Posted on 10/04/2004 4:11:19 AM PDT by Clive
George Bush became the 43rd American president in the 2000 election by winning the all-important electoral college vote while losing the popular vote.
America's founding fathers designed a republican democracy where the potential passion of the people is tempered by the sobriety of electors representing the various states.
The 2000 election confirmed the wisdom of the founding fathers. It is as if providence saved the republic by electing a president with great moral reserve to defeat the evil threat of his time.
Few knew the mettle of Bush in 2000. Fewer expected his presidency to be of greater consequence than the one he was succeeding.
But 9/11 was a transformative moment, and a nation could only rise to meet this latest confrontation between good and evil if its leader understood his responsibility unambiguously.
Bush recognized 9/11, with its long antecedent, for what it was -- a new version of the old and recurrent assault that barbarians make on civilization, requiring the sort of stamina civilization needs to protect itself and destroy its enemy.
Barbarians, as the great 14th-century Arab historian-philosopher Ibn Khaldun observed, have no purpose except destruction of civilized life.
The only useful explanation for barbarians is an analysis of their origin. All other efforts in seeking a "root cause" explanation for them are not only futile, they are looking for some or any merit in the behaviour of killers where none is warranted.
Barbarians emerge from harsh conditions of lands beyond the frontier of civilized life, as the huns invading ancient Rome did. Or they are -- as the Nazis were -- the detritus of civilized life, irreparably corrupted and doomed in early 20th-century Germany, or -- as Muslim fascists are -- of failed societies in the Arab-Muslim world.
Bush does not possess Lincoln's grandeur, Roosevelt's or Reagan's charm, or Churchill's eloquence.
But like them, Bush possesses the one big thing needed: resolve and clarity of purpose, when civilization itself is placed in peril.
Kerry wants summit
His opponent, Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, instead wants to have a summit of Middle Eastern leaders -- many of whom are themselves the alchemists of Islamist barbarism. These are the leaders he will rely on to advance freedom and progress in the region, even though they know such development will mark their doom.
Kerry's supporters make much ado about his experience in Vietnam as a war-decorated hero. But there is no necessary connection between experience in past wars and preparedness or leadership in future conflict.
Kerry is a reminder of others whose much-heralded experience in earlier battles turned counter-productive in subsequent struggles: Marshall Philippe Petain became France's hero as defender of Verdun in World War I. In June 1940, as Hitler's army prevailed over the French, Petain stepped forward to surrender France's honour to German Nazis.
It was left to an unknown officer, Charles de Gaulle, to wage stubbornly France's resistance against barbarians and redeem its shredded honour with Allied support.
Kerry, in contrast to Bush, is clever as a fox, seemingly knows in much detail most things and, like a fox, now strives to substitute cleverness for resolve when confronted with the awful magnitude of such a big thing as the contemporary war of civilization against barbarism.
The choice in this year's presidential election is not between Bush and someone reminding Americans of Lincoln or Churchill.
The choice is between Bush and Kerry as a reminder of Petain, who chose a Vichy peace with barbarians instead of destroying them.
Hence for Americans, and for those whose hopes rest on the great republic's leadership in world affairs, supporting Bush is not a choice but a necessity if we are to prevail over barbarians in our time.
Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario
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The "root cause" of barbarianism can be found in pre-civlization. That's why this battle against Islamofascism is a battle to save civilization itself.
A cardboard cut-out made to look like the first JFK and placed into an election.
The Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis were utter failures papered over by his sycophants in the media.
The myth of JFK continues to this day. Considering he is revered by the left ought to be telling.
The contention that " the potential passion of the people is tempered by the sobriety of electors" is not quite true.
As I was taught in college, the electoral college was a product of the post-reconstruction era. It was made in an attempt to circumvent the new black vote. It didn't matter then who got the majority of the votes, it was whoever was in charge of the electoral college of that state to distribute the vote, and guess who that was ;)
It worked.
Personnally I think it's obviously racist and archaeic. We can and should now reach beyond the Constitutional Republic to be a true Democracy with One person:One vote
We can't go about in the world telling everyone what a great thing Democracy is when we really do not practice it at home.
My first 2 cents :)
We are not a Democracy, we are a Republic.
Mob Rule is no way to run a government, especially when they are fed propaganda and lies.
They've been INSIDE for quite a while now!
And hopefully your last.
Thereby proving the Founding Fathers were masters of time travel.
Did that degree come with a money back guarantee?
Unfortunately, if the author of the article is right, neither of the candidates is good enough - the good leader has to be able to act BOTH as a fox and as a lion:
"You must know there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force; the first method is of men, the second of beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, one must have recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to use the methods of the beast and the man . . .
A prince . . . ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against traps and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the traps and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand this."
-- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)
A so-called democracy is absolute chaos; we are a constitutional republic. FYI.
Of which liberal-infested propaganda mill of higher learning are you a product?
I won't bother to welcome you to FR -- because I expect your survival time here to be measured in hours... if not minutes.
This came from Canada? I think I felt the earth move under my feet...
As Neal Boortz says, democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Democracy is the sure road to tyranny.
You've been misled regarding the electoral college.
Now that you have internet access, you can quickly find out the actual historical origins!
Life is good.
Emmy, you should lurk for awhile here before you post. Welcome to FreeRepublic but please, learn a little before you open yourself up to ridicule.
I agree.
It's more of a choice between a Pierre Trudeau and Bush.
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