Amen

Got your link from a mutual friend, Kent. He wanted me to comment on some of your posts.

A little about myself, I'm a moderate libertarian. I would have probably been a Goldwater Republican, but I missed that chance by a few years. I have completely disowned the current set of elected Republicans.

That is a false choice of fight the WoT or fight Republicans. The Democrats want to fight the WoT, but want to fight it in a different manner (and as much as you want to call it appeasement, it is not even close).

The alternative to what we are doing now is more police work. Look at recent developements. Thru police work there have been several plots (granted, some of dubious potential) foiled and members arrested. While in Iraq we have an excellent training ground for terrorists. Which makes more sense?

This is actually written about 3 weeks ago:

They are cowards.

Either the current administration is populated with cowards without even an iota of honor or they are subverting our Constitution and the honor of our country for purely political gains. The lesser of the two evils is that they are cowards in a crisis that is well beyond their capabilities to handle.

They want us to believe that THIS crisis is the greatest threat our country has ever faced.

Greater than the Revolution when our very existence was in question.
Greater than the War of 1812 when our nation’s capital was burned and pillaged.
Greater than the Civil War when our nation was torn asunder, brother fighting brother.
Greater than World War 2 when we faced a world wide threat of totalitarianism.
Greater than the Cold War when we faced global annihilation.

If they truly believe this, then they must be cowards.

Granted during some of these conflicts we did forget our principals at times and have later regretted the actions. Also granted that in any conflict there will be incidental examples of horror. More importantly some of these crises have given us shining examples of how Americans are supposed to act. How Americans stand on the moral high ground even during our darkest hours.

George Washington refused to torture the Hessians. General Washington said we will not do this. He said these people will be treated with respect and dignity and they will suffer no abuse or torture, because to do otherwise would bring dishonor upon our sacred cause. Where is our honor now?

During WW2, there were reports that American commanders released German POWs because they could not adequately protect them. Consider how we treated the Japanese POWs honorably even when we knew how they treated their prisoners. Where is our honor now?

None of these conflicts caused us to abandon our founding principals as completely as the current Administration is asking us to do. They have replaced “Give me liberty or give me death” with the completely onerous “You have no liberties if you’re dead”. They have forgotten the words of our birth “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These rights are unalienable and they apply to ALL men.

They want to engage in activities (torture) that the rest of the civilized world has abandoned. No one other than pundits and politicians has claimed torture works. The people directly affected by and implementing the policy of torture have stated that it DOES NOT WORK. Israel, which has been on the frontline of terrorism for decades, abandon the practice. When these same activities were perpetrated on members of our armed services, we were rightly horrified and demanded that they cease.

If they want to do these things in my name, stop. If they want to do these things to make me feel safer, stop. Do not bring dishonor to my name or my country because you are cowards.

I don't claim to have all the answers about how to finish the job in Iraq. I do know we can chose to leave with a sense of dignity and accomplishment and claim a victory or we can leave prematurely, withdraw, quit, surrender.

Lee, you are thinking too hard. American politics is a matter of majorities. The leaders of our houses of Congress and state legislatures are either democrats or Republicans. Each of us myst decide which of the parties represent us best on the plethora of issues we care about and vote accordingly. Saying the Republican party left you might feel good, but if you act on that by not voting GOP or voting democratic, you are participating in the process of handing the majority to the democrats. You are upset with the present GOP leadership. Would you be more of less happy with Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rangle, John Conyers, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin and the rest of those losers assuming leadership roles and committee chairmanships?

Be careful what you wish for. Voting emotionally and to teach a lesson is just what the democratic party want's you to do. Guys like you probably voted for Ross Perot and presented us with 8 years of Bill Clinton. Put the overall good of the country above your libertairian wackiness.

"Each of us myst decide which of the parties represent us best on the plethora of issues we care about and vote accordingly"

I vote for a person, not a party. But in a general sense, currently most of the issues I can about align with the Democrats.

"Saying the Republican party left you might feel good, but if you act on that by not voting GOP or voting democratic, you are participating in the process of handing the majority to the democrats."

That is exactly what I want to happen. I am putting country before any party.

We need a divided government for the benefit of our country. We need Congress to perform the oversight it is tasked with by the Constitution.

To put this in perspective, Congress spent close 140 hours investigating the Clintons using White House gift lists for potential Democrat donors and 14 hours investigating the failure of our intelligence agencies regarding the WMD claims in Iraq. How is this good for the country? It is great for the GOP, horrible for the country.

"Would you be more of less happy with Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rangle, John Conyers, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin and the rest of those losers assuming leadership roles and committee chairmanships?"

If they do not abdicate their Constitutional responsibilities as the current leadership has, then I would be MUCH MUCH happier. How can you defend a leadership that knowingly allowed Foley to stay in office for political expediancy? How is this http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061002110.html showing leadership? Dissent is what created our country.

The current losers are the American people and the lack of leadership and responsibility demonstrated by the current Republican party.

Ok Lee. I see. Be sure to vote.