My Feelings On The Way Things Are Right Now
Michael Adams
6-17-2005
I know some of you supported the war and some of you haven't. Most of us have family or friends involved. "Good news" is hard to come by. I can't have a "knee-jerk" reaction to recent events: its more like a wake-up call. I don't think we need to leave immediately: that would be stupid and dishonor those that have died.Yes, Saddam was evil (the master of a police state modeled after Stalin). But this current war, is more like a family feud between the Bushes and Saddam, than a legitimate threat. We freed Kuwait from Saddam with less death, and more help. We freed Bosnia from ethnic war, with less death, and more help. Hell, if you want to count Grenada, Panama, and Haiti, they were "cheap" when it came to expense & death vs. the outcome, and we did more of that "alone" than the other wars. This latest war has cost us FAR more. Official war tolls alone are under 2000 in troops & far more civilians; I see people citing unofficial tolls edging 6000 troops & 100000 civilians; neither of which are counting wounded. Timewise, the Iraq war has lasted 2.3 years, and will probably continue past the 3.8 years of WWII (the "War on Terror" already has). Financially, this war has helped push us from manageable government to constant debt: at least $200-300 billion (at least 3 $80b funding bills + other minor bills + allocations from Defense) that will in all essence be paid by our kids & grandchildren.
There's other costs too: the dead; the wounded; the poor (there's already homeless Iraq vets); college (I've seen guys leave college because of activation to go to Afghanistan, and there's been a lot more to go to Iraq; not everyone will finish their degrees afterwards); recruitment (getting real drastic now). The worst lost has been honor: the "hero" that brought down the Soviet Union is now seen as an invader. "Human Rights?" We're still far better at treating people than a lot of other countries, but at the same time, if we hold ourselves to be the pinnacle of freedom, then not 1 person should ever be abused, let alone the few that have. People go to jail for life here if they get caught with the wrong drugs, or beat someone up, and live in a state harsh enough to do it; or California, and you've been locked up twice before, regardless of the crime. Do you really think that "oh, we only abused a few prisoners, and punished the officers" is more excusable? It shouldn't. We can wave the flag & sing our praises all we want, but people right now are waiting for us to finish our temper-tantrum before they'll talk to us again. We can have all the weapons & glory; but when we get tired & go to sleep, who's going to be willing to watch our back, and not knife us snoring?
I'm tired of terror alerts. I'm tired of hearing about the war. I'm tired of hearing about how there's more documentation to prove Bush & his allies sold us the war for other reasons, than the old rumor about FDR getting us into WWII by letting Pearl Harbor happen. I'm tired of the lack of respect in Congress: I watched a meeting on C-Span the other day, where the Republicans more or less told their fellow Democrats off because of bringing this crap up in a Patriot Act meeting. I'm tired of people on both sides selling us the war, or the Bible, or whatever pleases the vocal few that hate what most of us do every day: which would be swearing; watching too much TV; reading too many contrarian books; having sex; not marrying; having both parents work; getting divorced; playing games; etc. I myself am "liberal," but I don't agree with all the environmentalists, nor am I a damn Communist: but not all Republicans go to church every Sunday either.
When did we stop being people? Right now our government's been hijacked by people that feed on our passion, and lie to us to get more of it. If we needed to go to Iraq, it should have been because we disagreed with him, not some bull about him & Osama allying (Saddam & Osama's like that CNN interview I saw between Stephen Jay Gould & Jerry Falwell; they certainly disagreed on things). Did anyone notice that the only real gains in the 2004 election were because the Republicans in Texas changed the districts in 2003 (after there having already been post-Census changes in 2001-2002) to be in their favor (does anyone remember the Democrats leaving Texas to oppose it, and DHS being called up to track them down)? Did anyone notice that Congress can't agree on ethics committee rules because the Democrats can milk the fact that the Republicans have staffed it with loyalists to Delay (who's been admonished by that panel 3 times, and one of the members became one of the losers in the Texas remapping)? Did anyone notice that the President & his Brother intervened (in an emergency Sunday session, with a Senate "voice vote" of only 3, not 51 or 100, Senators) on the case of a woman who was found to be missing half her brain, partly because they let the "doctors" in Congress (Dr. Frist & Dr. Weldon prominently) persuade them that old videotape made their cause right (why didn't they actually order some real tests themselves)? If the President wants it, there's 230+ House members & 3 Senators that will help him do whatever the heck he wants, whenever he wants.
There are good Republicans, and good Democrats. But the ones that are in charge on both sides are fighting at our expense. In doing so, we've created a one-party state, that feeds on our fears & does what it wants. The America we knew 10 years ago is dead: I'm not sure what it has been replaced with. To me, there are simple solutions. One must be more political parties (the Republican party really needs to split off its Libertarians & Social-Conservative/Christians; the Democrats need to split off its Greens & Socialists): that are forced to work together for our benefit. Congressional districts should all be of equal size and participation: no gerrymandering or changing to favor one side or the other. The President should probably also be required to have Congress declare war, CnC or not (that IS in the Constitution), with his or her authority to wage it limited to purely defensive purposes (as in Iraqi/Chinese/whoever actually sends ships & troops over here).
If we are truly a land of the free, and the benefactor of nations, then we need to start acting like it, and take control of it. This isn't the 1800's, when we could ignore everyone else that wasn't here already; this isn't the 1900's, when the Russians were our rivals; this is the 2000's, where we do have control, and we're going to break ourselves because of it (and be replaced at the top by China, whom we've given a lot of our wealth to because a lot of us are too poor to always "buy American"). I'd rather be political & clash with my opponents (as what happens in many democratic societies), then be called up to sent to die in a war "for my freedom" by people that I did not elect (I couldn't even vote for my House member; he ran unopposed in his gerrymandered district, which was a "thank you" from Jeb & his allies in post-Census 2000 redistricting).