My first Diary - Expat exasperated with Bush and Coleman
This is my first Diary so I appreciate feedback, advice, comments, etc, etc, etc...
As an American abroad, I have become increasingly concerned with the view of our country by fellow global citizens. Spurred to action by those in this community (DailyKos), I recently drafted an email letter to Senator Norm Coleman urging him to take a strong stand on the 'Escalation' in Iraq.
I currently live in Tokyo, Japan and moved here March 9th of 2003. I was 'lucky' enough to spend my first month living in a hotel just across from the American Embassy and witnessed the local reaction when the war started. The people of Japan are not in support of this war and never have been. The support has eroded over the last 4 years with what was a vocal minority becoming a vocal majority in Japan and worldwide in opposition to the war and, more generally, to the approach of the United States and Bush in particular, to diplomacy.
I again found myself in an interesting situation in November 2004 watching the election returns with a group of friends from the UK. Upon arriving late to the party and being the only Americans, my wife and I were soon bombarded with questions about how Americans could have possibly elected Bush again (believe me when I say the name Bush was substituted by a number of more colorful terms or appended with exciting adjectives). Unfortunately, my only answer was that my state, Minnesota, did its part.
It was after this election that I decided to sign me and my family up for another 4 years in Japan. However, with the recent elections, I am actually now looking forward to returning home and have been actively trying to catch-up on general and Minnesota politics.
I am a Minnesotan, born and raised, and even though Norm is a Brooklynite he has been 'hired' by the voters of MN to represent us. So, yesterday, I submitted an email through his official .gov site. The text of my letter is below.
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Senator Coleman,
I am a Minnesotan living abroad in Tokyo, Japan. I have been very discouraged by the continued degradation of the good name of the United States over the last several years. The war in Iraq continues to lose support from country after country. In fact, in a recent poll conducted by the BBC of over 26,000 people in 25 countries, it was found only 29% feel the US exerts a positive influence in the world. Additionally, 73% were unhappy with the current president's handling of Iraq.
You have continued to stand with the president time after time on the Iraq issue. However, just recently, you seemed to have 'gotten the message' that was delivered in the last elections. We, the American people, are extremely unhappy and disappointed with the current strategy of this administration and it's supporters. In the last few weeks you have expressed concerns on the current plan to 'escalate' the war in Iraq by sending an additional 21,500 troops.
I want to commend you and note that I agree with you on this specific point. I am happy to see you understand repeating past mistakes will not fix the current situation. However, you continue to refuse to take a strong stand on this issue, preferring instead to make careful comments about not supporting an increase in Baghdad but instead supporting troops in Anbar.
I would like to ask you to clearly take a stand on this issue and represent your constituents. We want no escalation at all and we want you to bring our troops home. Please look to save further loss of life and take the billions we are wasting on this war and invest in true security for our homeland. You should have plenty leftover to assist in providing healthcare to the returning veterans, the uninsured children in our country and be able to properly invest in education.
I remind you of the fact we have lost over 3000 American troops in this war with another 47,000+ injured. We have lost 49 fellow Minnesotan's. Estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 10s of thousands to 100s of thousands. If these numbers alone do not give you pause to consider taking a real stand on this issue, perhaps I can appeal to your conservative sensibilities in terms of spending.
Even during your time as a Democrat you were fiscally conservative. You were quoted in the 1993 St Paul Mayoral campaign in a letter to the City Convention Delegates as saying - "I am a lifelong Democrat. Some accuse me of being the fiscal conservative in this race — I plead guilty! I'm not afraid to be tight with your tax dollars" I am guessing you have become more fiscally conservative in your time as a Republican. In that sense I appeal to you with the following information:
To date, we have spent over 360 Billion dollars on this war. This is an amazing amount of money that surely could have been better spent. We could have insured over 215 Million children for 1 year, covered over 47 million kids in Head Start for 1 year, provided 17 million kids with full college tuition for 1 year, built over 3 million low cost housing units, or hired an additional 6 million teachers.
In Minnesota alone, our share of this bill is over 8 Billion dollars (414 million for your former town St Paul). We could have covered over 5 million Minnesota children's health insurance (249,000 in St Paul), funded 1 million kids in Head Start (55,000 in St Paul), hired 150,00 teachers (7,000 in St Paul), provided 419,000 scholarships for students at the U of M, or created 77,000 homes for families (over 3700 in St. Paul).
Please vote Yes on a strong resolution against 'Escalation' of this war and stand firm against any veto from our president. Shy away from a desire to water down the language and ‘have it both ways’. Send a clear and direct message, anything else will fall on deaf ears. Give the millions of your fellow Minnesotan's reason to be proud of you. Uphold our state's tradition of speaking clearly and strongly on these kinds of issues.
I look forward to hearing your response to my concerns. I also look forward to a time when America is once again the most respected country in the world.
I would welcome a face-to-face discussion of this issue and others affecting the world's view of our great country if you are visiting Tokyo.
Sincerely,
XXXX XXXXXX
Fellow Minnesotan and concerned constituent