Hoo doggie! Political rant ahead...

Everyone in the country is currently up in arms about the wars being fought and the rapid erosion of personal freedoms, yet they moo and baa in the herd. This country was founded on the basis of a revolution, birthed from an oppressive ruler who didn’t listen to the colonists, and finally paid for by the lives of those who say the injustices who gave their lives so that we could have our freedoms. Now everyone says they are outraged, but no one does anything. They whine and complain, but don’t take action. The freedoms our forefathers died for are being taken away and there is a sizable population of this country who supports it.

It’s not that government doesn’t work. The government is working extremely well. It has become so detached from us, the population of the country, that it is no functioning semi-autonomously. It looks out for it’s own self-interest, will take drastic actions when cornered, and is willing to sacrifice others in its own defense.

It is the basic premise of the Founding Fathers that has failed. The USA was born out of a belief that there could be a better country, one which enshrined Freedoms in the laws of the land. Our founding fathers originally gave most of the powers to the States, not the Federal government. However, through the slippery slope of Supreme Court decisions and a populace who feigns disgust and anger at what is happening, the Federal government has trampled the Constitution, violated the human rights of its own citizens as well as “enemy combatants”, and the people keep up the baas and lullabies .

I’ve never considered myself to be a political activist nor do I truly want to be one. But, when I see our great country being trashed and destroyed by the current administration, it makes me sick. To see the masses, sitting back, going with the flow and saying “We only have two more years of the current administration”...it makes me angry.

As much as people loved to hate President Clinton, what was the one thing that truly destroyed his presidency? Was it Monica Lewinsky? No. It was LIES. He lied to Congress about engaging in sexual activities with “that woman”. We know now that the Bush administration lied as well. It lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction, it lied about 9/11, it lied about it’s own response to Hurricane Katrina, and the lies about those cost thousands of people their lives. All the while, the current administration has been systematically removing freedoms from the people. Clinton’s sexcapades were laughed off in the rest of the world, as most countries have had similar situations. A former French PM has his mistress living in the Presidential mansion along with his wife. It was shrugged off in the world and it was as if the world were ending here in the US. Clinton’s legacy is a sticky proposition (pun intended). The fiscal health of the country was strong, the economy was actually doing well with unemployment remaining low as well as the inflation rate. On the world stage, the Koreas were talking about food aid, family exchanges, and there were programs allowing people to cross the DMZ to see family members they had not seen in almost 50 years. Iran had elected a moderate regime and took the first toddling steps towards a more moderate country. Yes, there were problems in Rwanda, Bosnia, and such, but if you think that the entire world will *ever* settle into one big happy peaceful planet, I want some of what you are smoking, taking, or shooting up.

Bush’s presidency started out quietly. Within 9 moths, September 11th, 2001 occured. They are a million unanswered questions that surround 9/11, but the one commonly heard in the baaahing masses was “Why did they do this to us?”

Well, here’s your history lesson. Remember President Reagan (Ronald not Nancy) supported the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to drive the Russians out. The American government promised to give the Northern Alliance and the people of Afghanistan millions (if not billions) of dollars to rebuild their shattered country. As soon as the Russians were driven out, the American troops and the money disappeared. The irony of this, the leader of the Northern Alliance was...Osama bin Laden. Twenty years later, Osama bin Laden, as the leader of the Northern Alliance (now known as the Taleban), sees a fat lazy America raking in billions of dollars, sporting a fat surplus in the budget, and doing all these “good things” in the world.

So now we see a motive for 9/11? Ah history, that part of the equation that most Americans don’t know about, don’t want to know about, and don’t realize just how important it is... The US has a long history of supporting unsavory types in the name of promoting “regional stability”. Manuel Noriega of Nicaragua, General Pinochet of Chile, Saddam Hussein during the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s. Did the American people say anything? No. Do most Americans even know who the first two people are? No, sadly they don’t. Most Americans can’t name all the states or find them on a map. They don’t know why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln are on our currency.


In summary, the US has a long history of being a world superpower. Now with the rise of India, China, Australia, and the EU, the “New World Order” isn’t about a master takeover by the Americans, rather it seems to be the dismissal of the Americans as the “lone superpower” after the collapse of the former USSR. I say we relinquish this “we’re better than everyone else” attitude in the world and turn our own eyes inward. Our educational system is failing. Our healthcare system is failing. Our infrastructure is failing in my parts of the country. But hey, let’s keep pumping over $2,000,000,000 (that’s two billion) dollars a year into Israel in the form of foreign aid. Do they really need it? We are so worried about spreading democracy around the world, but if our children here at home remain healthy enough to reach the age of 18, they don’t have enough education to understand their importance to the democratic system.

I am NOT advocating isolationism. Far from it, the US needs to remain engaged in the world, however, I firmly believe that we should take care of our own people first and in doing so, we lead by example. We set forth a set of values in our grandstanding, but we don’t believe them at home. In the business world, it’s called eating your own dog food. Let’s properly fund our schools, let’s stop the elections being fouled, let’s make sure everyone has basic health coverage or at least has access to basic medical care. When we show the higher moral ground of taking care of ourselves and quit trying to shove our beliefs down their throats, the rest of the world will realize that the United States of America is a great country and we will be showing it through leadership, not force.

Vote JT for President 2008!