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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (54974)	7/19/2004 9:28:20 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793939

w2, I would say it a bit differently. Much of the division and the motivation to divide is based on $$$. The rest is fear based. The nature of news is controversy. Reporters are unlikely to stay with political stories if everyone is working on mutually agreeable solutions. It is in the reporters' financial interest and improves their job security if they can create division. Kerry's take on division within America is interesting when he talks about the haves and the have nots. His only proffered solution so far is to take from the haves and give it to the have nots. His determination of the haves is self-serving. Approving Kerry's proposed tax increase on salaries above $200,000 means Kerry's entire salary will be exempt. He wants somebody else to give...He is not interested enough in eliminating the divide to contribute to his own solution. If you think about it, Kerry's solution increases the divide. The only ignored (yet important) divide that I see today has to do with deploying our military for self-protection. And this important topic is not getting the attention it deserves. We are shifting from a national defensive strategy of mutually assured destruction (MAD) coupled with occasional direct attack missions against rogues to one of preemptive strikes. I was not opposed to MAD, nor am I opposed to preemption. I can support both concepts. But I do think the press, the pundits and the blogs have completely missed discussing perhaps the most important topic of all. I would like to see that discussion take place in detail, but doubt it will, at least not yet. The key reason is probably that Kerry has not opposed preemption. He just wants us to build bigger hammers by including another 2 or 3 foreign armies in our attack force. The anti-war sentiment at home is to be expected. It will never go away. I don't see it as being particularly divisive. Though I do think the anti-war folks are themselves divided into two groups. One group are those who oppose all war and fighting based on their professed moral and spiritual beliefs. The second are those who are afraid...Afraid to become a victim and afraid to fight to prevent it. If Todd Beamer and his buddies had not died while attempting the "Let's Roll" counterattack, if Beamer had been successful and lived, more fearful Americans might feel empowered to fight. I believe the fear factor keeps GWB in office. Kerry claims hero status but he has a long history of running from fights. He literally fled the battlefield in his youth and now failed to support our fighting men. In between, he voted against nearly every technological advance our military needs and uses today. I do not believe Americans will elect a wus with a loud mouth to lead them through this. uw