We have seen the last of the 3 Presidential Debates and the one Vice Presidential debate for the upcoming Presidential election. Opinions vary widely about who “won” and who “lost”.
Winning or losing a debate does not and should not have anything to do with one’s opinion as to who leads the United States of America. This is not about deciding who is more popular than the other in a high school vote for student council. This is not a beauty pageant where looks, posture and poise will determine the winner. One’s performance in a debate does little to reveal one’s character. And character is central to the ability to lead and govern.
I am certain many before me have written these words, but this election is about nothing less than the survival of the U.S. Similar words were probably written after 12/7/41. That day was branded as one that would live in “Infamy”.
That is the day the United States was attacked by a then unknown enemy. That was the day that over 2000 US servicemen and women lost their lives in a surprise attack. A devastating sucker punch from a power the US had negotiated with up until those attacks. There was no warning. There was no sign. Without provocation, thousands of men were dead or sentenced to death by drowning or suffocation in ships of steel which sank quickly and offered no escape.
Almost all of the US Pacific Fleet was destroyed or critically damaged. We were vulnerable. We were exposed, and we were reluctantly at war.
Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Fast forward 60 years. American resolve had been tested and was being questioned. George Bush took the helm of State facing a deeply divided nation. Just 8 months into his term, we were attacked just as we were in 1941. A divided nation, much to the dismay of our attackers, rallied in unity. We were a united force that nothing on Earth could reckon with. We were of a single mind and a single goal. Just as we were in 1941.
And here we are today, the 2004 Presidential Election. So what is this election about? We have debates on domestic policy, foreign policy and the economy. All news services, including the erstwhile claimed fair and balanced services, have treated the debates as if they were a beauty contest. The best orator takes all. I hope and believe we are not that shallow as a nation.
Unfortunately, this Presidential election has polarized this great nation. We are divided by rhetoric, not by ideals. We are divided by broken promises, or promises to be broken, not by a word given and kept. We are divided despite the forces that brought us together as a country and as human beings 3 years ago. We are a nation being urged to forget what happened 3 years ago and the lessons learned 60 years ago.
We are faced with an enemy the likes of which we have never seen. An enemy not constrained by the boundaries of rivers or mountains. An enemy that hides behind the guise of a religion, preaching hatred and prejudice to all within earshot. An enemy that uses our own freedoms, ideals and infrastructure against us. An enemy that publicly professes a ready willingness to die for their cause based on their beliefs, yet refuses to emerge from the false shadow of peace to reap their reward.
We are dealing with an enemy whose chief characteristic is cowardice. An enemy who, like the rat, will assume a parasitic role in a new place until such time as they can achieve domination.
They murder and prey upon the weak and innocent. For a time, no one notices the loss of the weak and innocent. They profess bravery and the desire to die for their cause, only to have countless others who accept their false beliefs to die in their place. They preach, but do not practice. They hide behind women and children, and sacrifice them without conscience, to further their wicked cause.
The enemy we face is nothing like we have ever encountered. They have no nation nor government. Yet they have hijacked nations and governments to further their cause. The enemy we face is not a party to the Geneva Conventions. The enemy we face is relentless in their professed desire to eradicate those of differing beliefs from the face of the Earth. The enemy we face is a quantum multiple of Nazi Germany – they will not save the camps of slaughter for only one religion; they will invite all to a tortuous death, all who do not submit to a reversion to the 12th Century.
In this election, we are faced with a very simple choice. Do we confront this religious reign of terror, or do we succumb through weakness or the perception of weakness and experience the slow death of our Country?
This Country begs for unity and a united path. But we have become victims of ruse and artifice that have been very effective in masking and hiding the only issue that counts. The clever and skillful efforts of big money for liberal causes and big media’s embrace of yellow journalism has been very effective. The Democratic control of our education system over the last 30 years and the elimination of responsibility and accountability from a teacher’s duties has resulted in a education system that graduates functional illiterates who rely on liberal media to think for them. The constant barrage in the press and on the airways of fictitious issues has diverted the attention of the American public. The focus of America has been drawn away from the only issue that really counts today and for the foreseeable future.
This election is indeed about economics. This election is indeed about domestic policy. This election is indeed about foreign policy. Yet all of these areas converge at one intersection. Unless we have leadership that can deal with the terror war, we will have no economy, no progress on domestic issues and a non existent foreign policy. And our Islamic extremist enemies know this very well. The destruction of the United States is a necessary step in their strategic plan.
The 2004 Election, and an individual vote, is very simple. Our collective memories just have to journey back a little over 3 years. And what happened then brings economic policy, domestic policy, foreign policy and survival into a four leaf clover of hope, or despair.
We are at war, and not by our choosing. Unless we have leadership that understands the difference between acts of war and criminal acts, and unless we have a leader that understands that we are not dealing with pimps, prostitutes, loan sharks or drug addicts, this great nation will take an irreversible step toward eventual annihilation. And what we need to do to understand what this election is about is to remember, just remember.
We must remember the blood of the innocents shed on 9/11. And we must also remember, and never forget, the Blood of Heroes. With the utmost respect, I have been granted permission to remind people just what the are voting for in November. My heartfelt thanks to Patricia de Jong, the webmaster, for her consent for the use of her gripping creative labors in producing something that words do not adequately convey. Please watch The Blood of Heroes in its entirety, and please pause for a moment of silence to pray for the victims of 9/11 and the sacrifices to date in our war against terror.
Everyone casting a vote in the 2004 Presidential Election should be required to view The Blood of Heroes prior to casting their vote. What happened on 9/11 is the truth. And 9/11 way a day of infamy that should be seared into our collective conscience as a nation.
This is a single issue election. Despite rhetoric to the contrary. Vote your conscience, but by all means, remember what is at stake.
(Forwarded to me from the author: problems with a persistent spammer seem to block him from posting directly)