[Vision2020] My views

Tue Nov 2 07:55:09 PST 2004

I'm pretty sure someone else has said this before, and I long to give her/him credit, but please:

If you think the lines are too long, or the weather too yucky, or you're just sick of the mudslinging, or you don't think either of the candidates cares about you, remember the suffragettes who were beaten, arrested, slandered and cut off from family, employment and economic security for merely trying to vote in the United States during many of our grandparents' lifetimes.  If you're not motivated by the crisis at hand, perhaps shame will work, and I'm not above dishing some out.

My guiding principle when I vote:  "Whatsoever you do to the least of these, that you've done unto Me."

keely emerine mix
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Hansen 
  To: 'Melynda Huskey' ; 'Pat Kraut' ; 'Vision 2020' 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 5:51 AM
  Subject: RE: [Vision2020] My views

  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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