An Argument for Staying the Course
Since the Democrats and Republicans can’t seem to stop
abusing each other and otherwise engaging in behavior
conducive only to campaign misdirection rather than a
productive approach to solving national problems, just
a little history might help.
Today’s blogosphere presented two repetitive themes on
left and right rants. From the right, the President’s
stay the course posture for Iraq was supported by the
right and opposed by the left. In addition, a movie is
being talked about that involves a fictional account of
the assassination of the President. If any American was
involved in the production of this film they should be
ashamed. But that’s another story for later.
The first parallel offered from American history is the
administration of Woodrow Wilson, who ran on a platform
of no war for America. He proposed a New World Order.
He sought economic reforms in banking, trade and ending
corporate abuses. His administration used more military
intervention than his predecessors. The US entered World
War I on April 2, 1917 a month after his re-election.
His Freedom platform was aggressive and domestic policy
was set aside after entering the war. Sound familiar.
One more thing, he was a Democrat. Party doesn’t matter.
Americans have never wanted war. The two best reasons
for going to war were World War I and II. And yet in
both cases there was no initial public support for such
an endeavor.
Isolation, anti-war sentiment and a military weakened by
national policies plagued the United States before the
World Wars and others. How many of these scenarios do
we get to repeat before disaster?
During a war is a bad time to ask if another solution is
available. Whining that we were misled by the President
will not allow us to rewind the tape and start over. As
an equal absurdity, supporting the decision to go to war
based on false pretense. Neither position is valid. The
time for this debate is after not during a war.
Beltway Traffic Jam
C. Harris
MoreWhat.com staff
September 1st, 2006 at 8:33 pm
hi…
Course Schmorse. We should be demanding victory. Period. That a fellow like Iman Sadr still draws breath speaks volumes. That no insurgents/rebels/terrorists have been indicted for war crimes (firing while shielded by innocent civilians, firing from religious structures, murdering POWs, etc) speaks volumes.
That the President remained silent on Iraq and just about everything else for a year and a half into his second term speaks volumes.
Get hard in Iraq. If we must, go into Iran and get it over with quickly. Mobilise if we have to, but do so as FDR did with the conviction, communications, oratory, and ENFORCEMENT of espionage acts (ie NY Times) as FDR AND TR.
Not only do not be afraid to engage the Left, but crush them with their own words and actions, again as TR did (”All slackers are traitors”…”There is no room in this country for 50% Americans”……”The Hun within our gates”….) before us.
paul
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:51 am
to paul from the MoreWhat.com staff
“Stay the course” is the popular phrase in the media. It was used by us for easy reference to President Bush’s rebuttal to those who advocate withdrawal from Iraq. Eliminating militia leaders might be temporarily satisfying but also a tactical error. Zarqawi was killed and nothing changed other than possibly gaining some intelligence in the form of paper and digital files. War crimes trials are usually held after the conclusion of a war.
Our guess is, from a political perspective, you do not initiate discussion on a charged topic unless you have great news to tell. Due to the wide range of opinions on the war, President Bush has been accused of deflecting criticism of his other agenda items by discussing the war as a midterm election campaign tactic. We do not necessarily agree with that position.
Before Pearl Harbor this country had no interest in the war in Europe. We had been helping Britain quietly. There was a book written making the argument that we set up Pearl Harbor as an irresistable target for the Japanese to rally support for the war. It’s possible and the circumstances are ripe for a conspiracy.
Left, right, middle and all the rest merely distract from the issues and provide popular targets for our anger and blame. In a perfect world all elected and appointed officials and the other employees of our government would function so efficiently that we need not bother to help guide them. Left or right are not the enemy but those who join either for personal gain are the true ugly American.
Finally, support the troops and understand we need to fix the problems in Iraq and if so inclined, return to the bickering post-war