Viewpoints

Obviously you can't turn on the TV, or read anything online or elsewhere without seeing something about the Presidential Election and it's associated lunacy. I'm not going to dwell on campaign details here, but I wanted to address something specifically to my more conservative friends about viewpoints and how I see things.

First and most self-evidently, you are not me, and I am not you. I have been me all my life. My experiences and upbringing, my schooling, my reading choices, my family, and yes my friends have all influenced how I see the world. In the end though all my viewpoints are mine and mine alone.

I grew up in England, but I am a US citizen. The only passport I've ever carried is a US one. I could, by birth, have either a US or a British passport, but I have not opted to apply for a British one. Yet.

That said, I don't go around chanting "USA! USA! USA!". This is a great country, but I have a very fundamental and key viewpoint here. I consider myself a resident on Planet Earth. It's an increasingly smaller place and currently the only place we've got. I believe it's a very narrow viewpoint to only want to see things from the perspective of the USA being #1 and the kid with the best toys on the block.

I'm sure I've already lost some of you right there.

After September 11th, 2001, the United States had global sympathy and support, and the moral and ethical high ground to go after those responsible, which we did with international support in Afghanistan (albeit with no resolution yet - and how many people think about the troops in Afghanistan on a daily basis?). President Bush, VP Cheney, and the Karl Rove spin machine quickly pissed that global support away and turned it in to first hesitancy, then derision, for pursuing a second, unfounded, and stupidly egotistical war with Iraq using weak or outright false evidence.

To me it seemed the US quickly became more and more insular with the government on the defensive explaining their actions. Support we had was lost to the opposite viewpoint of at best indifference and at worst pity and laughter. And this was from our friends and allies.

My point is that since then Bush and the right have continued to make unilateral decisions about actions abroad and at home. I was reading a discussion board about the AT&T/Verizon and NSA issue the other day. A few commenters were happy to give up their freedoms for The War On Terror. Some compared it to Lincoln and suspending Habeas Corpus (which the supreme court ruled unconstitutional but Lincoln ignored them) or the interment of Japanese-Americans during WWII (used as a "positive" example of Things To Do During War). One of them said "where is it written that we have the right to privacy?".

It's called Amendment 4 to the Constitution. Try reading, it makes you smarter. I actually have the Constitution bookmarked in my browser, partly because I want to know what is says but also because it's interesting to see how people "interpret" (read: ignore and bullshit) their way through it.

I made the following statement on that board, and I'll repeat it here:

You can't win a war on principles if you forget your own.

You can't impose "war-time" laws that take away our rights and use the excuse of them being temporary. Not in this war. There won't be a truce or treaty signed, there won't be a day when anyone can say "we got the last of them". So in effect these incursions on our rights are permanent, and, in my opinion, they also tell the terrorists that they are winning. We have changed our way of life for the worse as a direct result of their actions. That is the one and only goal of terrorism - disruption. And they have succeeded.

You can buy toy airport security checkpoints for your kids now. Think about how pathetic that is. You can teach your kids to become complacent sheep and accept that status quo of being told to remove your shoes by people who probably have a hard time tying their own.

I believe the way you win a war on terror is to take away the terrorists reason to hate you and their spoken or unspoken local support. You can bomb caves and desert for 100 years (as John McCain has proudly stated he is perfectly happy doing), all you do is kill a few terrorists and breed some new ones out of anger and revenge. If you instead try to nurture strong and lasting relations with the countries they are hiding in, being seen as good and helpful, their support base erodes. They will still fight but their numbers will diminish. It's a long term effort, but would pay lasting dividends.

Right now a few of you are calling me a liberal pansy, wuss, or worse. Guess what, I don't give a rats ass. War is not the answer to everything, or even most things. And this modern war is not one with fronts or generals or territories, except on our side. We are the playground bully going around shaking everyone's pocket money out because someone in the playground might be the bad guy. So what if we beat up a few little kids who weren't doing anything in the process? That's just how we operate in the playground.

The bottom line is that what I've explained here is what I believe, and what I will act on. No amount of you telling me I am wrong or calling me or the person I choose to vote for an idiot will dissuade me unless you have rock solid proof that your candidate is the better man. Not hearsay and your opinion - proof. I am supporting Barack Obama, despite his choice of clothing (not an issue), but because he wants to change the direction we are on from being nothing but a war machine. My friend John's post the other day made me laugh. I can't disagree with him more than on that post. I *like* what Obama is saying in that clip. John *hates* it. The campaign staffer thing is stupid, but it's not a damn election issue. Neither is who the President prays to (keep it out of policy - that's the law) or who he sleeps with. You elect a President for his ability to lead in a thoughtful, rational manner with the best interests of the people of his country in mind. Hopefully he or she will also surround themselves with other thoughtful and diverse people to carry the counterarguments and to help make the hard decisions based on deliberation and examination of the facts and options.

The current method of electing any US official, especially POTUS, has become a sad and pathetic farce that comes down to money and mudslinging - but currently it's all we have. Barack Obama has my support precisely because he wants to change things. The status quo, to be blunt, sucks. We are fighting a war we can not win in the conventional sense, we have a terrible economy, we have so many people just barely getting by, we have a poor sad excuse for health care, we are destroying our planet and environment for future generations, we have kids going to college who can't find their college or their country on a map. Defense spending is well in the lower half of my Top 10 priorities for what the President should be working on.

I have tried to put forth a few of my motivations and reasons; I don't expect you to agree, but if you're a rational human being you would try to understand and more importantly respect it. If you lump me in with a general pool of "liberal pinko commie wusses" then that's your loss of a fellow countryman and resident of our fragile planet. I vote, I subscribe to several political and non-political groups that do, in my opinion, good work towards making the world a better place. I sign petitions (some of which have worked). I sometimes donate money. I am currently not a registered anything - I am unaffiliated. If somehow, some magical candidate came along that I thought was amazing and aligned with my requirements, and that person was a Republican, I would vote for them in a heartbeat. I'm not holding my breath for that particular instance but I am very willing to support the "better man".

This is my viewpoint. How much thought have you put in to yours? Is it your viewpoint or just the one you've been indoctrinated in to? Have you taken the time to stop and look at the big picture and how things might be done differently to achieve a better outcome? Do you act on your opinions or just voice them loudly to anyone who will listen? Are you willing to sit by and let others run your world for you?

Of course I want to be safe and prosperous and happy, but I also want everyone else in the world to have the same opportunity. Isn't that what being human and being alive is all about? Making the world a better place to be in?

And no one
Thinks they are to blame
Why can't we see
When we bleed we bleed the same?

"Map of the Problematique" - Muse

posted by Tom at 8:39 AM | 0 comments |

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