|
I
think the upcoming is a crucial election and I'm a
grass-roots voter, more often voting for Democrats
than Republicans. I have always considered myself
indepedent, mostly because I reject any sort of "true
believer" mindset.
I
want the Democratic party to know that I'm very unhappy,
overall, with the national response to the 9/11 terrorist
attack. Although I did "give way" to the
need for a violent answer to the attack, I am deeply
against the war and the plans for war against Iraq.
I see no evidence that we're engaging in a truly committed
fashion to the rebuilding of Afghanistan, that we're
pretty much washing our hands of it and letting it
revert to the war lords. On the world stage, we "own"
Afghanistan. There was a different way to approach
getting redress for the attack, but we chose to go
after the culprits with military hardware. We tore
up what little there was of the place, with the promise
we would rebuild it. We murdered thousands of non-combatants,
we don't have much to show for our effort, and we're
doing a crap job on the rebuilding. I'm telling you,
I don't think we can afford to "own" Baghdad
as well.
9/11
wasn't a military attack by a soverign government,
it was a criminal act by a few individuals. It would
have been nice to see some recognition of that by
one or two of our so-called leaders. Like I said,
there were alternatives to the response we chose.
This
is the tip of the iceberg, in my opinion. No policy
move yet has addressed the underlying causes of the
9/11 attack. I see no movement on Saudi Arabia or
Egypt. I see no real movement on energy policy, no
effort to alter our complete dependence on cheap fuel,
and the fact that that dependency drives all aspects
of our foreign and economic policy. I see no real
recognition of the overall political health of the
middle east, or of the complete hypocrisy with which
we operate in that area. We need to own up to how
thoroughy compromised we are and start taking steps
in the direction of very big policy changes.
I'm
concerned about a number of domestic issues as well,
with education, social justice and civil rights on
the short list. I am very concerned about the massive
failure of the security agencies in the run-up to
9/11, and even more concerned about the blasé
attitude toward the revelations of hubris in these
services, which led to the services putting agency
territoriality ahead of public safety. I don't believe
for a minute that these agencies had an epiphany on
9/11. I think they know the right things to say. This
is cumulative executive failure, and this is a problem
we shouldn't have.
By
far and away, my biggest concern domestically is the
state of our democracy. I am convinced that you all
don't talk to me and to people like me. My elected
representatives don't solicit my opinion on issues.
If I don't show up with money in my hands, ready to
give, I don't count at all. You all do your business
with lobbyists, who are entrepreneurs whose interest
is in gaining and keeping paying clients, meaning
corporations. I don't see any evidence that all the
bad news we've gotten about the trustworthiness and
stewardship of corporations has registered politically.
I don't see any sign that the Democratic Party has
rethought deregulation mania and is on track to stand
up to corporate greed and globally, to capitalist
imperialism. The lobbyists hedge their bets and fund
both parties, and there's not hardly a pin's worth
of difference between the two. Y'all pretty much agree
on the policy you formulate, and we the voters don't
even get to vote it up or down. Convince me that we
have more choice than the Iraqis got on their last
ballot.
I
am sick to death of the Oil Industry White House,
and the worst pResident we've had to suffer since
the 19th century. I like voting in presidential elections
because I actually do feel like there's a little difference
and a small measure of choice in doing so.
What
else is on my mind? Oh, only the failure of the drugs
policy and the broad decision to treat drugs use and
the trade it encourages as an issue of criminality
rather than the medical issue it should be. I don't
want my taxes supporting a huge criminal justice system,
going to build prisons when our schools need the money.
You would have thought we would have learned something
from our little experiment with prohibition. The policy
is a colossal waste of money and exercise in global
interference. We make the international illegal drug
market with our use and our criminalization policy.
Stupid stupid stupid.
So
that's where I'm at. You now know who I am, where
I am and what I think. I will vote Democratic in order
to send a message to that jackass in the White House,
and it's a damn shame that it's come to that. I'm
so intent on sending that message that I'll volunteer
to do grass roots stuff, but I want something in return.
I want some representation, real representation, not
someone whose appreciation of my vote ends when the
lobbyist shows up at the door.
Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews +
Letters + Archives
|
