Sunday, November 14, 2004
More Political Rant
I think the Senior Bro and I are going to have to start a political blog. It's clear that we have totally opposite views on the subject and could have some lively political debate. That being said, I have to return political fire because Senior Bro's previous political post made me want to puke!
I will give the Senior Bro this, the Democrats are a seriously flawed political party. Any time you have a losing record, you need to reformulate your game plan. The Democrats alternate between trying to be Republicans or swinging way too far to the left, usually on consecutive days. The biggest problem with the party is they are constantly on the defensive. The Republican party is particularly good at mean-spirited attacks, and frankly, fear-mongering. The Republicans are much better at sticking to their guns, even on controversial issues like abortion and gun control. Democrats are much better at compromising, a necessary trait to have in the political arena, but it makes them appear weak and indecisive at times.
That being said, I think a Democratic administration would have far fewer flaws than the administration now occupying the White House. I will take a few minutes to respond to some of the Senior Bro's specific comments:
I don't have faith in the voters to do the right thing, mainly because a high percentage of voters are voting on faith. A significant portion of the voters sighted "Moral Issues" as the issue which was most important. They put it ahead of terrorism, the economy and jobs, the war in Iraq, crime, and the budget deficit. The problem with moral issues are who's moral issues we are trying to enforce.
What are these moral issues? Gay marriage appears to be a major one. The issue was on the ballot in several swing states. The fact is, gay marriage is only supported by a small fringe of Democrats on the far left, but the fear-mongering Republicans led the voters to believe that electing Democrats would lead to gay weddings on every street corner. Kerry never supported the idea of gay marriage, but voters ignored that, and even though they disagreed with many of Bush's policies voted for him anyway.
I don't have blind faith that the voters will simply do the right thing. Voters elected Richard Nixon...twice! Voters in this country have also elected duds like Herbert Hoover, Millard Fillmore, and James Buchanan to name a few. It is possible for the voters to make serious mistakes, even at crucial times in are history (Buchanan is a particularly good example).
The invasion of Afghanistan had to be done. We were attacked by Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban were harboring him in that country. This is my one and only compliment toward the Bush administration. He took decisive action toward a clear and present danger. However, he never finished the job. Bush said he wanted Osama dead or alive, but then diverted his attention to Iraq.
The invasion of Iraq did removal a brutal dictator, but we were really just cleaning up a mess that was created by the Reagan administration during the 1980's. We provided Saddam Hussein with the very biological and chemical weapons which he used (gasp!) against Iran and later against the Kurds. Osama Bin Laden emerged at nearly the same time, trained in Afghanistan by the CIA to fight the Soviets. He learned quickly, using his expertise to train the terrorists who attacked us.
These are two examples of the shortsightedness of American policies. Reagan won the Cold War, but there were dubious decisions made in the process, and the first Bush administration, Clinton administration, and W have been left to clean up the mess.
The simple explanation for 9/11 is that our country was attacked by religious fanatics who hate America. While that may be true, it's important to understand why they hate America. 9/11 is a direct result of the first gulf war, which I won't debate the merits of here. However, it resulted in the U.S. creating permanent bases in the "Holy Land," a place that many in the Middle East feel we don't belong. In fact, we would not be there at all if there were no oil reserves. Another point of contention is our arming the Israeli government with weapons that have been used for years to slaughter the Palestinians.
If we spent more money for research of alternative fuel sources, something which Bush and his oil cronies aren't likely to support, the Middle East would lose its strategic importance entirely, and we could leave them to wallow in their own oily goo.
Saddam Hussein did not attack us. The terrorists who attacked us were not from Iraq, nor were they trained there. Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator, but the world is full of evil dictators. Kim Jong Il of North Korea, for example. He actually has weapons of mass destruction, yet we do nothing. The embargo and no fly zones in Iraq were working. The UN arms inspectors had reentered the country to continue their work. Yet, we decided to invade anyway, and to our great shock, found no weapons of mass destruction, a fact that the UN could have verified without firing a shot. The argument could be made that we went in to Iraq to remove Saddam, to fight terrorism, or to liberate the Iraqi people, but the real truth is we invaded Iraq for one reason and one reason only...THE OIL!
We have also sent ourselves down a slippery slope. Senior bro sites Syria and Iran as countries who are educating their kids to hate America, so do we invade these countries next? If we are out to remove all the evil dictators of the world, do we go after countries in Africa, South America, and Asia next? Are we not in the process of brainwashing our own children to hate Arabs just as they are teaching their children to hate us? The American media is just as guilty of brainwashing, as all news sources in this country are run by just a handful of large corporations, with their own agendas.
