These weren’t the worst, best of times

    D-Day, Decision Day, is quickly approaching America on Tuesday, Nov. 7.  On that day all, 435 congressional seats and one-third of the 100-seat Senate will be up for grabs.  This makes it very conceivable that there could be a power shift in the House of Representatives or Senate, or both.  Democrats seem to be telling voters that if the Republican Party is to retain power, then the next two years will be much like the past two.
    But I’m having trouble understanding how that could be effective.  While I know these last two years weren’t the best America has ever experienced, I know they certainly weren’t the worst.  Every business day, it seems like our economy is hitting new highs.  In general, people are doing better today financially than they ever have.  In fact, the economy has done so well that, for the past two years, the American stock exchange is outperforming every single European stock exchange.  Since 2004, the United States has created nearly twice as many jobs as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom combined.  Maybe it is because of the tax cuts republicans passed early in Bush’s first term, or maybe it was just a positive fluctuation in our cyclical economy.  One thing that’s for sure is we should all be happy with our economy’s performance.
    Every American that cares about our future is concerned about the growing national debt.  In 2004, George W. Bush pledged to cut the national deficit in half by 2009 when he leaves office.  I thought that was a little too optimistic, particularly for a President who created the largest subsidy America has ever seen with the Farm Bill just a year before.  President Bush was wrong in his prediction.  It turns out that America will actually be able to cut the national deficit in half by 2008. 
    The issue every American seems to be looking at in this year’s election is Iraq.  Democrats, even those who voted for the war, are now quick to call for “redeployment”; which essentially means pulling out of Iraq so sectarian violence and dictatorships may arise.  Americans seem impatient with an occupation of three years.  We are very quick to forget the 10 years of occupation we had of Japan following World War II, or the 53-year occupation we continue to carry in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.  Wars are brutal and occupation can sometimes be more brutal.  We learned after World War I that if we leave a nation down-trodden and destroyed, as we did with Germany, then dictators like Adolf Hitler are likely to come to power. 
    President Bush might have failed to formulate a strategy for “winning the peace”, but that doesn’t mean we should give up on peace in Iraq.  Democrats running for office across the nation seem to believe that leaving Iraq in shambles for tyrants to control is the best alternative.  In reality, a peaceful Iraq is what is best for America and the world.
    On November 7, Americans will decide the course of this nation.  Will America vote for big spending politicians that could end Bush’s hopes of cutting the deficit in half?  Will America vote for “redeployers” that will leave Iraq a destroyed nation?  The only thing we know for sure is that this will be a monumental election.   

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 3 2006. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry