How Short Our Memories ver. 1.1
JC et al, I’m going to jump around a bit also in my reply so please bear with me.
First off, yes, I am very conservative. With that said I have been a registered Demoncrat since 1976. I am not a Republican either. If I have to align myself with a political party I would be a Libertarian. Please see my post entitled, “I am a liberal”.
You speak of pro-war politicians. Which one? Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid? Any one of these people are about as anti-war as one can get. All of these people are what I call Neo-communists. National health care, increased taxes, more laws and regulations infringing on my home life and freedoms and giving MY money away as entitlements are what these folks are all about. Look at their records.
I do see these people as wanting the destruction of the US as it stands today. I see these people as wanting a huge centralized federal gub’mint regulating every aspect of our lives. This is not what this country was founded on. These same leftist politicians would reduce our armed forces to the point of being ineffectual. The last President, clinton did just that. Our forces were reduced by almost 30% during his reign. If we did not have term limits for President I would be scared to consider how weak we would be. These people consider themselves to be patriotic but their idea of the meaning of that word runs contrary to Mr. Webster.
Theirs is not so much dissent as it is want of extreme change and the re-writing of history as well as the constitution. Yes, I find that wrong!
You say my President has lied to me because now, all these years later, we find out that some information, the information present to the UN by Colin Powell, was either fabricated or truncated to fit an agenda. Do you really think these folks deliberately, with foreknowledge, attempted to deceive the entire world? If you do then let me tell you about the Tri-Lateral Commission or the Illuminati. They will really scare you. I don’t think our or any politicians are smart enough to pull that off. If relying on the UK press or CNN and Hans Blix for correct information is how I get my news and commentary then yes I should be marching in the street to make this the Peoples Republic of Amerika. I get my news and information from all kinds of sources both left and right and put very little stock in the large mainstream media outlets.
What’s happening in Sudan is a travesty. Mr. Bush has already committed millions if not billions of dollars to help there. Has any EU country done the same? I ask because I don’t know not because I’m playing up one side vs. the other. When the shit first hit the fan in Sudan the clintonistas ignored the outcry of the world. They not only did nothing but also outright refused to help and I am sad to say that the US did not intervene when it could have done the most good. This is part of what I find amazing. Dub’ya is a war mongering turd but Clinton who did nothing to help in many many ways and places is a good guy. WTF? East Timor is being terrorized by communists who have couched their fight in the robe of independence for a small minority of people there. I’m glad we are not backing the Tamil tigers. They took their cue from Al Queda with a twist. They use women as homicide bombers.
On the next point I don’t want to bust on anyone personally but where in anything I have ever written have I stated that we are at war with all Muslims? I kinda’ thought I went out of my way to say that we are at war with Islamofacists. We are at war with a small minority of lunatics who wish to impose their way of life on EVERYBODY not just the US but EVERYBODY!
If ones desires to see democracy brought to the people of the middle east, how can you not support the role of the US and UK in Iraq today. That is exactly what they’re doing. The war of aggression is over. Saddam is dead and decomposing. We are there to attempt to keep the peace until the Iraqis are able to do it themselves. I think like you I would like to see this happen sooner than later but if it takes years more and Iraq emerges as a free and independent democracy then we have done well. I could go on and on about how we (Western society) are addicted to, “Instant Gratification”. I won’t it’s off topic.
So we invaded Iraq for oil. I love it! Did you know that not one drop of Iraqi oil has been shipped to the US since we invaded? What about that Dutch company Shell Oil or even BP, can they say the same? Can any country in the EU claim the same thing? I don’t think so. It’s not Halliburton, General Dynamics, Exxon or Sunoco who is raking in the bucks but lots of countries all over the world buying up cheap Iraqi oil. By the way Halliburton and General Dynamics had multi-million if not multi-billion dollar contracts with the US gub’mint long before this administration.
If the original post referred to herein came across as a stifling of dissent, you have my apologies. I did not see it as that but rather as a comment on the American left.
I don’t think even the powerful presence of the US military in Iraq can save it now. I imagine that the Sunni vs. Shia thing has been simmering for a long time under Saddam, and that no-one could stop that if it escalates.
I supported the war the whole way through, because Saddam was a loose cannon in the region, but the US truly opened Pandora’s Box when they took him out. The US should be scaling down its operations; otherwise it could become the unwitting deer-in-the-headlights between Sunni and Shia warfare.
As for oil, it’s not as if production in Iraq has been increased. That’s bollocks. Bush just likes the idea of being a ‘war president’, in the mould of FDR. He’s more of a Nixon, though.
Hello Brian for the first time.
Thank you for the compliment on my blog. You made my day.
Didn’t know there was a nice ghost lurkingabout the place.
I have added you on to my blogroll and really look forward to your comments.
I’ve also enjoyed having read your passionate thoughts on American politics.
And yes, I did look up your poetry last January.
They’re clever satrical pieces.
My favourite is My Sixth Decade.
Do write me a funny poem sometime.
I love your natural sense of humour.
Hi Brian.
To call you on some points. You need to go check Webster again for a definition of communism. If you consider a national health service communist, then that makes the UK a people’s republic. If you consider larger government communist, then so is France, Italy, Australia and most of Western Europe. If you consider smaller military complexes communist, then the Vatican is one of the most communist states on Earth.
Your suggestion that people like Clinton and Kerry actively seek the destruction of the USA indicates that you’re more likely to believe in the Illuminati and shape-shifting lizard people running the world than I am, Brian.