Maybe the views of people in the Middle East are a thousand years out of date, but is it up to the US to dictate who's views are the correct ones? We cannot simply impose our own set of moral (Christian?) values on the rest of the world. Our policies are revealing that there is a great deal of Christian hatred of Islam built into our system of government and our policy making decisions. It is up to Arabs to change things from within, not for the US to change things through force. The democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan are American imposed, and I have serious doubts about their survival once the American military presence finally pulls out. The struggles in Iraq are subtle hints to this impending chaos. The situation in Iraq has created a breeding ground for potential future terrorists, something that the secular Hussein government did not necessarily encourage. We have also increased the animosity of all Arabs who felt we didn't belong in the Holy Land after the first gulf war.
Ultimately, history will judge W on the long term success of his two wars, without which, he would be a dismal failure as president. I hope that history will judge him well, as that will mean we have avoided future terrorist attacks. However, I don't think that will be the case. We have angered a large group of people. I think the terrorists will attack again, exploiting some weakness that we have not even thought of.
I am grateful that much of Bush's domestic agenda hasn't been implemented. However, the part that was, his tax cut, is disastrous. Once again, it is shortsighted. The average Joe Six Pack gets a few extra dollars in his pocket while are national debt skyrockets. Somewhere down the line, we're going to have to pay the piper. Right now huge chunks of the federal budget are taken up as interest payments on the debt. We could be using that money to overhaul social security, launch universal health care coverage, or to invest in alternative fuel research. We could also have significantly lower taxes if we eliminated the debt and didn't have that expenditure on our books. Instead, it will be Ben's generation, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Senior and Junior Bro who will be the ones to suffer. If Bush succeeds in making his tax cuts permanent, it will make the problem that much worse. It is wrong to spend beyond one's means.
Senior Bro mentions Clinton and our eight years of prosperity, pandering to special interests, and anti-American rhetoric all in the same paragraph. The Republicans have their own special interest groups which they pander to: huge corporations, the gun lobby, the Christian religious right, so you can pick your poison. Clinton was obviously not a moral man, and his actions were foolish given the ruthlessness of the Gingrich Republicans. The fact is, JFK did things in the White House which were just as bad, but it was an era which separated public and personal life. The media has completely obliterated this dividing line. The Republicans had an old-fashioned, mean-spirited witch hunt, with Bill Clinton as their victim. They went from potential scandal to potential scandal, finding no wrongdoing and wasting taxpayer time and money, until they could finally find something that would stick. I don't think there was anything more mean-spirited or anti-American than what the Republicans did to try to bring Clinton down.
Since when is an opposing point of view un-American? Perhaps I'll be reported to the Committee on un-American Activities for writing this... oh, that's right, that went out with the 1950's. It was the position of most Democrats that they supported the troops, but opposed the war. By Senior
Bro's logic, the protesters of the Vietnam War were also un-American. Sounds like the arguments of Richard Nixon to me. What I think both sides in this debate seem to forget, is that both sides want what's best for the country, but have extremely different views on what actions are the correct ones. It is extremely simplistic and dead wrong to call the other side "un-American" simply because they don't agree with you. Even if John Kerry was elected, he wouldn't have been able to pull out the troops. We are now in a situation where we can't get out of for at least a decade without creating complete chaos.
Senior Bro also mentions the tearing down of our country's religious and cultural roots. Who's religious and cultural roots are being torn down? Those of the deep south? It seems like we are still fighting the Civil War. This has always been a Christian nation, and people have and will always be allowed to practice Christianity. However, there is also separation between church and state. Religion should not be imposed by a governmental body. People should be free to practice any religion they choose, and those who are not religious should not have religion imposed on them in public. As for culture, there is this thing called the great melting pot. Culturally diverse people are constantly arriving in this country, and over two or three generations, will blend into the whole. Our cultural roots are constantly evolving, based on the influx of are immigrant population. I for one would like the melting pot to work a little faster, but have resigned myself to the fact that it will work eventually.
As far as higher taxes for health care go, it is easy to simply think of oneself. However, a healthcare system for poorer Americans would mean less trips to the emergency room. This would in turn result in lower medical costs for the hospitals in question, and those lower costs would be passed on to the rest of us. (Call it the trickle up economy.)
The greatest period in American history? I will let Bush's current record speak for itself: a ballooning deficit, a weak economy, a war in Iraq with no end in sight, and no long-term solutions. Not to mention that this country is more polarized than it has ever been. For that, I blame not only Bush himself, but the American media. The media encourages conflict and confrontation, because that is what sells. The politicians merely feed into that frenzy, playing for the camera. This country needs less mean-spirited name-calling and grandstanding. What both political parties need is a willingness to compromise and work constructively for the betterment of our country as a whole.
And now, back to football............
Junior Bro 9:28:00 PM
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