Do We Like War, Bailouts and The Patriot Act? Our Choices in Election 2012 and Beyond
When the first thing someone says about why they are voting for Obama or Romney is how bad the other guy is….something is wrong.
“How come Americans like war?” asked the taxi driver. His question echoed one I’ve heard all over the world, “We don’t like war,” I said, “our politicians do.” He replied, “In America, you can vote for a new guy who doesn’t like war, right?”
His words reminded me of the charismatic young Senator I was first introduced to at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. In his amazing speech, Sen. Obama, a self-described “skinny kid with a funny name”, gave us hope. He told us his story which was only possible in America, that “war should never be the first option” and the heartfelt story of the veteran he met and asked “Are we serving him as well as he is serving us?”
Sen. Obama’s largest cheers of the evening came when he said “If there is an Arab-American family being rounded up without due process, that is a violation of my civil liberties.” He closed what some called the highlight of the convention saying “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America.”
His encouraging words motivated millions. In that election I originally supported the anti-war candidates Howard Dean and Gen Wes Clark and eventually supported the nominee against Pres. Bush, John Kerry. Then, as today, I felt that war was a blight on America, a grave error leading to death, destruction, economic ruin and a decrease in our position in the world.
In 2004 I appeared on a MoveOn ad and I said “It’s hard to admit when your President has done wrong.” Eight years of war and waste later I must again make the same statement. For some, the admission is too hard to make.
In 2008, many of us enthusiastically voted for President Obama. Our main issues with President Bush were war and the Patriot Act, we felt McCain / Palin would continue these errors. The issues are key for many Americans, with as many as 70-80% against war, interventionist foreign policy and cronyism.
In Bush’s first term it was hard for some to accept his wrongs: aggression, reduction of freedoms and bad economic policy. It’s not easy to accept the same today about our President but he has indeed continued key Bush failures such as Afghanistan, bailouts and the Patriot Act. No matter what good he has done or said, these are inexcusable.
Some cannot admit that a President who ran on “change” has re-signed the Patriot Act or escalated war in Afghanistan. Some place the person above policy. One friend criticized me for a joke I made about Bernanke saying I was “down on Obama”. I reminded him that Bernanke and Geithner were appointed by Bush. In a very unusual move, President Obama who ran on change chose to keep them and keep their economic policies. He also kept Bush’s Secretary of Defense.
In early 2008, the war had not ended, the efforts to reverse the Patriot Act had not begun and Gitmo remained open I gave our new President a pass. “He needs more time.” I remember vigorously defending him to a friend who had expected more noticeable change. At some point, perhaps with the NDAA, perhaps with the drone war or the 1500th US death in Afghanistan I realized that this isn’t the hero we were looking for. For whatever reason, President Obama has failed at bringing us the change we asked for. We simply cannot blame it on republicans or make other excuses and his transgressions are too great to ignore. No one forced him to sign the Patriot Act or NDAA. The Commander in Chief is exactly that: an order spoken in a war room ends the war and one phone call ends enforcement of the Patriot Act and closes Gitmo. We can wish, we can hope it would have been different, but we cannot justify.
Some remain in denial of the facts. They call themselves pro-peace while pasting an Obama sticker on their car as his drones kill innocents and troops face fourth and fifth deployments. Some rally at protests against war and banker bailouts yet support a man who supported these and the NDAA. Others reluctantly accept the facts of his record but rationalize he is the ‘lesser of two evils’, boiling all support of him down to why he is less-bad than Romney. Voting for evil? This is no America I recognize.
As we watch the Presidential debates, millions of American political fans and campaign staffers will cheer with great passion that the guy in favor of the Afghanistan war, Wall St. bailouts, the Patriot Act, the NDAA and drones will deliver a solid defeat to the guy in favor of the Afghanistan war, Wall St. bailouts, the Patriot Act, the NDAA and drones. Why do we allow the sham to persist?
We have now 1460 deaths of US service members in Afghanistan under Pres. Obama, compared with 575 in both of Bush’s terms. Perhaps it makes sense that people who like Bush and his policies like Obama – what does not make sense is why people who dislike Bush policies and war would continue to support Obama. Aside from Afghanistan’s pointless escalation he shuffled Iraq deployments, removing then re-adding troops and replacing many with armed contractors. He also initiated an entirely new drone war in Pakistan and, although not as hawkish as Romney, he has escalated tension with Iran.
