Sunday, November 07, 2004
The fifth quarter on election stuff
(I had meant to add this as a comment to Sean's post, but Blogger isn't cooperating, so here it is as a separate post....)
True, this is about as much of a political blog as JFK is believable as a football player, but I'll respond anyhoo...
I have great faith in the American voters to do the right thing, and to pick the leaders we need at pivotal moments in our history, and there is no question in my mind that this is the most critical time our nation has faced in a couple of generations. Say what you will about fear-mongering, but the threat posed to our way of life by terrorism is very real and cannot be ignored. 9/11 should have been a huge wake-up call to every person in this country. It isn't our way to choose war over peace, which is why there is such outcry over what is happening now in the Middle East, but let me ask you -- can we afford to have nations like Iraq and Iran and Syria running around educating whole generations of kids to hate Westerners? As long as people like Saddam Hussein are in power and practioners of religious hatred cling to the tenets of a philosophy that has been out of step with the rest of the world for at least a thousand years, we will not be safe.
Am I worried about a terrorist attack on my little hometown of Oakley, California? Not particularly. But I am very worried for New York, and Washington, D.C., Miami, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco (and not just because their football teams stink, but I digress)... We can't afford to not be vigilant, and what I see in President Bush is someone who understands this and is doing something about it. We may not agree with all of it -- there are parts I don't particularly agree with -- but the end result will be a spread of democracy in the Third World, which ultimately benefits everyone.
I believe that history will treat Bush more favorably than he has been treated in his first four years in office. There is much of his domestic agenda that hasn't been achieved, but perhaps now with less obstruction from Congress there will be progress on such things as Social Security and tax reform.
I almost have to laugh that I am here now defending a Republican president, because 20 years ago I could have been the one writing your rant. I voted for Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis in the age of Reaganism. I was no less devastated when their campaigns went down in flames. I thought how shortsighted America was, and that the voters had assured our path to mutual destruction. In hindsight I am glad neither of my candidates won. Our country is still here and stronger for the political course that was set during those years. The Cold War is over. The Soviet Union is history. Interest rates are at historic lows. I don't know what kind of nation we would be now if the Democrats had been in power for the past 20 years.
Bill Clinton presided over 8 years of great prosperity, but his legacy will forever be tarnished by the shame his actions brought on the office of the presidency. It's shenanigans like that, the race-baiting, the pandering to special interests such as the gays and unions and minorities, the tearing down of our country's religious and cultural roots, and the mean-spirited anti-American rhetoric that keep me from supporting the Democrats. Frankly, I am ashamed that I ever carried a card for the party.
John Kerry would have taken this country back 30 years. He would have had us believe that we were fighting the Vietnam War all over again. And he would have pulled our troops out of Iraq in shame and defeat, further emboldening our enemies to launch future attacks on our homeland. I am not a wealthy person by any sense of the word, but Kerry would have raised my taxes directly and those of my employer, which would have been passed along to me indirectly in the form of smaller raises. He would have promoted a government subsidized health care system in which middle class families like mine would have been forced to pay for the health needs of millions of people who are presently uninsured. I could go on, but I don't suspect it will change anyone's personal reasons for why they supported the guy. It really doesn't matter now anyway fortunately.
I didn't intend my response to your rant to become a rant, but it saddens me to hear so much derision from the political left of the so-called failed policies and lies of the Bush administration when the opposite is true. We are living in one of the greatest periods of American history. Tuesday's election simply reaffirmed that.
Glenn 8-D 1:29:00 PM
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