Your son is a hero, and his selfless sacrifice for the ideals and freedoms which America stands for commands nothing but the highest respect. The fact that he is doing it with a sense of duty and purpose is even more dignified and respectable. I know that doesn't mean much coming from a stranger on a blogging site, but I just want you to know that no matter what I say or what political stance I take, that will always stand true in my mind and nobody could ever persuade me differently.

Mark

 

Thanks for your concern for the troops. With #2 son over there it is good to hear. But he is there because he wants to be there. Doing something for his country, and as HE has said helping them develop a free country of some sort.

First of all, thank you both for writing responses that went easy on me. You guys and gals make me feel welcome and open to healthy debate and discourse. I would also like to say that I am learning from both of you. I really am earnestly interested in what you have to say and I am reading everything with the intent to take it in and learn from it. So thank you and know that I'm learning from this and not writing for the sake of argument.

to southtexas - It is inspiring to me that you took the time to read Obama's books and his wife's thesis work. That kind of research is what I really consider to be true patriotism. It's not falling victim to smooth-talking political minutia that everyone is fed with a silver spoon and blindly accepts. All political parties essentially say what the demographics want to hear when they are campaigning. On one hand, I can't really see how else they would get elected. People that I highly respect like Ron Paul turn out to be extremely unpopular. Dr. Paul seems to only say what he really believes and he doesn't pander to his target demographic. I mean, the man stood in front of a room full of Republicans and stated that he thought American foreign policy was a cause of not only negative global perception of our country, but also of terrorist attacks against us. Maybe I don't agree with this, but my point still stands. I also really respect Ralph Nader (say what you will about the man, but he's done a lot of good work). But again, no one is going to accuse Nader of being popular. So policitians are in this position where they will act like car salesmen and they will tell you that they will single-handedly take the country out of ruin and into glory. I have a feeling that it's been this way for a very long time; for nearly as long as there have been political parties in this country (read:since its inception).

So I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here.. I really can relate to you because I have been known to be caught up in leftist politics and sometimes I've done so without really thinking about the consequences of what I'm doing. Personally, I think that speaking ill of our country is extremely offensive and distasteful. I care about all of our soldiers and I cringe every time there are updates about them dying. But I also oppose war; I think that war is horrible. Yes, there are times when it is absolutely necessary to use military power to solve dire problems, and those men that fight for our freedoms or for the freedoms of others are selfless heroes and should be treated that way. It is confusing to me, however, when a war is going on that seems to be politically motivated. It makes me extremely sad because Americans are dying, Coalition troops are dying, innocents are dying.. and for what reason? If the reason these good people are dying is because civilian leaders made an error in judgement or lied to the American people, then I think that is absolutely disgusting. Still, I don't really know how to do something about this without hurting the morale of brave people that are risking their lives for us.. whether it is Viet Nam, whether it is Korea, or Iraq.. It's a philosophical quagmire that I wrestle with on a daily basis. I know all of this sounds very naive. I'm not quite sure how to even approach the subject without coming across as protentious or overtly biased.. so I'm putting it in very basic terms I guess.. avoiding stupid political buzzwords.



 I will admit to have being caught up in the fever and excitement of this election. I know it's no surprise to anyone that I voted for Obama and was thrilled to see him win, and I wasn't just thrilled for the Senator. I think it was great to see a long-standing glass ceiling being broken, and I think Obama's victory is a culmination of a long struggle for equality. I mean, we live in a time when the victor of this election would be either an ethnic minority as president or a woman as vice-president. I think that is exciting, and while I didn't vote for Obama simply because he's a black guy, I still can't help but be inspired by his victory.. I guess it's my bleeding liberal heart :)

Ok.. I can't write more right now, I've got errands to run and things do to. Thank you, both of you, for writing responses that went easy on me. God bless.

Madhabit....you so remind me of myself when I was your age...It was the late 60's and I was as left as left can get.  Then I graduated from college, got a job, started paying taxes, and realized that some of the things that I had fought so hard for, had marched for, had screamed and shouted and gotten arrested for were so wrong. 

