2003 in Politics | Brian Murphy

This holiday season is proving to be one of the best in recent memory for merchants and consumers alike. Our economy is on the rebound with the Dow breaking 10,000 points and investor confidence on the rise. The tyrant of Baghdad is in the bag and Libya’s Mohmmar Qadaffi is desperately trying to avoid the same fate. America has made it through 2003, but not without a good number of events worth noting. Let us reflect on them now.

On the political front, the 227th year of this republic proved as fascinating and frustrating as ever. Californians recalled failed politico Gray Davis and replaced him with newcomer Arnold Schwarzenegger. Senate Democrats used a filibuster to deny several qualified jurists a floor vote. Ted Kennedy reappointed himself dean of the liberals in that body and the nation once again mourned John F. Kennedy’s assassination. And John Hinckley was allowed to make unsupervised visits to his parents. Apparently attempted murder of a president is not enough to keep someone in a palatial hospital for life.

In Iraq, the US-led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ ended thirty five decades of tyrannical rule that closely resembled Hitler’s reign in Germany. It was just over a year ago that the Iraqi dissidents who stormed Saddam’s embassy in Berlin were ridiculed for their dreams of a free homeland. The irony of the protest’s location and timing became palpable as their predictions became reality.

The war has unquestionably changed our understanding of the world. Most importantly it validated the qualities which have established America as the leading crusader for human freedom. We saw again that the burden of expanding liberty is never light. Yet still we bore it. Each body bag rudely reminded us of the old adage that freedom is never free. They stand as proof that the courage to fight for it is priceless. Perhaps Coalition soldiers have given the best gift of all: a hopeful future to 25 million people who knew only bleak despair at this time last year. Now they celebrate the first free Ramadan in decades.

Sadly the war also revealed that even brutal regimes have committed apologists in the free world. There were moments of doubt along the road to Iraq, but the mass graves and terrorists discovered there prove that America’s course of action was completely just.

Filed under National Loss is the horrific end of the space shuttle Columbia. The crew of STS-107 was composed of enterprising pioneers from this nation and Israel. They lived as intellectuals, worked as explorers, and died as heroes in the service of humanity.

In the sports world, my beloved Red Sox robbed millions of New Englanders of sleep before once again falling victim to the Babe’s curse in an extra inning of the seventh ALCS game. Combined with Ted Williams watching from a freezer in Arizona, it’s been a hard year to be a Boston fan. Then there was the biting irony of soccer star Mia Hamm appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated just as the Women’s United Soccer Association announced it was curtains for the troubled league. But revival efforts are underway, so Boston Breakers fans take note, there may be yet be hope to win the Founder’s Cup.

There weren’t any blockbuster weather events this year. Hurricanes were merciful toward the sunshine state and Èl Nino stayed on vacation. A good portion of North America did manage to lose power for a few hours when something very technical happened in the power grid. Let’s try to avoid that in the future. Central California got a serious earthquake in at the last minute and the entire state suffered through evastating wildfires.

In other news, John Mohammed’s self-representation strategy didn’t quite pay off the way he had hoped. It turns out that snipers don’t relate well to juries.

And now for the latest installment of that holiday tradition that is my selection of a year’s Most Notable and Notorious quotes. Secretary of State Colin Powell won the Notable category with this gem from January: "We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in…” While Powell clinched his award early on, Saddam chose to wait until recently to accept his nomination for Most Notorious Quote of 2003. As he crawled out of his spider hole, High-Value Target Number One informed an American soldier that “I am Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I am willing to negotiate." Most people would agree that “Dude, where’s my regime?” would have been sufficient.

‘Tis the season to put politics, sports, and the entire world’s troubles on hold and instead focus on the good things around us. Don’t worry, the election and Super Bowl will roll around in due time. But now let’s just have some fun and hope for “peace on earth and goodwill toward man.”

Brian Murphy writes a weekly column on Politics and Society for Thoughtmark eSyndicate, where he serves as Chief Contributor. Readers can reach him at bmurphy@thoughtmark.com.

NEXT TUESDAY: Brian Murphy complements his Year in Review column with A Look Ahead about his political hopes, fears, and predictions for 2004.

I am a conservative columnist trying to get a break in the editorial business. I would like your help. My opinions are designed to be an intelligent defense of free ideals and small government. I would be most appreciative if you would read my columns and sign up for my email list (no Spam, ever). Feel free to visit and bookmark my website at www.Thoughtmark.com. If you have a website, please link to mine. If you find my arguments on behalf of liberty compelling, please contact your local newspaper editors and request that I be added to their editorial page. Be sure to mention www.Thoughtmark.com as my URL. The more that our message gets read, the more support we will find in our campaigns.

Thank You,

Brian Murphy

President & Chief Contributor

Thoughtmark eSyndicate

bmurphy@thoughtmark.com

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