Steve’ll be proud

Posted October 14th, 2004 by Sean Williams

My brother Steve has let us know his displeasure at the use of our blogs as public airing stations for the minutiae that fill our lives. He thinks they should be used only for the occasional fustian, mostly as a response to other people’s blogs.

So, instead of using his comments section, let me respond to Ian’s blog from today.

Senator Kerry is going to be my choice for President in the upcoming election, because he is a social liberal and he will fight to nominate a Supreme Court Justice who will put the rights of the individual in front of the rights of the nation, the church or corporate entities. Sure, it’s a narrow reason, but that’s why I’m voting for him.

Now.

In 1991, months after Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait, Senator Kerry not only voted against using the already assembled coalition to fight Saddam, but he was the vocal detractor trying to persuade his countrymen to “allow sanctions a chance to work”. Hussein had already marched into a neighboring country, after using chemical weapons on the Kurds in the north, he had been in Kuwait for months, and Kerry was fighting military action. He was a soldier in Vietnam and his number one priority is to make sure that each and every soldier is protected.

If you are worried about further attacks on US soil, and you should be, the knowledge that Kerry now says he would have built a vast global coalition to march in to Iraq, when he fought against that very same coalition when it was formed in 1991, should give you pause. He has been against every military action our country has taken since he limped out of Vietnam with shrapnel in his thigh.

All right, calm down, let me finish.

Neither candidate can prove that they can pay for some or even any of their domestic promises. So, for a lot of people that’s a wash. For me, Bush has already proven he doesn’t know how to run an economy and Kerry seems smarter, so the edge for me goes to Kerry. But if you think the economy is actually doing okay, considering we were attacked in America’s economic center, then maybe for you, the edge goes to Bush.

I would vote for Kerry, but I understand that these arguments are secondary to some people.

The issue to me is the fight for civil rights, always has been. Bush is pro-death penalty and anti-choice. But the problem is, Kerry now says he is in favor of the death penalty in certain situations, and he keeps talking about being Catholic, although he would never deny the right to choose. Also, there is no guarantee that any of the Supremes are going to retire or die in the next four years.

I would vote for Kerry, but I understand that this issue is secondary to some people.

The environment is going to hell, and Bush is firmly to be blamed for this. But in some people’s minds, air quality might give more inner city kids asthma, but terrorists are going to give them nuclear flu. I understand that Bush opened up Yellowstone to snowmobiles, and yes, I agree that this is bad. But if you don’t care about that, I can’t really blame you. I mean, honestly, I care only in the abstract, I’m never going to camp in fucking Yellowstone.

I would vote for Kerry, but I understand that this issue is secondary to some people.

I’m not going to cover every issue, but there are people who are intelligent conservatives that are worried because of their single issue, the defense of our nation. And although you can make an argument that Kerry will keep us safe, he doesn’t have the president’s record. Here’s Bush’s record: We were attacked at the beginning of his administration. So we attacked Afghanistan, kicked out the Taliban, then we attacked Iraq, kicked out Hussein, then Afghanistan had elections in October and Iraq will have elections in January.

And since Septmeber 11, we have not been attacked. Since we started the Bush Doctrine, we have not been attacked.

John Kerry says he would have built a multi-national coalition to bring down Iraq. The same one he voted against in 1991.

You simply cannot say that people with different priorities are stupid. I mean, you can say it, but it’s a stupid thing to say.

In the history of my political life I have never had a candidate that I wanted less to win office than Bush. Maybe Jesse Helms in North Carolina. Bush is the stupidest man I have ever seen hold public office, his southern anti-intellectualism, his hard-core Christianity, his inability to consider every option and his willingness to try war as a first resort make him one of the most dangerous men to hold the reins of this country.

I not only am voting against George Bush, but I argue against all the points I have made in this blog several times a day. I call my family and friends and talk to them about the candidates, I force them to admit that they don’t believe that the environment is in trouble, that they are willing to curtail their civil liberties in order to fight this new kind of war.

But these are not bad people making dumb decisions. You know who loves talk like that? Bush. He would *love* to read that people voting for him are dumb. It fits in to his “evil-doers” “with us or against us” talk. The fact is, the Bush administration is dividing the country, and the left is frickin’ *psyched* about it. Moveon.org compares Bush to Hitler and all the Lefties snap at the computer and holla “oh no he DI’INT”. And smart people who are worried about their children living in fear and dread, who feel like Bush has done what he needed to in order to keep us safe, turn from the comparison, turn from leftists telling them that their fear is “stupidity” and resolve themselves to go to the polls.

Public discourse has been lowered. Yes, it’s been lowered by Drudge and Fox. But we have a responsibility to remember that civility is the only path to civil rights, and that people’s minds can be changed. And we also have to remember that this struggle has been going on for over two hundred years, America has made enormous mistakes that have taken work to correct, but our country was founded on principles that will withstand abuse.

Unlike Spain and France and the U.K., our country is not an accident of location, unlike Pakistan and Israel, our country was not founded on ethnic or religious lines, unlike the USSR, our country was not founded on doctrines that we *hoped* were true. Our country was founded on ideals that are SELF-EVIDENT, the cornerstone of which is the idea that we all should vote and whoever gets the most votes gets to have their office for a little while. Smart people are voting for Bush, and they are making an educated decision, they just have different priorities than I, or my brother, have.

And, we’re making great hip-hop albums.

FELLAS

(yeah?)

FELLAS

(yeah?)

Grab your right nut, make your left one jealous!