush, using militancy for diplomacy, degrading the environment, ignoring the alarm bells of global warming, blithely growing our debt, and encouraging, rather than curtailing, the avaricious, rapacious, and conscienceless corporations that make it all possible. Since all choices have consequences, we will reap the consequences of our fateful November decision. Perhaps, like the alcoholic who refuses to give up his destructive habits until he crashes, we will have a national “bottoming out” that will serve to painfully wake us up. And perhaps, from the perspective of many, many years hence, we will be able to say that another four years of George Bush was ultimately a good thing, because the predictably dire consequences eventually forced us into a new, more austere way of life, as one among equals in the global neighborhood, responsible about resources and our natural habitat and respectful of other nations and of the most vulnerable among us. But, experience is a very expensive school…

Already we are immersed in the feeling that the once rock-solid foundation of America is beginning to crumble, and there is nothing and no one attempting repair. The dollar has plunged to new lows, with no end in sight. Bush feels this is good for trade and does nothing to halt the decline, ignoring the deep resentment it is unleashing in other nations as it sabotages their own efforts at economic growth.

Freedom of the press is undergoing a dangerous onslaught from two directions. The corporate-owned media manipulatively guides the national mindset with its bottom-line, regulation-free agenda, which is consequently pro-Republican and not averse to propaganda and cover-ups. Moreover, there are currently eight contempt of court cases against journalists who refuse to give the names of their confidential sources. Since these anonymous sources are often the only source of information about a secrecy-obsessed and abuse-of-power prone government, this is a truly frightening development.

Numerous other signs of danger litter the horizon as well. Bush’s latest plan to overhaul the tax code, with its repeal of deductions for both state income tax payments and employer sponsored health plans, is sure to decrease the number of insured in America and take a further bite out of middle class income. Meanwhile, the wealthy will no longer have to pay interest, dividend, or capital gains tax. It will be hard to have any sympathy for Red America when this hits them between the eyes.

Another warning sign of trouble is the appointment of Condy Rice as Secretary of State and Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. In one of his more transparent moves to date, Bush has declared in no uncertain terms that loyalty trumps competence, and only sycophants need apply.

Our ongoing American quagmire in Iraq is another dark sign, as the role of Iraq increasingly resembles the part Afghanistan played in the downfall of the Soviet Union, bleeding the awesome strength of that superpower until it fell to its knees. But worst of all are the massive number of “irregularities” (otherwise known as fraud) in the recent election. There are demands for investigation in Congress, likely recounts in Ohio and New Hampshire, and stories of massive abuse coming out of Florida. But who will investigate? Gonzales, who owes his rise to Bush? Our Republican Congress, one of the chief beneficiaries of the skewed results? Unfortunately, our current government has begun to resemble the lurid tale told in Lord of the Flies where any pretense of law and order unravels, and the adolescent hunter-savages roam freely and without restraint.

In order to have a glimpse at the next four years and how they may differ from the last four, it is useful to look at the Inaugural chart for January 2005, as well as some of the most significant aspects in the US chart and George Bush’s chart. To begin with, the contrast with the Inaugural chart of 2001 is quite striking, and this, at least, is to be welcomed. The 2001 Ascendant, opposed to Mars, square Uranus/Mercury, and quincunx Pluto, suggests a very aggressive regime that makes many fierce enemies (Mars on Descendant), breaks with tradition in a very reckless and unpredictable way (Uranus/Mercury square Mars), and is extremely controlling and secretive (Pluto). In the 2005 chart, by contrast, the Ascendant is in a very tight square to Neptune and a trine to Mercury/Venus. This suggests an administration that will be somewhat confused and befuddled, often pursuing policies with great expectation only to find disappointment and loss (Neptune). Obfuscation, dishonesty and deceit are also quite likely, but the trine to Mercury/Venus suggests that the administration may get away with a great deal. In addition, the Mercury/Venus in the 9th house indicates a far better relationship with foreign governments may be forthcoming. In fact, the general tone of the 2005 chart, without that nasty T square, is far less belligerent and aggressive than the 2001 chart was. Perhaps we can hope that there will be no invasion of Iran, Syria, or North Korea.

A second significant difference between the two charts is the relative prominence of Pluto. In the 2001 chart we find Pluto conjunct the Moon, semisquare the Sun, and quincunx the Ascendant, lending a very paranoid, secretive, and manipulative character to the first George Bush administration. During this same four years, the US chart experienced Pluto crossing the Ascendant, during 9/11 and its aftermath, and Pluto opposing US Mars, during the increasing insurgency in Iraq (most of 2004). Thus, the battle with elusive and highly dangerous terrorists has been represented in both the US chart and the 2001 Inaugural chart with very strong Pluto aspects, which have also led to the generally fearful tone and subsequent government attempts at control and manipulation.

