[Vision2020] "Election Determines Fate of Nation"

[Dan Carscallen]

Fuel for the fire

DC


>  Subject: "Election determines fate of nation"
>  written by Mathew Manweller 
>  Central Washington University political science professor..  

>  "Election determines fate of nation"  
>  
>  "In that this will be my last column before the presidential
election,
>  there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee.  The topic
is  
>  too serious, and the stakes are too high. 
>  
>  This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime  
>  that will truly matter.  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 of 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.  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 terrorists
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 tracing
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 for 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 without setting foot on the homeland.  
>  
>  It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest  
>  generation'.  But my greatest fear is that it will become known  
>  as America's 'last generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great  
>  Depression and hardened in the fire of WW II, 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 inAmerica' 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, my 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 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 of the  
>  greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City
on  
>  the Hill."  

>  >  >  >  Mathew Manweller
 


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