At some point, everyone must draw a line and say “no more“. We must say ‘no’ to the Patriot Act, war, NDAA, bailouts or erosion of our civil liberties. Politics are far from perfect and compromise is always needed, but citizens must draw that final line.
Sadly, it appears that many, so focused on hope and a desire for positive change, have become oblivious to the crossing of this line.
Suppose McCain/ Palin ran stating that they’d escalate the war in Afghanistan, pass NDAA allowing indefinite detention of Americans, maintain support of Wall Street banker bonus bailouts, keep Bush appointees Gates, Bernanke and Geithner and their respective defense and economic policies, re-authorize Patriot Act and start a drone bombing campaign in Pakistan …..but in exchange, would pass a heath care bill and would consider gay marriages. Would you have voted for them? I know of no Obama supporter who says yes. I know of no democrat who thinks that the health care plan or the watered-down semi-consideration of gay rights warrants the continuation of Bush policies had they been run by McCain / Palin or by Newt Gingrich. So why do we have so many people supporting what they know to be so very wrong?
Perhaps the saddest thing about this bitter election cycle, aside from the damage to America, is that it shows many people who said they were against war and reduction of rights were really just against the letter “r” next to the names of Bush or McCain.
It would seem that people supporting President Obama either are:
1) in favor of the Patriot Act, drone strikes, Wall Street bailouts, the NDAA and escalation of the Afghanistan war
2) do not care or think these are important issues
3) feel he has done so much good in other areas that it negates these things or
4) are planning to vote against what is right for some other reason
This isn’t a sarcastic statement but a serious observation. Is there an alternative explanation? I would welcome an Obama supporter with a different reason – not a long explanation of how great a certain policy is (#3) or how horrible Romney is (#4) but a genuine alternative to the premise – I am curious. I voted for Obama last election but I cannot think of any reason other than the above why anyone would vote for him again.
The answer seems to be somewhere between 3 & 4 with most people stating that they like the health care plan or that they dislike Romney so much that they will compromise their principals to vote for Obama.
I’d submit that this is not a great way to make our nation better.
Had the bar not been lowered so much by Bush, or were Obama a republican, how would you judge him? Would healthcare, charisma and presentation make up for war, NDAA, Patriot Act and bailouts?
It is odd that many are so fearful that a vote for Gary Johnson “is a vote for X”, with X being the two party candidate they dislike most. What is the difference? Romney “hates the poor”? Obama “has no birth certificate”? Seriously, what substantial difference would the next four years see between the two? Healthcare is very unlikely to be overturned by Romney, the man who invented it in his home state. Obama, in words, is better than Romney on gay rights but nothing will be done on this issue in his second term. Both have an economic policy that continues Bush’s failures of debt and bailouts, both support war, both support limits to our Bill of Rights — everything else is window dressing.
Did the founding fathers envision an America with 70% of voters turning against their core principals simply because we are told that voting no longer matters? Who has told us this? The media? The same media who cheered for Iraq and Afghanistan, who told us the financial world would meltdown if we didn’t give bonuses to bankers and the same media who told us that Michelle Bachman was a frontrunner?
I might be an eternal optimist: I was optimistic enough to believe that Barack Obama would lead in the removal of the Patriot Act, Gitmo and a true end to the wars. I am optimistic enough to believe that voting still means something. I refuse to believe that voting for what is right is a thrown away vote.
If we who oppose endless war, bailouts and erosion of our rights are correct, then at some point America will vote for what is right or we will destroy ourselves.
We can follow mass perception, like cattle or the mice in the learned helplessness experiment, shocking themselves with no gain. We can believe that a vote between wrong and wrong is somehow a choice and sit around blaming the other guys for four years and watching our great nation fall and slip further — at some point these things must be undone — do we continue banker bailouts, war and erosion of our Bill of Rights until we destroy this nation or do we stop it?
One could argue that Obama or Romney is the lesser of two evils. But one can’t argue that only evils are running for President: we have more than two options.
My democrat friends criticize me for not voting for Obama again – thinking I am not “progressive” enough: fact is, they are voting for someone in favor of war, Patriot Act and bailouts, I’m not.
Republicans can call for smaller government and more freedom but should think carefully about voting for Mitt Romney.
I’m voting for someone clearly against bailouts, war, the NDAA, drone strikes and who is for keeping government out of our bedrooms and wallets.
“Progressive” does not mean voting for a President who is in favor of war, drone bombings, the Patriot Act, NDAA and Wall St. bailouts that’s actually “regressive”.
