Getting this out of my system so I don't send it to the person I shouldn't send it to. Because I don't want this to happen.
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I don't love taxes either. But we all want working roads, police, fire, and ambulance services, plus we now have security and wartime expenses. And our governor got elected partly because he kept talking about lower taxes, but also because he cares about education. Alas, schools cost money! It's all a shell game. If our city and state get less money from the federal government, they have to get more money from somewhere. So now I'm paying more to ride BART, parking ticket fees have doubled, and I think my property taxes just went up. It's just the way it is. I'd just rather than the fire station near my house didn't sometimes have a sign up saying "This station is closed today", especially during fire season! But I'm getting off topic. Anyway, on to the second point...
As you know, I was NOT a supporter of the war in Iraq... however, I think "bring the troops home now!" isn't realistic or smart. But the people that were running with that position (Dean, who I liked, and Kucinich, who was kind of unrealistic, to put it mildly -- "Department of Peace"!??! Fat chance.) didn't get nominated. John Kerry did, and he voted for the war resolution...
So at this point, the question becomes more: we're in Iraq now. Is it going the way we want, and where do we go from here? Are we any safer as a result? In the last few days, we've learned that Paul Bremer thinks we had and have too few troops in Iraq, and when he asked for more, he was turned down, and that a new report from the U.S. chief weapons inspector finds that Iraq had no WMDs.
So something went horribly wrong, and it kept going wrong. Like firing the Iraqi forces at the beginning. Or when we started attacking Fallujah after those contractors were killed, and then suddenly reversed course.
We've stopped talking about Abu Ghraib here, but the rest of the world hasn't, and it's really, really hurt our image. This matters, because among other things, invading Iraq was supposed to send a message, but the images of Iraqis getting sexually abused sent a very different one than intended. It's incredibly dangerous to American interests.
And I know Bush keeps saying we've trained a lot of Iraqis for the new security forces, but he has way, WAY overstated the numbers. I have no doubt that the people who serving in Iraq are good people, and that there are lot of them doing the best they can with the resources they have. It must be frustrating that their excellent work doesn't get any attention because of all the violence. But the violence is real and getting worse. And if the people at the top are making bad decisions, there's only so much that soldiers on the ground can do to overcome that. They just don't have the authority. I think that's really, really unfair to them. And it makes me really angry when Bush and everybody keep downplaying what they're up against. They have a tough job and they need support! But their leaders are undercutting their efforts.
Has the threat of terrorism gone down? I just heard that there was a big blast in Egypt on the Israeli border. Terrorism around the world is at a 20 year high, according to a report that came out a few months ago.
Are we safer from WMDs? What about securing nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union countries? Bush hasn't increased the funding for that. We live near a port. What if a dirty bomb gets smuggled in? They still aren't inspecting all the containers. Why isn't Bush really doing anything about North Korea?
I think at the end of the day, this election isn't simply about questions like "Do you support the troops?" "Do you want to keep America safe?" "Do we want to get Iraq on the road to democracy?" though I think the answer to all those questions is "yes, yes, yes!" Because reelecting Bush isn't "playing it safe" or "staying the course" or "not changing horses in midstream." It is saying, "I think Bush has done such a good job on the things that I care about that I think he should have four more years to continue doing what he is doing." Do you believe this is the case?
