Today is Thanksgiving. It is also has been 1,345 days since we invaded Iraq. Why is that number important? It is also the number of days between December 7, 1941 and V-J Day August 14, 1945. That's right. It has taken longer for the US to win the war in Iraq than for the US to defeat the largest threat to world peace ever. A war that engulfed literally the entire world, fought on all but one continent, was over in a shorter time than the war in Iraq. In 113 days, it will match the Civil War in length. That war, with over 1 million Americans dead, still casts its pallor over the country. Vietnam, by far the longest war fought in US history, surpassing even the Revolutionary War by 3 years, was where the army and the country lost its soul and tried to find a new one. Whatever new soul we had we've lost again.
My message of anti-hope continues on the flipside.....
Can there be no greater indicator that something is fundamentally wrong in America, that after almost 200 years, with the Civil War an important exception, of a nation going into war, with differences for sure, but not with outright accusations of treason being flung from one side against the other, we have, within the span of 30 years two wars that grab the American colossus and throw it so wildly about? In World War I and II, there existed a peace movement among the people and Congress, which was against war unconditionally, yet Woodrow Wilson and FDR didn’t call them traitors. Now, when there exists a peace movement among the people and Congress, that only opposes wars without clear goals, without clear reasons, without a clear plan, and without a clear exit strategy, the words "unpatriotic" and "doesn't support the troops" dominate the political spectrum.
What is wrong with a country that was founded upon the questioning of authority, a country that would not exist but for the very statements that are now deemed treasonous and unpatriotic?
This is in response to those expressing messages of hope on this national day of Thanksgiving. Hope because of the New Year coming, with a new Democratic majority to change things. But what change can come when the people now in charge are the same ones who allowed the wrong and the corrupt to have such a stranglehold on America in the first place?
These people, the old guard of the Democratic Party, cannot usher in reform because they’ve been too long in the current system. To me, only the fresh blood offers a chance at reform. The dedicated individuals who attacked the current system, who won a mandate from the people to stop the war and the endless corruption that has come to define America.
I read somewhere that the incumbency rate in Congress is 98%. That means that once elected, you have a 98% chance of remaining in office for as long as you want. When we have congressional representatives voting for the Iraq War who voted to continue the War in Vietnam, we should realize there’s something wrong. This is a democracy. The only way we can grow as a nation is to constantly change, to bring in new ideas, new theories.
For some reason, being “liberal” has gained a negative connotation. What has become so wrong about liberalism? And, for that matter, what is so fundamentally sound about conservatism? Conservatives have stymied every single great thing this country has done in the last 100 years. From the West Wing, “Live Debate Episode”:
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things.”
Now in this age of terrorism and chaos across this rapidly changing globe, I wonder why the one country that can actually effect substantial change for the better worldwide refuses to.
So, in response to those hopeful with the latest “changes” in Washington, take a step back. Do you really think gaining slim control of the legislative branch will somehow institute sweeping changes in a system far too perverted to be fixed in two years? From the same people who allowed the perversion to happen in the first place?
On this national day of Thanksgiving, forgive me for this depressing view of our nation’s future, but as we on the left have loudly and proudly proclaimed for the last six years, blind faith leads only to destruction. If in the next few months, there is no renewed sense of duty to the country, no sense of unity with those across the aisle, no movement together towards real solutions, you will know this was no “Revolution of 2006.” If the new majority party acts in the same manner the previous did, with accusations, with slander, with blatant partisanship, you will know this was no “Revolution of 2006.”
Little changes cannot fix the fundamental problems this country is facing. The problem on top of that is that we don’t even know what those fundamental problems are. Sure, you could say poverty, race relations, corruption, issues of sexuality, immigration, but those are just symptoms. Obviously, you have to start somewhere. Do not let the large task ahead daunt us. The solution to the problems is illusory. It’s quite clear that race relations in this country can never be fully solved, but steps can always be taken. That’s why the hope we’re experiencing right now hurts progress, because it gives us the idea that we are already solving these problems. My point here is this: acknowledgment that the problems exist and something needs to be done is more important than actually providing a solution. Because the world is constantly changing, a real solution can’t be nailed down, it is ever-moving. But we have to start real reform now; we can’t just continue to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.