To Serve and Protect

It’s Veteran’s Day, and it is autumn in the circle city. This is a time to reflect on veterans and the turning of the leaves. I also can sense a ‘turning’ in the body politic in the USA. Next year is a mid-term election. There are many who are very excited, and I am not one of them. I do not get excited about whether the ‘donkeys’ or the ‘elephants’ win elections just for winnings sake. When I opine I believe in what I am writing, and to me the ideas are more important than anything else. Some people seem to think that winning and getting the power is more important than holding firm ideas and convictions. I disagree with them. I am a ‘small government’ kind of guy, and I expect only for the government to serve and protect me. I do not expect the government to support me from cradle to grave. I do not expect the government to provide me with food, clothes, a car, a house, art, entertainment, energy, medicine, and education. These are things that a parent is expected to provide their children. I am an adult, and I have the liberty and freedom to work and earn money that will provide me with my needs. There are other countries in the world like Cuba where the government is the provider for the people. I do not want to see my country become like Cuba. There is a big hatred for the conservatives right now in the USA. I am afraid that many of the conservative beliefs such as an ‘ownership society’ and ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ are going to be put down. The USA is going to become more like Cuba and Spain, and less like Australia and Japan. I hope I am wrong, and I fear that I am right.

The World is moving FAST

The world just keeps moving so fast. I have got some catching up to do since I last posted on September 21st. Since that time there have been all kinds of political firestorms brewing over Scooter Libby, Harriet Miers, Valerie Plame, a referendum over an Iraq constitution, Sam Alito, Latin America free trade, and blazing cities in France. Throughout the course of all of these events it is almost breathtaking for me to read how completely unhinged and over the top are some of the reactions to this news. Let’s just all take a collective deep breath and slowly exhale. Feel better now? OK, let’s first come to terms with war.
1) The United States is currently not at war with any other country in the world. We are not at war with Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, or North Korea.
2) We do have an ongoing war against criminals led by a group called Al Quaeda. This group once upon a time had a country that they could use as a base of operations, Afghanistan.
3) President Bush does not want to see this group of criminals acquire a country that they can rely on as a base of operations. This is why the commander-in-chief has deployed the troops into Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and along the border between North and South Korea.
4) All of the unhinged pundits who are screaming for Bush to bring our troops home are in effect cheering for Al Quaeda and the criminals to win the war.

I have a great deal of respect for people who are critical for how the Bush administration has waged war against Al Quaeda criminals. I have absolutely no respect for anyone who thinks the war should not be waged at all, and that we simply should leave Al Quaeda alone. Al Quaeda and their minions are currently in Iraq, Spain, France, England, Holland, Somalia, the Sudan, the Phillipines, and Indonesia. They have this Hitler-like frame of mind that the Jew must be wiped off the face of the earth, and the Arabs are the Master Race that must have a Caliphate ruling over the entire planet.

Laying out my sentiments about the war is the most important to me. I have a few thoughts about Harriet Miers and Sam Alito and Latin American free trade agreements, and I am less strident in my opinions. On the supreme nominations I think that President Bush first tried to thread the needle between the liberals and the conservative sides. I think that elections matter, and I expect a liberal president will appoint a liberal judge, and a conservative president will appoint a conservative judge. The country has become very polarized between the liberals and the conservatives, and now that the genie is out of the bottle the fight can not be avoided. On the Latin America free trade I very much support President Bush’s approach to be polite instead of confrontational. It really is a choice of ideology versus business. If you are confrontational then the ideology is the matter that is paid close attention. If you are simply polite, then the common sense business is paid close attention.

I will try to post more often, and meanwhile I wish that the world could become a little more calm and move a little slower.