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Dec 17, 2003 I had a typo in my last article. It was indeed Robert Kennedy who asked Joe McCarthy to be the stepfather of his son, not John Kennedy. My mistake and thanks for the notes. I am thrilled by the capture of Saddam. It is a step towards peace in the region. But I am also thrilled that time has come for the Democrats to start bearing the weight of their actions and deeds. Those sunny day patriots, like Hillary Clinton, who like to say the support the troops but not the mission are losing yet another talking point. Sadder still, for most Dems, is how well Dean is doing in the race. One of the qualities that I so dislike about the Democrats is that they will eat their young. Consider the back stabbing last week of Joe Lieberman by Al Gore. Or, in your surfing, go check out Democraticunderground.com and check out the pure vitriol directed at Dean. The D.U. posters seem to be mad about everything. I hope they take their Prozac and try to have a Merry Christmas anyway. They have become a party of quislings, and will probably lose because they can’t get their act together against a great leader in a historic time. For any of the Democrats who are still reading, when the primaries roll around please vote for Howard Dean. I can’t think of any better representation of the Democratic Party than him. In fact, I think the Dems can go a step further and do away with the Donkey as their mascot and replace it with Dean himself. The similarities are irrefutable. In addition to the long ears, the stubborn constitution, and the loud braying, he represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party. Dean has said that he wants top break up big media. He directly cited the Fox Channel. He also stated that it is unfair that a small number of companies own a majority of the outlets. I have a ton of questions for Mr. Dean that I know won’t ever get answered but I’ll offer them up anyway. Which media outlets need to be broken up? Just Fox? Would the left leaning Time Warner be forced to break up as well? Does the silencing of opposing voices remind anyone of the importance of the First Amendment? What about the integrity of the free press? You may argue that the press is not free because of the small minority that rules it now, but does that mean that any force in government should censor or control the press in any way? I guess you qualify as big media if you oppose liberal ideas. Must be part of that vast right wing conspiracy. The Dean buffoonery continues with his platform on national security. To quote his web site, “In the last century, our strength as a nation was measured more by the extent to which others emulated and respected us abroad than by the extent to which they feared and loathed us.” This guy is a M.D., so we know that he went to school and got good grades. Has never picked up a copy of “The Prince” by Machiavelli? His sentiment reflects how we got into this mess in the Middle East. When you try to get everyone to love you, you become weak in acting in your own best interest. You are acting in theirs. It is like a dysfunctional marriage. You have Dean as Edith Bunker who will do anything to placate the Archie Bunkers of the world. Respect is a byproduct of action. Showing that you are able to act in your own best interest is how you gain respect. To paraphrase Machiavelli, it is better to be feared, and thereby respected, than loved and seen as weak. Terrorists deal in the commerce of fear. Do we really think that we are going to talk them out of hating us? Remember, Americans are seen as infidels and descendants of the crusaders. Is Dean suggesting that we can talk these radicals out of their own beliefs? Would challenging their “religious” beliefs even be politically correct? Ironically, many of the sacred issues of the Democratic Party (abortion, secular statehood, women’s liberation, etc.) also represent the deepest insults against the radical’s view of Islam. These people do not respect us, nor will they ever emulate us. But they can respect us. Joe Lieberman gets this concept but Howard Dean does not. In another showing of his profound wisdom has been his declaration that Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Remember, you can’t call this guy unpatriotic because he disagrees with Bush’s policies. But he can assert that our President is a traitor. Those Democrats really know how to find classy candidates. More troubling is this next statement from Dean’s website: “First, defeat the threat posed by terrorists, tyrants, and technologies of mass destruction.” Okay, how do we do this without the meaningful application of force? Without using that force, as was characterized by the Clinton administration, we lose the respect of those tyrants that we want to “defeat.” This is more of the blustery wind blowing from the Democrats. It is not meant to mean anything other than to say, “I’m different from Bush.” It has no application in the real world. The New York Times recently stated in their editorial pages that the Bush tax cut was responsible for the economy rebounding. Here is what Dean would rather do with that money. “For a year now, I have been traveling this country advocating a repeal of Bush's tax cuts so that we can provide universal healthcare and restore fiscal discipline. Many have questioned the political wisdom of challenging the president on politically popular tax cuts.” There is not a model of universal healthcare in the world that Americans would be satisfied with. In Canada, which reports to be the best healthcare system in this hemisphere, you will wait six weeks for a C.A.T. scan. If you want to see a model of what a U.S. system would look like go over to the Veteran Hospital or the Medicaid office in your community. Look at the lines. Look at the people standing around outside. The Democratic Party loves to chant “Free Choice.” In a universal healthcare system you would have a narrow list of choices. Forget having a choice of which doctor you see, your choice would be to go through the hassle of standing in a government office or not. I know this is unfair of me to ask, but how does this tax cut even have anything to do with universal healthcare? He is linking two completely disjointed concepts in the hope that it will pull some heartstrings. It is a rhetorical trick. If there were to be socialized healthcare, it could be paid for in other ways than the tax cut. This tax cut didn’t take anyone’s healthcare away. It is just more of the same silly posturing that Liberals will always eat up. Their feelings lead their actions. Not their intelligence. He is saying that he can spend your money better than you can. You are just going to spend that money on stupid stuff and he can use it for better purposes. He wants to take care of you. Let me offer this quote, ‘"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." Samuel Adams So once again I have to close with a sad reminder that the Democrats have not shown up with any real solutions, any real alternatives, or philosophy for the next election. What a shame. We need two, or more, coherent ideologies two improve our country. Which requires intelligent debate, maturity, and sound philosophical concepts. Dean can say we needed U.N. approval before taking action in Iraq. Would this serve the interests of the U.S. and the world, or would U.N. approval just excuse Dean from having accountability if the mission failed? Thankfully, we have a leader in the White House who leads from principle and not just polls, who owns his own decisions instead of deferring to the U.N., and who has sincerely supported the troops. The Democrats can keep their platitudes, we’ll take a man a principles and action. For those poor Democrats still in the running for next fall, I offer a quote from Willie Nelson, “Turn off the lights, the party’s over….” ------------ About the author: Edward Lyell is politically active in New Mexico and has been a small business owner and currently works as professional counselor. Once a great Democrat, he became another one of the disenfranchised during the Clinton presidency. He categorizes himself as a firm believer in Objectivism, free trade, and the Constitution. Email Edward Lyell: Edsterl@aol.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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