[Vision2020] "Election Determines Fate of Nation"

[Art Deco aka W. Fox]

Dan, et al,

Dan posts an Op/ED piece that says:

"...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..."

The presidential choice is not so much about big goals but how to achieve them. 
If democracy is ever to be brought to the middle east, it will probably not 
happen in a decade but over many, many years.  It certainly won't happen by 
waging an unjustified war based on obvious inept intelligence at the time and by 
killing many innocent people and destroying a massive amount of infrastructure 
just to kill a targeted few.

If you missed it, here is a flash:  We were not greeted as liberators by 
embracing mobs of Iraqis as Bush and friends insisted.  If polls in such an 
unsettled region are any indication, about 85% of the Iraqis want as to leave 
now.

First lesson in democracy:  All adults, save felons, get to vote and are allowed 
to run for office, not just men.  However, the Bush administration kowtows and 
kisses the asses of the Saudis and others who prohibit women from voting and 
from holding office.  There has been no reported action by the Bush 
administration to condemn this policy or, heaven forbid, attempt to change it.

The rule for Bush Foreign Policy is:  If they have oil and are willing to sell 
it to us, they are our friends regardless of anything else.

Also myopic is the phrase:

"...embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations..."

Are we (America) the only ever non-mediocre civilization?  Is there anyone else 
on this list that finds such a statement to be incredibly egomaniacal and 
certainly counter-productive to creating increasing necessary goodwill with 
other nations?


All presidential elections are important.  All presidents can radically change 
or reverse the country's direction.  The subject is much too complex to be 
reduced to a "being king of the block" mentality.  The choice is, as ever, about 
method and attitude, as well as many, many different, sometimes conflicting 
goals.


Wayne

Art Deco  (Wayne Fox)
deco at moscow.com




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Carscallen" <predator75 at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 11:12 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] "Election Determines Fate of Nation"


| 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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