[Vision2020] My views

[Tom Hansen]

Pat Kraut must be an honor graduate from Doug Wilson’s course on “Creative
Authoring”.

 

See you at the polls.

 

Tom Hansen

 

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are
dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all
exist very nicely in the same box. 

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From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Melynda Huskey
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 10:28 PM
To: Pat Kraut; Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] My views

 

 

Dear Pat,

 

In an amazing coincidence, these aren't just *your* views, but also the
views (and exact words) of Professor Mathew Manweller, a political science
prof at Central Washington University.  

 

Even that rat-eater G. Gordon Liddy had the decency to give the man credit
for his words.

 

Melynda Huskey

----- Original Message -----

From: Pat Kraut

Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 10:15 PM

To: vision2020

Cc: Mike Cahill; Rich Kraut; Keely Cahill; Grant Lawrence; Rebecca Cahill;
Darren Kraut; Amy Kraut; JOLEEN CAHILL; Kerry Cahill

Subject: [Vision2020] My views

 

Today we will vote in an election that truly matters. Because America is at
a once in a generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the
balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence.
Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the
daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the
consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a
spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the
message to the world and ourselves will be two-fold.
First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things. Once a
nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon,
we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is
too big a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future
presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges,
preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has
characterized other civilizations. We will tell the world that in other
countries people can be gassed, raped, maimed, put into extreme poverty for
the sake of the leaders 'homes' and we will not care or come to the rescue
in any form. Oh, we might go to the UN and ask them to tell them to stop,
but we won't really do anything to help. We will stay in our comfort and do
nothing. The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future
presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America
has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of
the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who
we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson
of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorist that you don't
need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the
newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America.
Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracking polls will do the heavy
lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times
10. The Election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every
cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American
voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos of CNN
is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt
will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any
American administration with out setting foot on the homeland.
It is said that America's WWII generation is its 'greatest generation'. But
my greatest fear is that is will become known as America's 'last generation'
. Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of
WWII, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning
of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these
terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my
generation.
Too many citizens today mistake  'living in American' as 'being an American'
. But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign
on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and
responsibilities.
This November, each generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp
the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion
they may deserve. I believe that 100 years from now, or even sooner,
historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive
election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as
the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will
describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters, grandsons and
grandaughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers
of the City on the Hill.




"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long
at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."
Helen Keller


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