A Failure To Communicate

Last night, Senate Democrats attempted to force a dialogue on the floor regarding the debacle in Iraq. The vote broke down 52-47, a failure for those who see that the war has failed and a new change of course must occur. What I wonder is just whether and how the fate of this war of choice will pan out. Studies, news updates, candid on-the-record statements and statistical evidence shows that this has been the biggest foreign policy disaster of this generation. Regardless of reality, the Bush Administration and supportive Republicans seek to plow forward, believing that 'staying the course' will create a "new Iraq", one that brings democracy to the region, stability to the Middle East and ultimately greater profits for oil companies. Just is it that every Democrat, a growing number of Republicans (on- and off-the record), more than 70% of the country and myself are all wrong? How is that retired generals with expertise in the region are calling the Bush War a failure? Why is Colin Powell increasingly making his opinions public that Bush is wrong? How can the government of Iraq state that U.S. troops are no longer needed? Why are we all wrong? How is it that the government of this country can not move the Bush War even into the public dialogue? I thought the Senate floor was for debate and discussion of the issues that press American society; we haven't seen this since the Gag Rule regaring slavery, yet another foreign policy disaster that rocked the nation to its foundations.

On a related note, I believe, I received the textbook for my American Government and Politics course that I'll be teaching. A completely original title, "American Government", is written by James Q. Wilson and John DiIulio, Jr. Interesting, considering both gentlemen have been in the news since the 2000 election. After googling both professors, whose academic credentials are sterling, I found that both have right-wing leanings. Not that I must assign books with my exact philosophies or perspectives, nor do right-wing people lack the ability to write non-biased textbooks. However, seeing that Wilson sat on the Rand Corporation and received the Medal of Freedom from W. in 2003 and seeing that DiIulio worked on Bush's Faith-based Initiatives programs in 2001 makes me wonder just whether or not the foundation of the presentation of facts and analsyis. As I need to read the textbook by next week (a nice way of being treated by the publisher), I'll be scouring the book to see whether I'll be happy with this. Not that I'm an expert in anything nor do I have the power to change the text even if I want, I guess I must accept the fact that the world contains people that hold different beliefs and perspectives that I do and that I must also accept the fact that I'm wrong on most things. We'll see how this whole class goes; I have great trepidation that I won't deliver as well as I'd like. That will probably be the case but as long as the experience ends up positive, I'll call this semester a success. I wonder how much writing to assign. Do I want to be grading so much? How do I prepare the students for the test enough that they'll pass with flying colors but "not enough" that I will end up shedding a pint of blood on my classroom floor? We'll see...

What will happen with Iraq? What will happen with our national government's inability to function in its Constitutionally-assigned role?