What do you want?
The sense of passion found in criticism of the Iraq war is undeniable, misplaced as most of it is. The urgency to discredit and destroy George Bush coming from the shrill cries of mainstream Marxists has built up to pressure-cooker intensity. Dovetailing with this quest is the expansion of anathema towards Israel and the U.S.-based Jewish Lobby. Carter's fecklessness in the face of Iranian hostage-takers is not only being remembered but celebrated in the wake of a visit to America by Mr. Khatami, a former leader of Iran, a country in which being a moderate means only slightly less outrageous statements calling for the death of all jews. "May you live in interesting times", indeed - may we please not live in such interesting times?So the enduring question is, much like that posed to the crippled soldier from Trumbo's Johnny Got his gun who eventually regains his ability to communicate after losing his vision, hearing, and limbs, "What do you want?" This question would no doubt produce a multitude of fascinating answers if asked of those who have the most vocal criticisms of the current state of things. If we were to ask a Khatami or an Ahmadinejad what they actually wanted, and not what they thought a left-leaning reporter wanted to feed to the media audience, we would most likely learn that they want Israel destroyed and its people killed. If we were to ask Hezbollah what they really wanted, the answer would most likely be about the same. If we were to ask the PLO whether it wanted peace with Israel that included land concessions or the complete annihilation of Israel, what would their answer be?
And what do you want, protesting college students? Do you Want George Bush to be impeached, arrested, and tried on charges of war crimes for cutting off the rule of Saddam Hussein, a certifiable maniac? Do you want, as John Kerry suggested, for us to "Get back to a place where terrorism is just a nuisance"? Do you want an ostrich-like, head-in-the-sand approach to people who want to kill you for the crime of being an American? No, of course you don't. You prefer to believe that all the blame for the past quarter-century of terrorism against the U.S. lies with the Republican party. You still cling to the belief that Bill Clinton was far better for America than George Bush, despite Clinton's inability or unwillingness to engage those who attacked us. Facing 9/11 with "Intelligence and Candor", one of your representatives suggested, was all that was necessary to begin the process of fixing things. But few of you understand exactly what's broken. You continue to dine on swill fed to you by failed Marxist ideology. You are convinced that America is somehow the bad boy in all global discomfort, ignoring evidence before your very eyes that America has been the greatest benefactor the world has ever seen. You still believe, despite decades of fiscal and managerial incompetence from those who run our schools, that lack of tax dollars is the source of all education woes. Who has been running the schools all this time? Primarily bureaucrats who happen to be members of the Democrat party. These are the same people whose bread and butter provides an ample opportunity to cast aspersion on capitalism in general, and an adherence to the purported principles of the Democrat party, whose results are more often than not the exact opposite of what they are stated to be. Example: Democrats claim to represent the powerless, the little guy, but this image is totally negated by their desire for high taxation mixed with generous welfare-style benefits, which only have the effect of discouraging people from improving their lot in life.
So in light of this, what do you want? Do you still believe that the war in Iraq should be abandoned, along with the war on terror in general, and that the money spent on such effort should be redirected to schools, social programs, and anything that is proclaimed to serve the cause of "Social Justice"? Do you think that if we just had someone who could make a real diplomatic effort to reign in the "Jewish influence" and then go and really negotiate, that problems would be solved? Do you still think that "Poverty is a root cause of terrorism", despite the presence of those with upper-middle class backgrounds in teams of airline bomb plotters? Have you failed to notice that the profile of actual terrorists shows a range of economic levels between poverty and great wealth, much as one finds in society in general? Does this piece of data fail to fit into your view that poor people in general have a legitimate grievance against the U.S.? Do you still feel that terrorism is an overemphasized scare tactic, deployed by an evil Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove, to keep Americans in a permanent state of fear?
So what do you want? And don't just parrot the delusions I've outlined here. Describe the specific actions that you would take to address these problems, and why they would produce different results.
And don't bother telling me; get it all worked out in your head, and then, once you have honestly answered the question to your satisfaction, share your answers with others - because if you have the answers, they need to be heard - and if your ideas turn out to be just more of the same old junk rehashed, they will be quickly recognized as such.
posted by ET @ 10:45 AM
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