October 27, 2006
11 And Counting
The time has come, I think, to speak frankly about the upcoming elections. As you know, I haven't written much lately about politics or the war; this is due to time constraints more than anything else. But debate is important, especially now. Whoever controls the House, Senate and the White House in 2008 will have to take some tough decisions concerning the war, judicial nominations, Social Security, immigration and a host of other issues. All this must be done in a nation that is more divisive than it has been since the Vietnam War.
Many of you reading this don't consider yourself Republican or Democrat or Libertarian, etc. Remove that notion from your head. You may consider yourself a maverick who votes for the candidate over the party, but once you pull that lever, you belong to a party. You may not be a card-carrying member of anything, but if you put the force of your vote behind one party over another, then you own it. So don't think you're above the fray, because the only people not in the fray are people who don't vote and if you don't vote, you are abdicating the greatest right you have as an American.
You can safely conclude that there are two types of people in Washington and the media: people who know we are at war and people who deny it. As with all things there is a grey middle, but the two sides are becoming more and more clear as time goes by. Those in denial see the threat of terrorism as little more than an imagined excuse to spend more on the military and supress our constitutional rights. To them, the war in Iraq is not about terror but about Halliburton or George Bush's father. It is a political monster and can, therefore, be played like any other event. This explains why you hear a great deal about the bad news coming from Iraq but almost nothing from the 12 of 17 provinces in which life is better than it was before 2003. Some people in power go so far as to say that things would be better all around if Saddam Hussein were still in power (note the statistics given on the site do not reflect the estimated 100,000 people a year Hussein had killed or who simply vanished.)
One important thing to note is that the anti-war crowd is not really protesting the war. They ARE against the war, but that's not the focus. After all, President Clinton's war from the air against Serbia caused barely a word of protest to be uttered, except by the Chinese whose embassy was bombed by mistake. No, the protest is really against one man: George W. Bush.
The hatred of President Bush by the Left and the mainstream media pre-dates 9/11. If you remember the campaign of 2000, you'll remember that Vice-President Gore was portrayed as a genius whose boring diatribes could be dismissed with a laugh. Governor Bush was an idiot from Texas, the son of a rich man who had known nothing but privilege in his life. In reality, Al Gore's grades at Harvard were worse than Bush's were at Yale and Gore attended and dropped out of TWO schools at Vanderbilt--divinity and law school. GW Bush went on to receive an MBA from Harvard, the first President to have an MBA from anywhere. I have a feeling Dan Rather never told you that.
This is an old method of the Left: defeat the man, not his ideas. Remember President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative? Not only was it dervisively termed "Star Wars" the MSM, but the Left began spelling the President's name "Ray-Gun". Ray Gun. Get it? Like Buck Rogers? You'll still see some people doing it today. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so childish and stupid.
A group of people and a party who truly believe that our nation is at war would be more serious about issues. Regardless of how you feel about Iraq, you have to think about the last time you heard a Democrat voice a coherent strategic plan for the place other than cut and run. Intelligent people can disagree about the merits of the 2003 invasion, but a withdrawal from Iraq now would be a disaster, especially in the long term.
And so it appears that we are becoming a nation in which nearly half the voting public is not voting FOR anything, but rather is expressing their hatred at the ballot box. To what end, exactly?
Posted by Matthew at October 27, 2006 03:47 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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There are a few other issues to look at here. The war in Iraq has been the favorite issue of Democrats to pick on but if you look at their voting records concerning the war most democrats approved of it and continue to approve of it by voting to continue financing of it. I don't think the Democrat's hands are totally clean when it comes to Iraq.
I'm concerned about Americans not thinking of themselves as American Citizens but as World Citizens who happen to live in America. We are losing our identity as a Nation. This used to be a small percentage of people but I have seen more & more people believing this. I think it's due in no small part to the fact that most of the things we buy aren't made by American Companies (Toyotas made in the USA but by a Japanese Company). American Companies do make things but mostly in other countries(My Ford Windstar was manufactured in Canada).
We also don't turn immigrants into Americans anymore. We bend over backwards to make sure they don't have to. They don't have to learn our language because we'll learn theirs. We'll even build schools for their kids that only teach in their language. I think it's funny how the bill to build the wall along the Mexican border was only signed close to an election. Why did it take so long? How many of that 300 million really feel like Americans.
The best people & the best moments of our history our fading. I wonder how many 15 Year olds really give a sh*t about WW2 or about 9/11 for that matter.
Who is out there that can unite us to face our enemies with a firm & resolute determination like our Grandparents & Great Grandparents had. I don't see that in Today's America. We have lived for years on the toil of the Greatest Generation but we are not putting anything back for future generations.
Which Party can give us a Proud and Standing Tall America ready and willing to face whatever we must face to remain a Free & Thriving Country?
Posted by: David![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opaquelucidity.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 27, 2006 10:06 PM
You’re right Matt, we are at war. But it’s not the war you think it is. It’s a war for American “interests” over foreign, sovereign nations. It has nothing to do with democracy or dictators. If it did, we would have invaded Saudi Arabia. Instead we happily continue doing business with them despite the fact that they represent everything we say we hate, and produced 15 of the 9/11 hijackers and Bin Laden himself. We’re ok with dictators as long as we can do business with them. It’s the ones that try to keep American investors and corporations out that really piss us off. We happily sold weapons to Saddam for the Iran/Iraq war. He was a dictator then too, you know.
You and most pro-Bush people that I know want so desperately for this to be WW2 all over again, where an indisputably evil force must be stopped, and it’s the noble, clever, and handsome Americans that save the day. That was 60 years ago, and too much has changed. Then we were the new kid on the block – an underdog. Now we’re the force that the rest of the world is afraid of. Do you really still see the US as a benevolent, well-intentioned country with no ulterior motives? Do you think we became the world’s foremost military and financial power by waving the flag and baking apple pies?
Attacking the man and not his ideas is “an old method of the left”!? Wow, then what do you call the way the right attacked (and still attacks) Clinton? Look at your old posts if you need to. Looks like attacking the man to me. Unfortunately, attacking the man is a timeless bi-partisan tactic, so don’t pretend republicans don’t do it.
So essentially your argument is that we should vote for the party that believes we are at war because they will be “more serious” about issues. I gotta say, if that’s the best argument you can make, things are worse for the GOP than I thought.
Finally, this “cut-and-run” talk is crap. You guys got the national car stuck in a quagmire called Iraq, and then try to blame the guy in the passenger seat by saying, “The only idea you have is to call AAA”. Talk about being childish and stupid.
at October 28, 2006 07:25 AM
And who, may I ask, is the AAA here? The UN?
Posted by: Matt_D at October 28, 2006 10:36 AM
No, calling AAA – or even just thinking about calling AAA – means (a) acknowledging that you are stuck, and (b) considering the options -- all the options, not just the “stay the course” option. Only now, even though it’s been clear that Iraq was headed in the wrong direction for a long time, is the administration making some admissions and talking about re-considering strategy. (Would I be wrong to say that if it were the Democrats were having similar revelations right before an election, you’d be calling them amoral capitulators?)
There is a point upon which we agree: pulling out suddenly would be a mistake. The problem is that this administration has been so arrogant, inflexible, condescending, and stubborn that, now that the tide is turning, the reaction is bound to be an over-reaction.
at October 29, 2006 11:13 AM
David, your answer is GOD. No man, no party and no ideals will ever bring us the right answers. So many of us keep looking for answers amongst ourselves. We pay some insignificant respect to God and miss the whole point. Serve evolution or serve the Creator. That is the only two choices. Only one has all the answers though.
Posted by: Erik at November 1, 2006 12:46 AM