Right behind thee Brethren! 
Posted on 10/12/2004 10:17:05 AM PDT by yoe
One of the best dissertation on the importance of this election. A must read! written by Mathew Manweller... Central Washington University political science professor...
"In that this will be my last column before the presidential election, there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high.
This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence. Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be two-fold.
First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things.
Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations. The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America.
Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracing polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.
It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest generation'. But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's 'last generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of WW II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake 'living in America' as 'being an American.' But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.
This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve.
I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City on the Hill."
Mathew Manweller
Hillary won't run in '08 if Lurch is President. Which is why he won't win - the October surprise will be something that the Clintons' agents release (and we'll never know it-ever).
He should be happy about the situation. We're unlikely to start shooting the unarmed.
"No thanks, we don't want them."
You're generalizing. European nations are generally a democracy. It's the majority that have elected socialists to power over and over that are to blame. There are still many there we DO want here. They would be an asset.
bookmarked
ping, dear.
Ever since we came to Northern Kentucky, and it's been long explained to me, that those states that are a Common Wealth and a few other states have in the past made vocal, their opinions and feelings about a separation. There are quite a few states here along the East Coast and in the MidEast America that would rather be governed like a CommonWealth than a Federation.
When I first heard this, I was like: "Great!" No More Clinton! LOL
Now I feel, while a separation seems like a good idea, it's not going to solve the ongoing hatred Americans share with each other, and the other nations!
Love and Understanding is more like it! But we've long awaited this unimaginative war... Holy War?? Or War of Nations? Or War of Power? or War of Money??? What will it be?
Right behind thee Brethren!
A) Holy war
B) War of nations
C) War of power
D) Economic war
After careful consideration I'd have to go with E) Brass tacks. When my government forces me to disobey the Law of God, that is when I say, "enough." For example, suppose my wife were pregnant and our government had set a limit on the number of children women could bear. We had met that threshold. The law demanded she have an abortion. That is a hypothetical that must be fought, and hard.
Now we're not there yet, but we're getting there. We're coming to a point wherein the Left assumes a priori the truth of its beliefs to the point they thoughtlessly attempt to apply them to us all. Dissenters who don't see things their way are "irrational", not guided by "reason". Yet they all the time deny any absolute basis for reason and arrogate to themselves a fraudulent victory.
In the War Between the States, or Civil War, or War of Northern Agression (depending on your viewpoint), the South fought for state sovereignty. The North fought for national unity. Slavery was an ideological issue that ostsensibly divided brother against brother, but in reality the slave trade was never widely held in high regard even in the Old South. The despicable practice could have come to an end without a war. Contingent on the subsequent end of slavery and segregation in the South, we may have been better off as two or more nations. We'll never know.
Point is, our hope as humans is for peace not war, as illustrated in your Ghost Busters example, Marshmellow Man notwithstanding. But if we must take up arms, it will be for our fundamental rights to worship and live as we deem necessary without federal intrusion, without Big Gubmint extorting our tax dollars to indoctrinate our children with ideas we repudiate, and not the other lofty ideals. Practical, every day things. Brass tacks.
Those are my thoughts, anyway.
A good read.
.
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;-)
And his wife, her emminence (her grace?) the Countess Chocolad. And of course, we can't forget Counsel SueBerry.
Okay, lame attempts at humor.
Thank you.
Something worth checking out: http://w3f.com/patriots/demorep.html
Foreign Enemies, the third book, is where the weakened President invites in UN "peacekeepers" to restore federal control over rebellious western and southern states.
(The UN peacekeeper "volunteers" will be eager to sign up, having been promised fast-track US citizenship, and free land.)
I believe we're past the "tipping point." The Titanic has hit the berg, but the realization has not yet dawned that the wounds are fatal. The band plays on, as we rearrange the deck chairs.
It will begin as a "Dirty War." Look at Argentina in the 1970s, Spain 1930s, Northern Ireland 1970s, El Salvador, Bosnia, Kosovo etc for clues.
You will NOT want to be in a minority party/race/class enclave anywhere near a large urban area! That will invite personal disaster.
Agree........I have no suggestions other than to be very self reliant and aware. Our world is changing rapidly and not all of it is good.
Just my opinion of course........Stay safe !
Mornin Bump
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