In my opinion, the single most important responsibility of the President of the United States—and the federal government itself—is to provide for the safety and security of the nation and its citizens. All other issues are irrelevant when terrorists or foreign powers are threatening to take away our safety, security and freedom, not to mention our lives.
The first debate between John McCain and Barak Obama is scheduled to take place today. At the time of this writing, it is still not clear if the debate will occur as scheduled. If it does occur, the focus of the debate is supposed to be foreign policy and national security. Each candidate will attempt to convince us that he is best qualified to establish the country’s foreign policies and to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces. Although I am very interested in the debates, my decision about who is best qualified to protect the country will be based primarily on the records of the candidates and the parties they represent rather than on their campaign promises. I place a heavy discount on campaign rhetoric and campaign promises.
It is especially important at this critical time in our nation’s history to have a President who has the proven judgment and experience to establish the country’s foreign policies and to protect the country. Terrorism continues to be a major threat to Western civilization. Russia is flexing its muscles. Iran and North Korea have developed or are developing nuclear bombs. I believe McCain clearly has the judgment and experience to deal with these critical issues and to serve as an outstanding Commander-in-Chief. I think Obama has shown some signs of good judgment, but he also has demonstrated that he is somewhat naïve when it comes to foreign policy, and he lacks the experience that I would prefer in a Commander-in-Chief. More importantly, I cannot evaluate McCain or Obama as a potential Commander-in-Chief without associating them with the political parties they represent and the positions taken by their parties during the last seven years.
Like him or not, President Bush, in my opinion, deserves great credit for protecting the country since 9/11. McCain has generally agreed with and supported Bush’s anti-terror and foreign policies, although he has disagreed with Bush on many issues, including the use of torture and the early conduct of the war in Iraq. Democrats will try to convince you that Bush and McCain have never had a disagreement and that Bush’s policies have made the country less secure. In my opinion, this claim is simply an effort by the Democrats to deflect attention from their own conduct since 9/11 and to keep Bush from getting the credit he deserves for keeping the homeland safe.
When it comes to security for you and your family, do you want results or partisan political rhetoric? Let’s look at the records of both parties to see which one has the most credibility when it comes to national security. During the seven years since 9/11, we have not suffered another major terrorist attack on U.S. soil. I don’t think anyone, Democrat or Republican, thought this would be possible during the days and weeks following 9/11. In addition, although Osama bin Laden has not been captured, he has been hiding in a cave for the last seven years, and Al Qaeda, his terrorist organization, has been severely crippled, but unfortunately not destroyed. In short, President Bush has been very aggressive to protect the country, and he has been successful.
Unless you are Rip van Winkle, it should be clear to you, if you are honest with yourself, that the Democrats have fought virtually every step taken by Bush to protect the country, just as they have fought Bush in every other way during his Presidency. For sure, some of Bush’s policies went too far and needed to be modified in order to protect the civil liberties of innocent citizens, and the Democrats deserve credit for their efforts to bring needed balance to some of those policies. Nevertheless, the Democrats have consistently come across to me as being more interested in opposing Bush than in protecting the country. Now they want to convince you and me they are the ones who will protect the country better than the Republicans.
Daniel Henninger, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, recently wrote: “To vote for Sen. Obama is to also vote for a Democratic Party that consumed most of the political system’s available oxygen for seven years fighting a U.S. president harder than they did the perpetrators of September 11.” Henninger also wrote, “Political struggle is ever with us, but given the realities that 9/11 revealed (as did the terror bombings in Europe), the relentless scale of the Democratic opposition to the Bush administration’s anti-terror policies is hard to square.”
All of us have to decide what is most important to us. If your answer, like mine, is the safety and security of the country, you then have to decide which candidate is most likely to make the country a safer place for our children and grandchildren. For me, it’s no contest. Based on the Democratic Party’s intense opposition to policies designed to protect the country, it would be very difficult for me to place my trust in its nominee for President. You have the right to disagree, and I am sure many of you will.
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2 comments:
I really enjoy your blog. I check it every day. Thanks.
I think it is amazing that there have not been any successful attacks against this contry since September, 2001, and that is seldom pointed out in the national debate.
Unless something decisive is done, it only a matter of time before another attack is made and chances are that it will involve a nuclear weapon.
But how can anything decisive be done against out enormous amorphus enemy - Islam?
When we think about our Personal Security and security for our family, we take action in several areas.
We ensure the locks on our doors are sound, we may employ an alarm system and may even have a firearm, baseball bat or chemical spray to ward off a potential intruder.
We also tend to locate our homes in safe areas, get to know our neighbors (despite some of their individual peculiarities) and build a community spirit. We try to be good citizens, not flaunt our good fortunes nor try to intimidate those around us. We watch over our neighbors' homes and they keep an eye out for ours.
We ensure our homes are kept up, the furnace works, the structure sound and the yard neat and clean without hazards.
