Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

all for civility

I'm all for civility in politics. I believe that disappeared with Newt Gingrich and the rise of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. It is unfortunate that so many among us swallow the distortions these gentlemen broadcast as some kind of truth. I believe one would do better to listen to the BBC.

As for a response to 9/11. As much as I object to war, I think it was justified to go after Al Qaeda in Afganistan. It is a shame we did not concentrate our efforts to apprehend Osama Bin Laden. I expect they are saving him for an October Surprise.

The Iraq war is a neo-conservative experiment in nation building. Paul Wolfowitz and the Heritage Foundation have been peddling this operation since the end of the gulf war. They believe that if we can get democracy to take root in the middle east it will provide a better business climate, and freedom and democracy will spread throughout the region. I think the concept makes sense, but the timing and method are wrong. Democracy cannot be imposed from the barrel of a gun. We americans will be paying for this fools war for the next 15 to 20 years. Both in Blood and Treasure.

Dissent is the lifeblood of Democracy. I don't know who to attribute that quote to. The shrub might have uttered it. One party control of our country is a dangerous thing. The government was designed by our forefathers to have checks and balances. I don't think they would like what we have today. A coalition of vocal (i.e. money speaks) minority interests dominating the majority. I think both parties can be blamed, the corruption of money and greed is widespread.

I disagree that it is easier to be part of the opposition than part of the solution. I believe the opposite is true. All we can do is vote. So please do.

By wild eyed liberal

Rush Fan

The Wild Eyed Liberal now tries to blame the current political discourse all on the conservative talk show hosts like Rush. He or she then complains that a one party system is not what the founding fathers had in mind like he knew.

First during the Reagan years Dan Rather started his nightly news off in 1983 with a story that called the President a Nazi. The left regularly called Reagan a baby killer and we have all seen the violence protests of the 80s. Much of this was about his budget cuts and his plan to place new Missiles in Western Europe. Another tactic was to portray the conservatives as stupid. I remember Jimmy Carter was promoted as the smartest President ever to hold that office. His term was a failure in economic terms and he left 400 hostages in the US embassy in Iran. The left has tried to make the same case of President Bush. Now that the CBS, NBC and ABC have completion they are trying to say that this incivility was started by the conservatives.

The Democrats held control of Congress for over 50 years and they left us with huge deficits and it wasn?’t until 1994 that the conservatives gained control of both houses of congress. Dan Rather couldn't even say the words of their victory. I can?’t remember any of these liberals being concerned with ?“dissent being the lifeblood of our Democracy.?” Now that they are in the minority they want to whine because the general public has rejected their issues.

Instead of developing some real issues to debate they lower themselves and this nation down to the gutter and go personal. For a US Senator (Tom Harkin) to stand before the press and call the President a Lair is outrageous behavior. He based his statement on FORGED documents from CBS that no one seems to know where the originals are. Maybe Kerry has some good ideas but we will never know because the left wing and Michael Moore have trashed the conservatives and trashed the President. I have not heard one word from George W. Bush that is a personal attack on Kerry but I have certainly heard those attacks come from Kerry?’s lips.

I know the left normally objects to war. That is healthy for our nation. However once we get into these wars we all need to stick together and support our troops. Public demonstrations which appear on the evening news are transmitted around the world in seconds. When our enemies see the descent it gives them hope to hang on. In the case of Iraq we have started this public debate so early that we are making it much more difficult for our troops.

I also know that many in this country believe that once we capture or kill Osama Bin Laden the war on terror is over. Our war on terror will go on for years. It has been going on for decades. Yes there are some bad areas of Iraq and it will take more work to make that nation stable. However what caught us all by surprise on 9/11/01 was that we had no eyes and ears on the ground in the Middle East. We will not make that mistake again.

Good points, Rush Fan

One party control is not what the Founding Fathers wanted, they wanted no parties at all, as we know them now.
Peter Jennings famously said, on election night in 1994, when the GOP regained control of Congress for the first time in about 50 years, ''The voters tonight have thrown a hissy fit.''
Incivility in politics started with the Conservatives in the 90's? Hah! Thomas Jefferson himself received a foreign visitor at his office after he became president. The visitor had picked up a paper denouncing Mr. Jefferson in very harsh and descriptive terms. When asked by his visitor if he had seen the paper, Mr. Jefferson remarked he had, and told his visitor not only to remember where he had seen it, but to let others know that point as well. Our political incivility is as old as this nation.
And how about the famous nuclear bomb ad ran against Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election? That certainly fits my definition of incivility. I hope it fits yours, Wild-eyed Liberal.