Sunday, September 14, 2008

Moving from Bullshit to Honest Political Discussion

In the interest of protecting the loved-one referred to above, I will simply summarize his first email. It started by comparing Gov. Sarah Palin to Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It went on to expound on Gov. Palin's qualifications to lead and ended with a charge that Senator Obama refused to salute the flag, hated the national anthem, opposed offering medical assistance to babies born alive during an abortion, and was a close associate of known terrorists. This was a forwarded email from a member of our armed services. Here is my response:

I didn't intend to respond to the arguments below, because I didn't think you would read it anyway. On second thought, perhaps that is unfair. I could go point by point on the trash below and give you multiple sources and logical reasoning as to the absurdity of this email, but I'm going to choose one issue. If you read it and want to hear more, I'll be happy to oblige. Otherwise, please at least consider this. . . There are some good reasons to vote for McCain – find them! Love your country enough to do your homework and separate truth from fiction . . . and then vote accordingly.

As for "Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense.", here is an short excerpt from http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/palin-national-guard.htm. "The foreign deployments of units and the operation of missile interceptors are not the responsibility of state governors. That comes down from the regular U.S. military chain of command." Of course, you know this already. If you want more on this issue, the link has the whole article and this is from a nonpartisan source. If you don't like this source, let me know and I'll help you find the government documents that this is based on. Finally, if you want to engage in intelligent discussion about this campaign, I'd be happy to oblige.

I was pleased when he responded, saying that he knew that much of the email was "bullshit," but that is to be expected in political campaigns. Ultimately, we are left voting for the lesser of two evils, he said, and he questioned Obama's patriotism and leadership because he opposed the war in Iraq and dislikes the national anthem. I'm really proud of this young man for engaging in this conversation with me and this is my response to the second email.

I appreciate hearing your thoughts, and I can really identify with your feelings about the bullshit! On the surface, you’re talking about things like the national anthem, and I've got to tell you that’s just more political bullshit. The stuff about Obama not liking the national anthem came from a political commentary by John Semmens. He was writing a satirical piece and in the piece he had Obama saying some stuff about the national anthem. Obama never said it. Here’s a link from Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/stance.asp and here’s the link to the original article http://azconservative.org/Semmens118.htm. Just be sure you note the title of the article.


So, let’s put the bullshit behind us and have a serious talk about the issue that you are really concerned about. I think you are really concerned about Obama’s opposition to the war in Iraq. You question his patriotism, because he opposed it, and you think that the reason he opposed it was because it was unpopular with the people. You’re afraid that he won’t be able to make the hard decisions if called upon in his role as commander-in-chief. Am I right about that? If so, we’re starting to get somewhere. That is a discussion worth having.


Let’s start with the willingness to make unpopular decisions, because that’s a quick one. Obama announced his opposition to the war before it began, while he was engaged in a fierce campaign for the Senate. When he said this, Bush’s approval rating and support for the war were at their highest. Politically, most people thought this was suicide, but he did it anyway. I think that is about as strong a proof as you can get that he is willing to stand against popular opinion, saying and doing what he believes is right.


So, what about patriotism? Shouldn’t patriots support their leaders during time of war? Thomas Jefferson didn’t think so. He said, “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” Or, consider Abraham Lincoln’s advice, “Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.” Abraham Lincoln was speaking directly to the Bush Doctrine…. 150 years before Bush was born! Albert Einstein, escaping from Hitler’s Nazi Germany said, “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”As Americans, it is our JOB to question our government about everything, but especially about decisions to go to war. Did you realize that the heart of our forefather’s complaints against the British was directly tied to the king’s constant war-making, which deprived the people of life and liberty as they worked to finance his wars?


So, the last question is, should we have gone to war in Iraq and what do we do about it now. Like Obama, I opposed this war from the beginning. I, however, was willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he had intelligence information that justified this war but that could not be revealed in advance. However, as the war progressed and it became obvious that the intelligence he had actually contradicted his justifications, it made me sick. I will be happy to explain why I opposed it. I believe that Obama’s reasons were close enough to my own for that to work in our discussion, but I don’t want to launch into it unless you want to read it. Instead, I’ll leave you with a few important quotes. If you want to respond to what I’ve already said, I’ll explain my position further, but this is enough for now.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised "for the good of its victims" may be the most oppressive.

~C. S. Lewis


The dangerous patriot...is a defender of militarism and its ideals of war and glory.

~Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

~Thomas Jefferson



5 comments:

Unknown said...

'Rather than refusing to comment (smartest move) or flatly denying that any of the ads are even so much as misleading (which has also worked for Republicans before), McCain spokesman Brian Rogers effectively boasted that the GOP ticket was purposefully lying, and that they were doing so because they knew it would be effective. "We're running a campaign to win," Rogers said, "And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”
Found on a progressive log.

Michael said...

thank you, thank you, thank you. This is exactly what I've been thinking for quite sometime. In addition to not being true, most of the McCain campaign's talking points are about stuff that is really irrelevant. Most of the debates I hear in the media has really nothing whatsoever to do with whose gonna do a better job at solving this country's problems. (And some Obama supporters aren't encouraging a real, responsible, issue-driven debate either - let's be fair) Thanks for your contribution to improve the discussion.

Anonymous said...

Very impressive method of rebuttal. Sometimes its easy to fly into a rage when faced with obvious lies.

The Idea of patriotism is very very misunderstood today. Being a patriot could mean fighting against the government in revolution if Tyrants control the country. Jefferson hoped for a revolution for every generation...

It breaks my heart that American were bullied into giving up freedoms, liberties and rights that 14 of the original founding fathers died for in the revolutionary war. All for their "own safety". THAT IS NOT BEING A PATRIOT. That is the last thing a true Patriot would do.

I have been a McCain supporter mostly because his previous record of voting independently of his party, making the decision he thought was right not voting as he was told, and his experience in war and leadership. However over the last month I have not heard or seen one thing from the McCain ticket that I like.

Obama seems to have truly great intentions and is sincere in his hope to help Americans... I have done a little research of his platform, mostly looking at what was pointed out to me. Perhaps its time I looked more closely and took the opportunity to form a new opinion. That would be the Patriotic thing to do...

"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

camron46 said...

We need more people like you who are willing to fight the "Lies".
Too many people who know better just say nothing.

SeƱorita Corazon said...

Mom,
It is terrifying that apathy and laziness can now be re-termed as patriotism. Or perhaps this longing for our leaders and government to be good and just and our blindness to anything else speaks of something ingrained within us of how leaders were originally meant to be. There is an amount of child-like innocence to the absolute trust which many Americans place in our government. I really enjoyed your piece and I will probably use your logic in the future :)