It was the time of Nam and we lived in Berlin, my husband in the service, a list coming down every Friday for replacements to the front lines in Nam.  This was no Iraq...no 4,000 casualties in a 5 year war.  We are talking some months when there were 4,000 casualties in the month.  A list would come out in the paper of those who had died every week.....it was amazing how often you knew someone.  I graduated from a high school class of 64 and 5 of the young men and one young woman that I graduated with died in Nam....at least another four or five were injured. 

I saw first hand what Jane Fonda and John Kerry, blowing their mouths off with untruths did to the morale of the soldiers and knew of the torture those prisoners in Nam suffered because of their words. Ayere and his wife were encouraged by their actions. Kerry is a traitor and should have been shot.  He was a coward and a lier.   Ayers also should still be in prison. 

You know it  can be a mind blowing experience to realize that you are wrong....it does make you a better person however, and now I don't make choices lightly.  Before I made a decision on Obama I read both of his books, Michelle's thesis, and Cone's book on Black Liberation Theology.  I can assure you that Obama is more radical than previous Democratic Presidents. 

Hopefully he will be forced to change....and if not,  hopefully the Democrats who support him when he starts his craziness will realize, as I did that what they fought so hard for was so wrong.  We shall see.  Today is a very sad day for America.

Thanks for the respectful response,.....

Clinton originally signed everything the Dem congress put before him, tax and spend, spend, spend.. Then he hired d*** Morris and d*** told him, hey stupid quit signing all this stuff it is going to kill you. Well it did, the Dems were replaced after only  2 years. This group, new president and congress, IS more radical than that. Just listen to what they say they will do. You think we are spending a lot of money now?

You can say it is name calling if you want but "spread the wealth" is socialism, leaning on communal. There is no law or Constitutional provision for taking money from one person to give it to another, RICH OR POOR. Be it done by the right or left. That is not what made the country the giant it was. That was John McCain's problem running on the Republican ticket. He was wanting to give away many things so he really did not get the support of the Republican base.

The war on poverty has been LOST as it is run. Continuing massive give away programs, the massive spending is not going to do anything but enlarge the debt. That means our children will be weighted with massive taxes to pay it off, if it is even possible. Putting more people on give away's will only increase dramatically our outlays.

And talking about the Iraq thing being expensive is not solving things, two wrongs will not right what is about to happen.

And Ron Emanuel being appointed as his chief of staff. Hire as your chief of staff one of the most name calling pit bulls of the extreme left of the Democrat congress....I mean. Show you want to work with the other side by hiring this guy? Right off the bat go radical.

But it is early so time will tell. Obama got only 4 more points higher than Gore and Kerry. 3 more than Clinton. The one thing I have said all along is Barack Obama will tell you what he is going to do. He will try to say it nicely, like spread the wealth for taking money from some and GIVING it to another, but he would tell you he is going to do it. He just needs a teleprompter.

 

May I respectfully ask why you think Obama's administration is more radical than the previous Democratic administration under Clinton? I think that maybe some of the truth regarding Obama's political standpoint has been distorted in the spirit of competition. I guess we will see in the coming months when he starts appointing his Secretaries. I couldn't help but laugh when someone wrote they expected to see Bill Ayers appointed Secretary of State (or Defense!) .. I mean really; Ayers is more likely to fly to the moon by flapping his arms than he is being appointed one of the highest positions in the American government. (and just for the sake of fact, Obama was eight years old when Mr. Ayers was involved in violent radicalism.)

But, like you said; time will tell. In 1993 there was a democratic congress and president. While a lot of people will say that Bill Clinton wasn't the best prez when it came to family values, I don't think anyone would say that America faced any kind of huge economic or security crisis during those years.. And most people would say that Clinton handled the economy pretty well, and back in the early nineties people were saying that Clinton was a socialist radical just like they are saying Obama is a socialist radical today.

Anyway, I won't take any more of your time. I just read your blog and it's refreshing to see dissent without falling into name-calling (he's a radical anti-American Christian! He's a radical Muslim! He's a radical Muslim-Christian!!) .. Dissent is what drives our country forward, but it only works when grounded in rationality and logic. God bless. :)