Those of us who follow politics closely know that the winner most times is the one who spins their version the best, but what is getting harder and harder for me to not comment on is that there is an upopular reality that seems to keep being ignored.
Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are to blame...
Let's take for instance this one bit of information from the above mentioned Washington Post article:
A recent Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll of 1,010 Americans found that 36 percent suspect the U.S. government promoted the attacks or intentionally sat on its hands. Sixteen percent believe explosives brought down the towers. Twelve percent believe a cruise missile hit the Pentagon.
For just one moment let's pretend that this could be true. If the US Government had something to do with 9/11 or intentially let it happen who is really to blame? Can we blame President Clinton alone? Can we blame the Democrat Congress alone? Can we blame President Bush alone? Can we blame the Republican Congress alone?
Or can we say if there was ever evidence of how our current two party system fails us it is what happened on September 11th. After that brief period of our nation joining together began the abdication of responsibility and the blame game. Democrats and Republicans alike voted to go into Afghanistan. Democrats and Republicans alike voted to go into Iraq. Republican's campaigned on the concept that Democrats would be "soft" on terrorism when the reality was in the majority of votes as far as supporting continuing funding for both Afghanistan and later in Iraq Democrats voted with Repubicans. Then of course as the situation in the Middle East has continued, some of the same Democrats who continue to approve funding, now feel differently. Some of the same Democrats who didn't have a problem with some of the cuts made that could have contributed to what happened on September 11th want to place most of the blame on the Bush administration and Republicans. Some of the Republicans want to place the blame on what happened in the Clinton years even though they were a part of the power system as Republicans.
Realistically some of the problems with the FAA can be traced back to when Ronald Reagan was President and there have been continual issues with staffing and a lack of equipment as well as budgeting issues since that time. Right now at this very moment there are ongoing problems with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the Federal Government. We focus on issues like what passengers can bring on a plane but not on the importance of the Air Controllers who are much more crucial to the daily safe operation of our flying industry.
We cannot go back into time and change what happened that day. If we remove the partisan blinders it is impossible to excuse either of the two main parties for not only what happened but also for trying to use 9/11 for political gain. It then boils down to an argument of who used what more, which evades the basic most simple point. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are to blame...
It's obvious we are not going to have many options in the upcoming elections that don't involve a choice between an "R" or a "D". It's also obvious most of the campaigning will be more focused on "they are worse than we are" rather than offering real solutions, at least that's what I have been seeing here in Ohio where the campaign ads seem to be more about why you should not vote for the "other guy" as opposed to why you should vote for the party or the candidate funding the commercial.
What is my suggestion given our current choices? That we as an important alternative form of media continue to focus on promoting information on ideas, that we look at each candidate carefully with less regard as to party but as to what they as a candidate have demonstrated they offer. I urge us to concentrate on the incumbents and what their real accomplishments have been, to closely examine the newcomers to see if they truly do offer substance over hype. If we truly have a problem with the way things are in our States and in our Federal Government, we should be very cautious in who we return to office. While there is no guarantee some of these new faces will be better, I think we all have a pretty good idea where we will be at should nothing change.
This will be crossposted later on WatchBlog, I'm trying to get back into writing on more than just local issues or fluff, though I was tempted to break out the hamsters...that could be later...
:-)
9 comments:
Damn woman. When you come back into things, you really break the front door open and slap us silly. I like that.
I agree that both parties are to blame for the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. We can most likely go all the way back to the Carter administration which helped the Afgans fight off the Soviet Union and it snowballed from there, but very quietly.
As for solutions, I have none. But be out on the watch for those deadly stingrays who claims their 17th victim in all of recorded history. Be afraid to touch them, so says the media.
I hate the people who have nothing better to do than yell conspiracy about the WTC Towers. After the first pland hit, I had to watch the news to see if the company I work for had to evac the building as everyone else worked and didn't think about it. So for the next eight hours, I watched the second plane hit and saw both towers fall and hear about the Pentagon being attacked and Untied 93 going down as it happened. I had to witness this country's worst attack so the company could work.
So for those people who say that 9/11 was an act, they can go fuck themselves. And for those who think Bush was behind this, you give the man way too much credit and see the first sentence of this paragraph.
Bin Laden and the cells are responsible for the attacks. Who is responsible for letting this extremists the opportunity? The US government (all of them) and the American people, because we had becaome too arrogant and lazy. We thought we could never be touched, even after the first WTC attack form Bin Ladne and the Federal building attack from Mr. McVeigh. For our smugness, over 3,000 people paid the ultimate price.
Where do we go from here? Read the 9/11 report and put all of the suggestion into place.
That may not be the popular reality, but it is probably the correct one. Our handling of foreign policy pretty much since World War II has been short sighted and flawed at best. From the creation of Israel to the Cold War and beyond, we have focused on short term victories and not long term solutions.
That has led us to support groups and governments that were undesirable and some that are still not. Both parties and all of the citizens have failed to focus on important issues in lieu of what upsets them or makes them feel instant gratification.
I don't believe that anyone other than al Qaeda was behind the plot. on 9/11, I didn't even know anything had happened until all 4 planes were down and most other air traffic was grounded. I had a 4 hour morning chem lab that day and by the time I got out, people were talking about Air Force One hitting the Sears Tower and the Pentagon. I thought people were drinking too much and not sleeping enough.
I think the problem in Iraq now is similar to Afghanistan in the 80's. The people fighting us in Iraq that survive, and that are not Iraqis opposed to us being there, will come out stronger and trained in urban fighting. So 20 years from now when an al Qaeda cell invades a US city, we will know where they got their combat education
When the first vote was being taken to invade Iraq in 2002, Marcy Kaptur opposed the vote and was crucified in the media for being unamerican. At the time, I wrote to Marcy and pleaded that she not allow the invasion as it was all so very wrong. Saddam had complied with every demand made of him after the Gulf War and the UN during inspections could not find any WMD's at the time in 2002. Saddam did balk at some of the UN demands for inspection but after rebuffs, relented at each time. We must remember he was a powerful, wealthy dictation, not a compliant child. This war makes me clear ill as it is so very wrong. I cannot image how we can face the citizens of Iraq who continue to live is the war conditions with so many of them killed by insurgents we will never be able to control. These are undoubtedly the same insurgents who were waiting in the wings for Saddam to be taken out so they could have control. I think Saddam is a sad commentary for a leader, but what is happening today is horrible and created by the United States.
If you wnat to go back to the Clinton administration, he bombed Afghanistan in retailiate for their actions against the United States and the Republican party cried fowl and were opposed to what action he took. The action was to let Afghanistan know their conduct was unacceptable.
And lets go back further when Russian invaded Afghanistan and the United States demaned withdrawel by Russia. I look at the actions of the United States today and think what a double standard we set for ourselves and other countries.
though it may attrack trolls and Lisa-haters, the post is well thought out.
Who hates Lisa? Hating Lisa is like hating baseball and apple pie. These people need to be brought to justice.
lmao - you are biased my friend. That is one advantage of my slow down in posting - most of the people who weren't fans of my stuff have seemed to moved on to greener blogpastures.
:-)
M4P,
I like Lisa, baseball shouldn't be considered a sport (football has started), and apple pie makes me queesy. But that's just me.
I'd confess that I would pick pecan over apple...
:-)
I don't really like pie. Unless it is just a merengue pie. No lemon or anything, just merengue. And no crust either. My lunch everyday in the Army was 2 pieces of pecan pie, sweet tea, and ice cream. I was all about health
I like baseball and college football. The NFL doesn't excite me as much.
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