One can call himself “anti-war” or “pro-freedom” but if one does so and votes for Obama then it is just as inaccurate as it would have been under Bush. No. If you chose to vote for this President, given his record, then please have the courage to admit that you are voting for war and the Patriot Act. You may justify it with all the arguments in the world, with the good you perceive he has done, you may justify it by saying that blind hatred of Romney drove you to become pro-war but if you vote for Obama you are, without a doubt, continuing the failed war and economic policies of Bush that you no doubt despised just four years ago.
A higher road for progressives is to really look at the important issues: war, freedom, our Bill of Rights, the Patriot Act, TSA, and NDAA and economic issues, bailouts and the Bush polices implemented by Geithner and Bernake.
If you really are anti-war and pro freedom you don’t vote for a candidate who supports war and the Patriot Act. If you really do care about citizens more than bankers, you vote for someone who is against Wall St. bailouts. This means you do not vote for Obama or for Romney. You do have a choice. Stop wrapping yourself up in hatred of the other establishment party candidate.
I’m very surprised that so many people who were with me against Bush in 2008 on war, Patriot Act, and Wall St. Bailouts have either changed their opinion on these issues or compromised their principals in favor of Pres. Obama. He has made an effort to do good things: but nothing he has done can erase or make up for the Patriot Act, drones, NDAA, bailouts or escalation of the war in Afghanistan — any of these should be a deal breaker for people serious about our Bill of Rights and peace. If our support is simply because of what he said four years ago or because of the letter D next to his name or because of hatred of Romney – we might consider that these are not great reasons and not a path to peace and freedom. There can be no excuse for voting in support of a candidate who supports the Patriot Act and war. There is a choice other than Romney — if we choose between two candidates who support war and decrease in freedom then it is the ultimate waste of a vote.
I won’t choose Winston vs. Newport over a bowl of cucumbers — I don’t smoke. This election I vote for peace and freedom.
If all the people who are anti-war, anti-Patriot Act, vote for an anti-war, anti-Patriot Act candidate then Gary Johnson will be the next President of the United States by a margin of roughly 70-30.
Statistical odds are that a majority of citizens will throw their vote away on a candidate they don’t really believe in, mostly because they fear another major party candidate who they also don’t believe in and will spend yet another four years wondering why our country is falling apart.
When I was a little boy my parents told me of far off lands where soldiers with machine guns patrolled the streets, where nations were in perpetual war and where citizens had fear of the government based on what they said. I have a little boy of my own now and I do not recognize my country: machine gun toting soldiers, riot police, free speech zones, frisking. I will not be marched down a road that leads to the destruction of everything that makes us great.
Rhetoric and slogans aside, this is the road we march down with Obama or Romney. We can debate and argue – we can be sidetracked by false issues and clever one-liners by both sides but the cold hard fact remains: if you vote for Obama or Romney you vote in favor of the Patriot Act and NDAA, two of the most destructive pieces of legislation our nation has ever seen. If you vote for a major party candidate you vote for war and for cronyism and a continuation of Bush’s failed economic policies. This is not opinion it is fact.
Maybe this article will change some minds – at the very least I hope that people who vote for Obama again will do so with the realization that they are pro-war and pro-Patriot Act – facts are stubborn things. Perhaps with that realization some will come around before it is too late. Perhaps some republicans who claim to support troops and small government will come around and stop needless violence and massive looting by a Congress bought by special interests. We now have had a full term to see the reality of this President’s actions and there is no way we would have supported this had we known the outcome.
There is hope. Eternally optimistic I still believe in America and that we will wake up and do the right thing. Odds are not on my side this time around but the unsustainable nature of aggression, debt, bailouts, and erosion of rights will lead to change. America is, was and should be too great to accept otherwise.
This election day I’ll vote with a clean conscious for peace, prosperity and freedom. I’ll vote for Gary Johnson. Our founding fathers trusted that citizens would do the right thing to preserve our republic; if enough people do what they know is right our nation and our world will change.
Written by Bruce Fenton www.facebook.com/brucefentonpage
I did not vote for Barry because of what he did to his grandmother. He brought her to the forfront without allowing her to defend herself. She took great care of him and his sister when his own parents did not. There is a famous picture of him at his high school graduation. The only one with him in the picture was his grandmother. Poor lady died of cancer just a short time after those statements were stated by Barry. To me that was the biggest insult of all. That just showed mw he is one thing and one thing only. A politician and that only. Family to me is everything and for him to do that to his grandmother was like an act of blasphemy. If he could to that to his grandmother, and get away with it, imagine what he could to to the country.