I wrote this today in response to an email I received. I don’t know if it covers what I really have in mind, but it comes from the heart. The emailed opinion is in the “more” section below. I agree with Mr. Manweller on this point at least: this election holds a great deal of importance. Please vote your conscience, and make sure our government and the world know where you stand.

And by the way, MHG rebutted this better than I ever could.

—

In America’s time of revolution, when our forefathers threw off the shackles of religious and political persecution, they had allies in the French. Did the French care one way or another that Americans should be a free people? At the level of government that made that decision, no. The British called such revolutionaries as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington “terrorists.” The French most likely agreed with them; they funded the colonists to weaken Britain’s political and commercial influence over the New World.

If the Iraqi people had been fighting and dying to remove Saddam Hussein from power before American forces stormed in, and we allied ourselves with the revolution there, I would be proud of what we have done in the Iraq war, even if our government’s motivation had more to do with trade than liberty. The Iraqi people would now have pride knowing that they are fighting for their freedom and earning it, with the help of a global community who support them. But now, even if we are able to affect democracy in that nation, we will only have succeeded in proving our imperialist and capitalist rationale for defending democracy. The Iraqis will trade a dictator for a long period of war, backward infrastructure and the knowledge that “America freed them” and they owe us.

Before we become so high and mighty about our “responsibility” to free the world from terror (an admitted impossibility) and oppression (noble, but misguided), why don’t we work first to free the world from poverty? To free it from hunger? To free it from fundamentalist religions that corrupt their own teachings so as to revere mass murder and genocide? How many fewer bombers would we face if their families were not constantly in starvation? With proper nutrition and education, there would be far fewer zealots willing to end their lives and the lives of others for some religious leader on the verge of madness, or worse, simply to provide for their families’ well-being with those suicide bombs. With refuge and opportunity in other nations, instead of racism and derision, they would remove themselves from such elements and help weed terrorists out.

Terrorism against the United States is fueled almost entirely by the impression that we are wealthy and powerful and that we do what we like and take what we want. Osama bin Laden would never have had the determination to organize such an attack as 9/11 if we had been ethical in our approach to the Afghani-Russian conflicts. There would have been no 9/11 and Saddam Hussein may very well have listened to reason, seeing that he had no power to pull us away from our cause. If we had finished and been victorious in Afghanistan and then turned our sights on him, he would have immediately given in to sanctions. This is the way to use offense as defense, this is proactive assertion of strength, this is how America shines: by ending conflicts, not starting new ones.

The Iraqi war only shows our lack of determination to finish what we began, to bring Afghanistan to peace and destroy the warlords’ grip on that region. A questionable democracy is not good enough. The war in Iraq does not show strength, it shows greed. It shows corruption and hatred in the highest levels of our government. It empowers those with a complaint to continue devising ways to affect us any way they know how. Just as we fought with guerrilla tactics against our British oppressors, so will these “terrorists” attack the greatest military power of their time in whatever way will show them to be serious. And these “terrorists” are fighting for freedom from an oppressive and corrupt system as much as the patriots of this country did in the 18th century.

America does have a responsibility to lead the world. It does have the responsibility to defend people who are fighting for their freedom. But most importantly, we as Americans have the responsibility to keep from becoming the very fascists, communists, dictators and empires against which we fight.

—

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 in America’
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.”