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<DIV>Great post. Timely. </DIV>
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<DIV>Sue H </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=rforce2003@yahoo.com
href="mailto:rforce2003@yahoo.com">Ron Force</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, October 26, 2012 12:54 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Alan Grayson on Foreign Policy
Debate</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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class="title entry-title" itemprop="name"><A
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href="http://ggsidedocs.blogspot.com/2012/10/alan-grayson-on-foreign-policy-debate.html"
rel=bookmark itemprop="url">Alan Grayson on the foreign policy
debate</A></H1></DIV>
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class="article-content entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">Dear
XXXX<BR><BR>Good news and bad news. The good news is that President Obama won
last night's debate. The bad news is that the entire debate, questions and
answers, seemed premised on the false assumption that virtually everyone else on
this planet wants to kill us. <BR><BR>Here is a list of the topics last night:
(1) Libya embassy attack. (2) War in Syria. (3) Why we shouldn't cut military
spending. (4) Israel or the U.S. attacking Iran. (5) The war in Afghanistan. (6)
"Divorcing" Pakistan. (7) What is the greatest future threat to our security?
<BR><BR>In other words, seven variations on the same theme: xenophobia. Fear of
foreigners. <BR><BR>Let's go over the basic facts. There are two large oceans
that separate us from 191 of the 193 other countries in the world. Our northern
border has been peaceful since 1812. Our southern border has been peaceful, more
or less, since 1848. In the 229 years since the Treaty of Paris, establishing
our independence, foreign military forces have attacked American territory only
twice - in both cases, on the outermost periphery. <BR><BR>So how is it that a
"foreign policy" debate can be devoted entirely to the single, narrow subject of
who is going to kill whom? It appears that the military-industrial complex has
not only occupied huge chunks of the federal budget, but also huge chunks of our
political discourse, and even our thinking. <BR><BR>Why is it that every
candidate for public office keeps pressing that big, red PANIC button? Isn't
there anyone out there who will try to put a little love in our hearts?
<BR><BR>Here are some questions that should have been asked last night, but
weren't: <BR><BR>(1) What should we do about the 10+ million undocumented people
in this country, more than half of whom came here from Mexico?<BR><BR>(2)
Speaking of Mexico, the drug war in Mexico was the most deadly armed conflict in
the world last year, killing more people than the war in Afghanistan and the
civil war in Syria combined. What should we do about it?<BR><BR>(3) We have run
the largest trade deficit in the world every year for roughly the past 20 years.
This year, it's half a trillion dollars, again. Other developed countries like
Japan and Germany run consistent trade surpluses. What should we do about
this?<BR><BR>(4) The United States is the only industrialized country without
universal healthcare, paid vacations and paid sick leave. Why is this? What
should we do about it?<BR><BR>(5) Climate change obviously is a worldwide issue.
Should the United States participate in efforts to mitigate it? If so,
how?<BR><BR>(6) There is tremendous suffering now in both Greece and Spain, with
unemployment of 25%+. Should we do anything to help people in those
countries?<BR><BR>(7) In poor countries, three million people die each year of
respiratory infections, 2.5 million die each year of diarrhea, and two million
die of AIDS. Virtually all of these deaths are avoidable. Should we avoid them?
<BR><BR><A
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href="http://cl.exct.net/?qs=505a576beeb625cd78f3f80ac9d98f6c6cf88d40f645280fd146bca59366123a"
target=_blank>As Charles P. Pierce of Esquire put it</A>, before the debate last
night: <BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=tr_bq><EM>Trade is foreign policy. The environment is
foreign policy. Energy policy is foreign policy. Human rights are foreign
policy. Drought is foreign policy. Starvation is foreign policy. War is
generally only foreign policy when one of those other things I mentioned
get[s] completely out of control. However, as I suspect we will see argued
enthusiastically from both sides tonight, war, and not its historic causes,
has come to define foreign policy. Increasingly, it has come to define us as a
nation as well. This is a problem that, I predict, will not be addressed at
all this evening . . . .</EM></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>He was right. It wasn't addressed
at all. <BR><BR>Look - the world is a beautiful place. I know; I've seen it.
This planet is full of people just like us. It's not full of monsters and demons
and ogres and beasts. And there are solutions to problems other than "shoot it,"
"bomb it," "burn it," and "kill it." <BR><BR>Let me make this as simple as
possible: The Earth - love it or leave it. <BR><BR>Courage, <BR><BR>Alan
Grayson</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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