That Other Election
What's a Chinese girl's favorite day of the...oh never mind.
So there's another election going on today back home that a lot more people are paying attention to then the one I just wittnessed on Sunday. The last time I was overseas for an election was November 6th, 1984 and I wasn't close to being able to vote. The only recollection I have of the event is looking up from whatever I was doing to see a BBC report about the American elections that were occuring that day. I asked my parents who they voted for, they gave me some non-commital answer, and I went back to whatever it was I was doing. I suppose in retrospect I can guess who they voted for, but I can' t be too sure. I specifically recall my Dad being a big Greenpeace supporter at the time. Now, if Greenpeace knew what he does and has done for a living, they'd probably keel-haul him behind the Rainbow Warrior, but I digress. Anyway, outside of remembering seeing that one report on British TV I remember nothing. I don't even recall specifically seeing, hearing about, or even caring who won.
Twenty years later things are obviously a bit different. I can (and did) vote this time around. I'm currently living in a country that didn't exist twenty years ago. This time around I'm quite interested in the results and I'm able to follow the course of the election itself minute to minute if I really want to. What's really funny though, is what isn't different from the last time I was abroad for an election. I'll still be watching reports about it on the Beeb, America is again engaged in an ideological conflict, and the European and American left still think that the President running for re-election is a simplistic dolt that is completely mismanaging said conflict.
There's really nothing new about the election that I can say here. People that know me know where I stand. People that don't know me can probably figure it out based on things I've written here and links I've posted to what others have written. There's a heck of a lot that I disagree with the incumbent on in this race, but I agree with him on the issue that's most important. And that's the ideological conflict we're currently involved in. If you ask me, every other issue becomes moot once nutjobs looking to establish a new Caliphate start popping off nukes, dirty bombs, bio-agents, chemicals, and passenger aircraft on our turf. Even more important than agreeing with the incumbent on his willingness to take the fight to these guys is that I believe that in his gut he knows what he is doing, what we as a country are doing, is necessary and right and it doesn't matter if some Galoises smoking twit in a sky-blue beret approves. I'm not convinced the other guy understands that. And if I had the time or the inclination, I'd post numerous things the other guy has done and said that leaf me to believe that.
The guy running for re-election twenty years ago surmised his Cold War policy as "We win, they lose." This drove people nuts, but he was right and history proved this. The current guy running for re-election said "You're either with us or you're against us." This too drove people nuts, but he's right and history will prove him so. My hope is that the American people will today let W see through the work he was forced to start on September 11th after a decade of negligence by his predecessors (and yes, I mean predecessors). I believe history will prove him right, just has history proved the Gipper right, just as history proved Churchill right, just as history proved Lincoln right, and just as history proves right any world leader who has the courage of conviction to take a stand for what is right no matter what the polls say, no matter what the "international community" says, and no matter what the establishment press says.
If not, I'm leaving the country.
So there's another election going on today back home that a lot more people are paying attention to then the one I just wittnessed on Sunday. The last time I was overseas for an election was November 6th, 1984 and I wasn't close to being able to vote. The only recollection I have of the event is looking up from whatever I was doing to see a BBC report about the American elections that were occuring that day. I asked my parents who they voted for, they gave me some non-commital answer, and I went back to whatever it was I was doing. I suppose in retrospect I can guess who they voted for, but I can' t be too sure. I specifically recall my Dad being a big Greenpeace supporter at the time. Now, if Greenpeace knew what he does and has done for a living, they'd probably keel-haul him behind the Rainbow Warrior, but I digress. Anyway, outside of remembering seeing that one report on British TV I remember nothing. I don't even recall specifically seeing, hearing about, or even caring who won.
Twenty years later things are obviously a bit different. I can (and did) vote this time around. I'm currently living in a country that didn't exist twenty years ago. This time around I'm quite interested in the results and I'm able to follow the course of the election itself minute to minute if I really want to. What's really funny though, is what isn't different from the last time I was abroad for an election. I'll still be watching reports about it on the Beeb, America is again engaged in an ideological conflict, and the European and American left still think that the President running for re-election is a simplistic dolt that is completely mismanaging said conflict.
There's really nothing new about the election that I can say here. People that know me know where I stand. People that don't know me can probably figure it out based on things I've written here and links I've posted to what others have written. There's a heck of a lot that I disagree with the incumbent on in this race, but I agree with him on the issue that's most important. And that's the ideological conflict we're currently involved in. If you ask me, every other issue becomes moot once nutjobs looking to establish a new Caliphate start popping off nukes, dirty bombs, bio-agents, chemicals, and passenger aircraft on our turf. Even more important than agreeing with the incumbent on his willingness to take the fight to these guys is that I believe that in his gut he knows what he is doing, what we as a country are doing, is necessary and right and it doesn't matter if some Galoises smoking twit in a sky-blue beret approves. I'm not convinced the other guy understands that. And if I had the time or the inclination, I'd post numerous things the other guy has done and said that leaf me to believe that.
The guy running for re-election twenty years ago surmised his Cold War policy as "We win, they lose." This drove people nuts, but he was right and history proved this. The current guy running for re-election said "You're either with us or you're against us." This too drove people nuts, but he's right and history will prove him so. My hope is that the American people will today let W see through the work he was forced to start on September 11th after a decade of negligence by his predecessors (and yes, I mean predecessors). I believe history will prove him right, just has history proved the Gipper right, just as history proved Churchill right, just as history proved Lincoln right, and just as history proves right any world leader who has the courage of conviction to take a stand for what is right no matter what the polls say, no matter what the "international community" says, and no matter what the establishment press says.
If not, I'm leaving the country.
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