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DU critques welcome:
A hand across the divide.
Neighbors, I write to you today, not to persuade you to vote for my candidate - John Kerry - but to explain my vote. Our nation is deeply divided over this election, and I am concerned that no matter who wins, there will be many who deeply resent the outcome. My hope is that here in Ely, we do not resent our neighbor's votes. I know many people in town who's opinions I value, who support George Bush. I think they're wrong, but I respect their views, and I would never let this difference of opinion get in the way of our friendship. So in that spirit, let me try to explain why I cannot support George Bush, just in case John Kerry wins.
I come by my politics honestly, I learned them from my parents, who are still living, are life long Democrats, and have never worked so hard in their lives to unseat a sitting President. My 84 year old World War II combat veteran father has put up 32 Kerry signs, and every one of them has been stolen in the night. He keeps putting them up. My mother, who is legally blind, attended the Edwards rally and has handed out literature door to door. So in part, I support Kerry to honor them.
But mostly, I oppose George Bush, not so much because of his obvious incompetence, but because of his character and his values. Now I would never sit in judgment of another man's soul, but I will judge the actions taken in my name by this President. My own values were formed in many ways, including attending Catholic grade school in Hibbing. And I will say that when the Nuns were done teaching, you had a pretty good idea of the difference between good and evil, and could tell mortal sins from venial sins. Based on those lessons, here is my list of actions taken by George Bush that do not pass muster:
1. He let American soldiers go to war in Iraq thinking they were getting revenge for 9-11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, and revenge on this scale is a mortal sin, in my opinion.
2. He determined to go to war in Iraq long before 9-11, and used WMD as a convenient threat to convince the people to go along. I believe George Bush knew there was no WMD in Iraq. It was clear before the war no WMD existed. In the pages of the Ely Echo, in the month before the war, I called the evidence presented, "thin gruel, about two peas to a gallon." If I could figure that out, surely Bush and the CIA knew. I believe George Bush lied to the American people. Now I might be wrong, but that is what I believe.
3. When George Bush denied protections of the Geneva Convention to enemy combatants in this conflict, he unleashed torture on innocent people. I believe torture is never justified, even to save the life of an American soldier. As a practical matter this policy has been a national disaster and a national disgrace. When George gets to the Pearly Gates, and meets with St. Peter seeking entry, I believe this chapter of his life will entail a much longer and harder conversation than Mr. Bush now expects.
4. I am troubled by the bumper stickers that say, "I support the troops", and "I support George Bush." Those are two contradictory ideas, in my opinion. They don't belong in the same sentence. In fact, you can't jam those two ideas in the same sentence with a sledge hammer, a crow bar, and a pressure cooker. George Bush sends our soldiers into battle every day in situations where they cannot tell friend from foe, and where they must fight under rules of engagement (George Bush's rules of engagement), where they cannot fire unless fired upon first. This is insane. And it still results in untold civilian deaths. I believe this is an unjust war, and I want my grandchildren, a hundred years from now, to know where I stood at the time. I will save this letter to the editor so they know. But enough on the war.
5. George Bush also thinks it is fine that his CEO buddies now make what 500 of their employees make, and what a 1000 people on minimum wage make. This nation has the greatest disparity in income of any industrialized country on earth. Greed is tearing apart the fabric that binds the nation together. Tax cuts for these same CEOs is Bush's clearest legacy. I say it is not right. CEO pay is out of hand. It amounts to theft. It is unethical, and I don't like it. And I don't care who knows I don't like it.
6. George Bush, Colin Powell, and Colin Powell's son at the FCC have set in motion changes to FCC regulations that allow further consolidation of media ownership by large corporations. In my opinion, this concentration of media ownership constitutes a profound thread to America. On a 100 point threat scale, if Saddam Hussein was about a 2, loss of the free press is about a 100. This threat comes from George Bush and his allies.
7. Finally, I am not impressed with politicians who spout God talk like a fountain, thump the Bible all week, and sit in the front pew on Sunday, dressed in their finery, trying to look innocent. In my opinion, George Bush is the least Christian man who ever served in the Oval Office. He tries to use religion for political purposes. I know this -- when religion is in a man's home, his heart, and his church, good comes of it. When organized religion is dragged into politics, evil comes of it. Religion, coupled with politics, can be used by some people to exercise illegitimate power over other people. That is one of the fundamental root causes of trouble on earth, and anyone who thinks our politicians are so pure, and good, and innocent, they would never stoop to using that power unwisely, is a poor student of human history, in my opinion.
So that is why I am voting against George Bush. Now I might see it wrong, but please, try to put yourself in my shoes -- if you believed what I believe, wouldn't you do the same? See you at the voting booth.
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