We maintain our automobiles and keep the gas tanks full to ensure our loved ones are not stranded.
We take care of ourselves physically and maintain insurance to cover our medical needs.
Whether we are a college or HS grad, we have a good job that pays well if we work hard.
We control our family finances and ensure we live within our means. We keep a cash reserve for emergencies, buy life insurance to support our families after we are gone and maintain a portfolio of investments that can withstand market fluctuations.
We act wisely and basically do what is right.
The same principles that lead to our Personal Security hold true for ensuring our National Security.
Our National Security does not depend solely on the superiority of our military or the actions of our President as the Commander in Chief.
The more likely tools of our ensuring our National Security is our ability to maintain our national infrastructure, our fiscal independence, having cash reserves for unexpected emergencies and our ability to get along with our neighbors via a sound Foreign Policy.
We have a strong military. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the US has the capability to literally destroy any intruder who has demonstrated harm against our country. We pray we never reach the point where we need to employ our military resources to fend off an enemy.
However, we have eroded our Nation's Security by becoming weak in virtually every other area that make up the matrix of our Nation's Security.
We have allowed ourselves to be financially unstable. Our national debt has skyrocketed. Our cash reserves depleted. We have borrowed from our life insurance (aka Social Security funding). We have shifted our savings from our own banks to accounts in China and other emerging economies.
We have allowed our National fuel tanks to reach empty. Not just because we have not opened new lands for drilling, but because we allowed our national policy to drive down fuel economy standards for the first time in decades.
We have instigated and funded an absurd bio-fuel (corn ethanol) policy that not only has spent millions of dollars in a break-even fuel consumption scheme, but has also led to unsustainable agricultural practices that is playing havoc with our nation's food supply.
We have forged a policy that took our national strength of plentiful and affordable food and made it a thing of the past.
Instead of analyses, planning and creating sound policies that sustain our fiscal security and growth, we have resorted to emergency bailouts by mailing "Economic Stimulus" checks to nearly every American household so they can withstand the sudden jump in fuel and food prices that our policies created in the first place.
Ironically, these rebates flashed through the economy, stimulating virtually no residual economic impact because these dollars exited our economy and headed directly to foreign oil producing countries as we paid for higher priced gasoline or to Chinese manufacturers as we purchased clothes from Wal-Mart.
(I wonder what the impact of these same dollars would have been if $10,000 rebates were provided for American made automobiles that have a fuel standard of 21+ mpg. Good paying American jobs would have been sustained, dollars would radiate throughout OUR economy and we would have begun addressing our energy costs and supply issues.)
Sound, thoughtful, well considered policy is the backbone of National Security. Security is not a result of just having a strong military and the ability to talk tough. It is being strong and independent at home and not being dependent to anyone outside of ourselves for our most basic needs.
It also means that our Foreign Policy leads to being good global citizens, being open to our neighbors' needs and being patient with their foibles. It means that our successes fuel the world and that our failures do not cause harm outside of our borders.
At the end of the day, our National Security is not only in our hands, but also in the hands of our friends and would-be enemies.
When a neighbor asks us to pick-up their mail when they are out of town, we usually agree and don't say, "we will get your mail if you agree to not leave your garbage can out after pick-up day and keep your grass trimmed to exactly four inches."
Unfortunately, the Foreign Policies of our country has placed far too many conditions on our helping hand.
Conversely, the Chinese are making friends all over the world by lending an economic hand when asked and not attaching conditions. They have funded new industries in Asia and Africa. This assistance has been very capitalistic in nature. Imagine, Chinese foreign policy is more capitalistic than America's foreign policy. Perhaps we under-estimate the value of capitalism as a precursor to free societies.
No one in the world faults any country for fairly protecting their own National Interests and Security. But they, as we, fault a country for being disrespectful, a brute, arrogant, irresponsible and reckless.
Our National Security depends more on how well the governments and citizens around the world respect America.
The world community is our greatest asset for our Nation's Security and our common defense. This is a direct result of having an effective Foreign Policy that protects our interests while establishing a peaceful environment for every country.
The effectiveness of our fiscal and energy security policies are self-evident when we look at our economy, fuel prices, food prices, employment rates and economic growth. The data is hard, absolute and highly revealing.
On the question of the effectiveness of our Foreign Policy and its ability to enhance our national security, the measurements are much more qualitative.
For me, the answer is found in the following question:
"If the events of September 11, 2001 were to happen tomorrow, would the reaction of most of the world's citizens be:
a) 'How could anyone do this to America?'
or
b) 'They deserve it.'"
Answer this question for yourself and look at how we as a nation are handling our business, and you will have a strong measure of America's Foreign Policy and National Security.
As Walter pointed out in his blog . . . examine and reflect deeply on the points above and objectively ask yourself what Presidential candidate and Party Leadership has demonstrated that they have the best qualifications, philosophy and personality to meld a comprehensive Foreign and National Security policy that will allow Americans to be secure and free.
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