This is my letter to the President of the Iowa College Republicans who said some things in an interview recently that I found completely unfair. You can watch it here...
http://www.youtube.com/...
This is what I had to say to him...
Hi Benjamin. I am a college student at the Universtiy of Washington in Seattle. I don't know how I came across it but I saw a video of you on youtube talking to The Independent and I wanted to write you respectfully not to attack you, but because I disagree with you.
First of all you said you are a conservative. When listing the reasons why you said...
"Do I think it's good to keep American safe? Yes of course." I hope your intention was not to imply that democrats don't want to keep America safe.
Then you said
"Do I think that people have forgotten about September 11th and the brutal attack on America? Yes I think they have." I'd like to point out to you that opposing the war does not mean you have forgotten about September 11th and that you don't want to keep us safe and that you don't remember the 'brutal attack' on America. We all remember. We are simply trying to find a better way to keep us safe. Democrats believe that the war in Iraq has been devestating to our security and our leadership role in the world, that's why we want to find a quick, safe way out. We believe that the best way to keep us safe is to end the war, and we believe that the Iraqi conflict will not be solved until Americans begin to leave. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that other people just don't get it or don't remember simply because they disagree with you on how to reach the same end result: security.
Then you said
"Sometimes things can get so political...it's now become America vs. George W Bush, democrats vs. Geroge W Bush." I'd also like to point out that democrats believe George W Bush has been a disasterous president and has actually hurt our security and our country with his policies. This anti bush fervor you are seeing everywhere right now is not happening because people have gotten overly political or because they have lost sight of who is the real enemy. George Bush is the one who is in charge of protecting us. If he is failing in that duty and choosing policies that we belive are acutally harmful to this country, then we have an obligation to oppose him. Our security is at stake here. This isn't about politics, it's about getting the policy right.
Then you said
"It's not his war, look at the votes, look at the reasons why were there to being with. There isn't a single person who on that morning didn't wake up and say there needs to retribution for this." I believe that it is his war. He proposed it. He has supported it from day 1. He supports it today. He has defied the will of the people who elected him in support of the same policy I'd also like to remind you that Sadaam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11. Osama Bin Laden did. Yes, we wanted retribution, but that does not mean an invasion of Iraq that has cost $600 billion and 4,000 American lives. It means kill Osama Bin Laden, attack Al Queda, and attack the IDEOLOGY of terrosism. Democrats support all those things. We do not support the way it is being executed now.
I hope you don't mistake this as some angry person emailing you to call you names and vent at you. This democracy is all about reasoned discussion and dialog, that's what it is about and we have gotten away from it (on both sides). We can disagree on issues, but I hope this has helped you understand where democrats are coming from and hope this helps you understand what we are really about.
Chris Jordan
University of Washington Student