Text 4108, 100 rader
Skriven 2004-10-25 18:55:40 av Sean Dennis (1:18/200)
Ärende: Great opinion
=====================
Hi, everyone.

I don't normally post oped pieces, but I really enjoyed this one...

===Cut===
http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2004/10/25/manwellercolumn/manwellercolum
n.txt

Election determines fate of nation



Published in the Daily Record on Oct. 6

By Mathew Manweller

Due to the high demand for this column, the Daily Record has decided to
post it online. It is normally not the paper's policy to post opinion
columns or editorials online. This column will remain on the site until
Oct. 27. Should you want to purchase a print copy of it, please call
(509) 925-1414. The opinions stated on this page do not reflect the
opinions held by the Daily Record. This content is owned by the Daily
Record.


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 it's 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 two-fold. 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 whom 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 tracing 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 grisly 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 W.W. 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 is a Central Washington University political science
professor.
===Cut===

Later,
Sean

// hausmaus@midnightshour.org | ICQ: 19965647

--- Telegard/2 v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
 * Origin: Outpost BBS - outpostbbs.us (1:18/200)