I've been wanting to write for the last couple of days but being ill and the onset of school has kept me from doing so. What a time for big anniversaries - yesterday marked the fortieth anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's famous speech acknowledging his concessing to the doves of his party and the direction the Democrats were moving. Many soldiers in the fields of Vietnam felt betrayed and dismayed by the fact that the president that truly had thrown the nation recklessly into the war was leaving and leaving them in Vietnam. While the United States' invasion of Vietnam bears great resemblance to that of Iraq, in this year of presidential election, the nation finds itself with the opportunity to not reject the sitting president but reject the party and candidate of the current president who has wrought such damage to it. Now past the five-year mark of this war (the war that has surpassed the length of the U.S.' involvement in every major foreign entanglement except Vietnam, Iraq continues to plague the nation and the presidential candidates. My father and I continually fight about the nation's purpose and time of stay in Iraq; my dad thinks the Democrats are foolish to want to "pull out", forgetting that campaign rhetoric and reality most often clash. I ask my dad what the purpose of remaining in Iraq in a combat role does for this nation other than drain resources and servicepeople from us. John McCain is correct about remaining in Iraq, though the length of time will be longer than a century; as the U.S. is assembling a minimum of ten permanent military bases, this nation has no intention of leaving the Middle East. Who may be leaving would be active combat troops, but remaining would be the bureaucrats, the private "contractors" and military personnel who oversee daily goings-on akin to bases in South Korea and Germany. This action will permanently stretch the military thin, which may only be alleviated by another permanent expansion of the size of the armed forces. The military-industrial complex would need an NSC-68 for the 21st century, essentially making the "war on terror" (a concept, not a nation) a truly permanent one. We would have to see an expansion of military spending, something the neocons have been pushing for for the last quarter century. In order to receive this, spending on domestic programs would be curtailed, again ceding to the wishes of the neocons. Changes could easily be made to NCLB to draw young men and women from high school not college bound to enlist into the military and voila, the United States is looking 1952 all over again. Then again, it is April 1st...
Last night I contributed to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. While a minimal financial contribution, I believe it may be the first time I have done such a thing. I bought a t-shirt for Kerry/Edwards four years ago but am not sure whether that was a donation or a fundraiser. It is time for liberals, progressives, independents and Democrats to rally to the candidacy of Senator Obama as the man has come to capture the voices, hopes and dreams of a nation wishing to retain its greatness in the early 21st century. His domestic policies are sound on paper, his foreign policy in theory appears attractive. An increasing number of politicians, pundits, spinsters and ordinary Americans are opening to his candidacy; his message of a liberal change in direction is what the people want. Hillary Clinton continues to buck current polls and the winds of reality by remaining in the race. What is happening is not iron sharpening iron but a spanner in the works; the longer she remains in this Democratic race, the faster the average American forgets the sins of the Bush Administration. All of this coming on the news that John McCain just may ask Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be his running mate. As McCain is a single-termer at best and one who may not even see the end of a single term, this is not only guaranteeing the neocon putsch of the national government for at least ten years, it would come to see the end of the Republican Party as the party of fiscal responsibility and liberal values; it would cement everthing Rice's current boss has set in place these last disastrous seven years. If McCain's age isn't scary enough, his potential running mate should be all one needs to vote Green, Socialist, Libertarian or any party other than the GOP.
Three days and counting. Backstreet.com's April 1st page aside, the last few nights' setlists are enough to drive even the most casual of fans to a frenzy. Back to back nights should be interesting. As signs with song requests are being considered more and more, I need an idea or two about what to write as I'll be only ten rows away from the band on Friday.
