Mrs big boy toys
Libra
            Angel
 
Spokane Washington
Posts: 720
APPD 0.09
Post Rank: 50
|
 |
Posted: Oct. 18 2004,5:12 am |
Post # 25 |
   |
"Election determines fate of nation"
In that this will be my last column before the presidential election, there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high.
This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence. Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands.
If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be twofold.
First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things.
Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations. The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America.
Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracking polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.
It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest generation'. But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's 'last generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of WW II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake 'living in America' as 'being an American.' But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.
This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve.
I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City on the Hill.
Mathew Manweller
God Bless Our Troops past, present, and future......"Thank You" To all Vietnam Vets. You are all Hero's to me.  |
3-31-2025 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#19,680) from: GoFastRacer
"Well it would be a shame to lose one of our nations favorite pastimes. But there is a bigger picture to look at. What type of world do you want to leave our children and their children? Do we just abuse the enviroment and leave it for someone else to fix, or do we start now?" Â 
 Since most electricity is generated with either combustion turbines or coal plants (mostly coal) the majority of these plants would be shut down, or at the very least drasticly cut back.  And since you can't build a nuke plant in this country, it's going to get really cold and dark.  Wind power you say?? Well, the enviro's won't let anyone build very many wind farms anymore becuase they disrupt bird migration routes.  Solar??  OK, but battery technology has got to come farther, or you aren't going to have light after dark.  Fuel Cell??  Great idea, but you need natural gas from somewhere to make them work... but the required decrease in emmissions will basically halt natural gas production as well.  
 
, you could take a 24 hour shower if you wanted), kinda spendy though. 
BTW those are the loads I like!. 