To Lanny Grant

Articles

Scott Jones

To Lanny Grant
June 11, 2003

I have been enjoying your little ‘lessons’ for young Mr. Stensrud in these pages. Both of you have presented interesting and fairly well informed arguments. Unfortunately, your last article descended into the usual kind of conservative bluster that seems to be running rampant through the Republican Party these days. I am speaking, of course, of the same kind of smug “We know What’s Best For You” attitude that seems to be George Bush and company’s stock and trade.

I was particularly amused by your repeated admonitions to Mr. Stensrud to “Get his facts straight.” Of course, it was obvious that what you were actually saying was that Mr. Stensrud should “Get YOUR facts straight” and then, of course, accept them blindly. Just because you rhetorically slam down your fist and demand that he agree with you because you disagree with his assertions doesn’t make you correct, nor does it add any additional validity to your arguments. It only demonstrates, once again, the very narrow and self-serving view of reality that you and your fellow conservative Republicans adhere to that:

- Poor People are just uneducated, lazy leeches on society
- That Democrats have systematically ruined this nation with all of their misguided social programs and humanistic ideology
- That Republicans, specifically Conservative Republicans, are the ONLY ones that really care about this country
- That anyone who disagrees with a Republican President or his self-serving policies is ANTI-AMERICAN and a socialistic supporter of terrorism
- That George Bush’s Cabinet just coincidentally happens to be made of Big Oil executives and that their own business history has nothing to do with directing this countries current aggressive foreign policy in regard to unfriendly regimes that are “swimming in oil”
- That the rich are suffering under an unfair tax burden and that the rest of us need to “pull our own weight” because these poor, beleaguered rich people have suffered long enough

Now, as to your generous offer to Mr. Stensrud to provide him with the facts for his research. Isn’t that a nice little circular argument? Should Mr. Stensrud (or any other non- conservative person) offer you HIS facts and sources so that YOU can become properly educated about all the dubious achievements inflicted upon the US over the past years. Shall we explore the devastating effects on the economy and social security created during the Reagan Years? Shall we discuss the severe damage to international relations that our current administration has wrought on the US, or the geometrically increased level of threat to American’s overseas that our current policies have engendered?

Shall we discuss the VERY dubious information used to convince the Congress and the UN that military action was required in Iraq? And don’t throw up that Iraq is just such a big country and that we have to give our inspectors time. That doesn’t wash Mr. Grant, not when Colin Powell spend many hours displaying photographic proof of WMD’s and processing plants, but suddenly, when we have free run of the country, we can’t seem to find those sites?

I agree that healthy debate is of great value and that we could all use a good deal more of it these days. Unfortunately, there is precious little ‘debate’ or even ‘discussion’ being offered by the Conservative Powers that be, or their supporters. Rather the ‘debate’ comes in the form of Don Rumsfeld squinting out self assured platitudes of smug, self righteous dismissals, or of George Bush leaning rakishly over his podium smirking that “We KNOW that Saddam has Weapons of Mass Destruction” and that “There is No place for terrorist to hide.”

Oh yes, one other point, the Iranian People ran the Shah out of Iran; just as the Soviet/Eastern Block inhabitants tore down the Berlin Wall because their system could no longer economically support a military that was bleeding them dry. Reagan happened to be in office at the time, that’s it.

Now if you have read this far then I applaud you for your willingness to hear a counter-argument (and if you wish, I have plenty more FACTs that I can share). The funny thing about FACTS Mr. Grant, Yours, Mine and Mr. Stensrud’s, they are all just that, FACTS. It is how one chooses to interpret, accept or dismiss those facts that determines one’s ideology and one’s own version of reality.

Unfortunately, we all happen to be living in a time when there are some radically opposed versions of reality that are being propagated, and that kind of situation has historically lead to volatile and sometimes violent change.

We are in for a bumpy ride Mr. Grant.

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Email Scott Jones: scott.jones@medem.com

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