In the 2005 chart, Pluto’s influence is far more muted. It is, however, conjunct Mars, so we can assume Bush will not turn into a Quaker. The inherent aggression of this aspect manifests through harmonious aspects (sextile Jupiter and sextile Neptune) that are unlikely to infuriate the planet. In addition, Pluto has an exact quincunx to Saturn, which would seem to enforce a continual adjustment to the limits of power and the worrisome consequences for its abuse.

Saturn, the planet of restraint and responsibility, also plays a different role in the 2005 chart than it did in the 2001 chart. In the 2005 Inaugural chart, it opposes the Midheaven, Mercury, Venus, and the Sun, quincunxes Pluto, semisquares the Moon, and squares Jupiter and the Node. In addition, it is the ultimate dispositor of every planet in the chart if we include its co-rulership of Aquarius for both the Sun and Neptune. This suggests a generally more somber, more difficult and more burdensome term, with greater caution and restraint, and far more obstacles in achieving goals. In particular, the Sun in the 2005 chart is opposite Saturn and very widely trine the Moon. Symbolic of the president, the Sun’s position in the 2005 chart indicates that Bush will likely be able to pursue his goals only with caution and care. This parallels the transiting Saturn that will consecutively cross Bush’s Saturn, Ascendant, Mercury, Pluto, Venus, and Mars, and square his Node and Uranus during the next four years. It implies a realistic attitude and a need to defer to the facts on the ground. The Sun in the 2001 chart, by contrast, was conjunct Neptune, the planet of illusion, dishonesty, and self-deception, and very tightly trine a first house Jupiter, which gave Bush many easy successes and what often seemed a free pass out of trouble despite his more grandiose and fantasy-like perceptions.

But if it was primarily Pluto that colored the last four years with its desperate sense of a battle against a vicious enemy and a struggle for survival, it will be Uranus, with its sudden, unexpected awakenings, rebellions, and lightning-like strokes, that will intermittently clamor for our attention in the next four. It seems quite likely that the destructive forces already set in motion in the first Bush administration, but kept relatively hidden from public view, may suddenly and powerfully explode onto the scene in the second. The plunging dollar, the ballooning deficit, the imbalance in trade, the increasingly unaccommodating allies, the growing fury of the Arab world, the expanding movement to trade oil in euros, the burgeoning insurgency in Iraq, all have within them the seeds for enormous complications that could be unleashed by a powerful Uranus transit.

In 2005, Uranus will oppose Bush’s Mars, square US Uranus, and square Inaugural Moon, almost simultaneously. Historically, Uranus’ hard aspects to the US Uranus have brought revolutionary movements (the pre-Civil War secession of southern states), as well as policies and cultural shifts that have broken with tradition (Reagan’s Star Wars, the Martin Luther King holiday, LBJ’s War on Poverty, and the beginning of the Beatles phenomenon). The first phase of this coming transit will be in late March and early April 2005. It is possible there will be some kind of rebellion among the people of the US, possibly aided by a newly awakened press. The third house Saturn in the Inaugural chart suggests that there could be an increasingly tense relationship between the Bush administration and the press during this term, with the press being critical of and at the same time feeling repressed and stifled by those in power. The Uranus transit to US Uranus, ruler of the 3rd house which covers the media, could awaken a rebellious spirit in the press. The Uranus square to Uranus this coming spring might also signal the “revolutionary” choice of a majority anti-abortion Supreme Court or the battle over this issue. In any event, it is likely to bring something that breaks sharply with recent tradition. Bush, during this transit, will be quite aggressive, angry, and unwilling to bend with Uranus opposite his Mars, and his administration will be agitated and irritable with Uranus square Inaugural Moon. The transit repeats in late July and August 2005 and in January 2006, but its influence will be felt during the entire period from late March 2005 through January 2006.

Beginning in the summer of 2006 through early February 2007, Uranus will be squaring the US Ascendant, continuing the movement toward uncharted territory and the sudden awakening of some kind that Uranus often brings. Much of the same period will see Bush with Saturn conjunct his Venus and Condi Rice with Saturn square her Venus/Sun/Midheaven conjunction, so the changes brought during 2006 and early 2007 may not be to their liking and may prove quite stressful to the administration. In fact, beginning in April 2007 through February 2008, Uranus will be opposite Inaugural Mars, clearly suggesting a great deal of anger, sudden upsets, and turmoil within the administration. The final year of this Bush term will then bring the last hit from Uranus in the form of a square to US Mars and a square to Bush’s Uranus/Node conjunction. Bush will be catapulted into some significant awakenings of his own in 2008, including the sudden possibility of war or angry confrontation with an open enemy (Uranus/US Mars).

Thus, it seems that the turmoil generated during the next four years may have more to do with swift moving events from outside (Uranus transits) than from the dynamics of the administration, which may be more restrained than expected, except perhaps in late March, early April, and August 2005, and January 2006, when Uranus opposing Bush’s Mars suggests he could be aggressive, unpredictable, and somewhat reckless. But like all deeds, Bush’s will eventually have significant consequences for good or ill, and will form part of the ineluctable chain of events that will lead this nation ever forward, however painfully, toward its destiny.