Don’t you see that it undermines your argument when you make unsupported assertions (the weapons of mass destruction intel was the best available), demand factual evidence of the contrary (inspection reports by the UN, UK mainstream media proving the document was a farrago of lies) and then reject those respected objective sources of information because you don’t like what they say?
There’s nothing wrong with being conservative, Brian. The core meaning of the word is that one does not take unnecessary risks, one makes assessed judgements.
The current war in Iraq by that definition is anything but conservative. It is a rash folly that will in the end cost the American people more in blood and wealth than they could possibly have ever imagined.
But it is self-blinding to permit ideology to overrun common sense. It is common sense to listen to as many sources of information as possible and assess the quality of the information they provide. It is common sense to listen to one’s political opponents and examine what they say, rather than dismiss their positions as ‘communist.’
It sounds like everyone is a communist to you who doesn’t agree with your current President, Brian, and that makes you sound irrational.
I doubt you are irrational
Hi JC,
Yes, you are completely correct I DO consider the UK and most of western Europe as being precariously close to communist governments simply because of their large centralized governments and what I consider to be undue control over their peoples. Absolutely yes, the Vatican is very nearly a perfect communist state. The church has always been run from the top down by a single governmental entity.
My dislike and distrust of the American left and in particular those I refer to as, “clintonistas”, comes from what I and the American people had to endure during their tenure. Every single politician I mentioned would remove the majority of our freedoms in the name of, “The Greater Good of the Country”.
One of the biggest problems I have with the American left is that they allow no debate. Normal everyday intelligent people when confronted with an American conservative throw out any idea of intelligent debate and they resort to personal attacks. This has happened to me more than I can recount. On a national level look at Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. I personally do not like they way either of these people present themselves but what they are saying makes a lot of sense. Now I’m sure you or I can dig up outrageous things both of these folks have said but that is exactly what I mean. I don’t like how they get their message out there but I agree with the message. Know what I mean?
So the negative knee jerk reaction to dissent is a hallmark of the American left.
Your point on the definition of conservative is correct. I use this term as it relates to American politics. Again, please read my post of 11 January, 2007 entitled, “I am a Liberal”. Here in America a conservative is;
one who does not believe in a large federal government
one who believes in lower or non-existant taxation
one who believes in a large military
one who holds that our constitution IS the highest law of the land
one who believes in less regulation and intrusion into our lives by all levels of government.
To the contrary a liberal is;
one who believes in a large centralized gov’t
one who believes in entitlements like national health care, the dole, social security, price controls, etc
one who would reduce the size of the military
one who would impose a fashionable sense of morality***
one who believes in greater control of the people by government
I’ve got to jet. I’ll write more later today.
*** by this statement I need to explain that there are those on the left in America , like, “the clintonistas”, who want to make our constitution a, “living” document. By that they mean they want the means not only to amend it but to be able to change it.
Well, it would be nice to even see the US constitution adhered to by the current government, who are busy conducting torture at home and abroad. (Not currently permitted in the constitution, I understand.)
Also, this bit really does make you sound unhinged:
I DO consider the UK and most of western Europe as being precariously close to communist governments simply because of their large centralized governments and what I consider to be undue control over their peoples. Absolutely yes, the Vatican is very nearly a perfect communist state. The church has always been run from the top down by a single governmental entity.
Basically, it seems you don’t understand what communism is, either in terms of ideology (Marx, etc) or practical reality (USSR, etc).
It’s frankly risible to suggest that the centre right governments of most of Europe are communist. And given the Vatican’s long-standing opposition to communism in all forms, that assertion was the funniest one you’ve made yet.
But yes, Limbaugh and Coulter are both pretty crazy. I’ll give you that.
Hello from Michele.
Perhaps if you used the word “socialism” instead of “communism” these left-wing self-righteous people would get it.
Let’s just say I am a conservative too. I agree with your take on the situations around the world.
One thing that disturbs me is how we are being forced into labeled. While allowing the teaching of Islam, Buddism and other religions in publicly funded schools and labeling this as a demonstration of our “tolerance” to religions; those of us who cherish our Christian faith are ridiculed, stamped as intolerant and forbidden to hold Bible study classes in some schools. The country first established on the Christian faith and the freedom to practice religion as we choose is now banning that faith from all governmental places. That is NOT what separation of church and state means. It was meant to keep the government out of religion, not to keep religion out of government.
I’m sure those will come back and say… look at the laws written and the court cases decided….. but we must look to the Constitution and not the courts. The court system in this country is on a runaway course headed to anarchy. They have lost all common sense.
Erm, no. European governments in general don’t even approximate to socialist either. A few are social democratic, which is centre-left to centrist (Spain, UK), while most are centre-right (Germany, Ireland, etc).
You guys really ought to take a flight over and have a look-see yourselves. Things like a national health service, decent public infrastructure and proper primary and secondary education are not considered luxuries here. Nor is it deemed useful to leave them to the vagaries of the marketplace where they can only be accessed by those on high incomes.
That’s not communism, but common sense.
I actually take debate with what SRP said. This country was not founded on the idea of “religious” freedom. This country was majority identical to the English social system of the time. Most people were quasi-religious at best, and it was founded on commerce. There was ONE very odd colony in the Massachussetts Bay… and they did not have religious freedom or tolerance within their borders. Puritain or behave like one.. or out. loosers went to “Rogue’s Island” (Rhode Island) and tended to stay there or face persecution. It’s not “revisionist” history either, it’s primary document history, as opposed to pop culture.
I don’t fit either of the two major parties.. i have extreme views and moderate views from all saides, just depends on the issue.
(Hi Brian!)