The great importance of the 2008 presidential race.

"I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but the people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take power from them, but to inform them by education"--Thomas Jefferson

In previous elections, most candidates would start their campaign on or shortly after Labor Day. This year however, the only candidate who followed tradition was Fred Thompson, who is to announce his candidacy on Thursday September sixth. It is hard to say why Thompson has waited so long to throw his hat in the ring, but that will be discussed in another blog about him. My point is, the powers that be started this race VERY early. The first primaries will be held in January 2008! They know how much is on the line. The differences in the candidates represent a huge ideological divide. When you examine what each one believes and stands for you realize that the issues they commit to are as different as black and white. Many are outspoken and highly visible, others are less so. As Edmund Burke once said, "Ambition can creep as well as soar." Some candidates wish to serve the people, and others seek to serve themselves.

Consider the 1992 election of Bill Clinton. For a very long time during the race no one even took him seriously. Ross Perot had more credibility than Bill Clinton did. Then, almost over night, Clinton was being inaugurated as President. He did not soar in, he crept in while many weren't looking and became popular, quickly. In this election, the main-stream media would have it appear that this race for the Democrats is only between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. But there are others who are gaining popularity and slithering their way up the polls. On the Republican side, the media has been considerably broader, although there are a number of candidates that they have barely acknowledged. Generally, journalism has lost most of its integrity. If you are getting most of your information from mainstream media such as cable news and newspapers you are probably being misled. Not to say newspapers are all bad. I enjoy reading the paper because it is one of the rare opportunities I have to read fiction. Finding a variety of sources for information is important. If you have the internet, you can look at every candidates voting record, financial records, and biographical information. There is no reason, in this age of technology, to be ignorant.

Let me list several issues of major importance that will be affected by our next president. The war on terror, border control, taxes, stem-cell research, judge appointments, health care, and social security funding--to name a few. In my opinion, the issue of greatest importance is terrorism. If we do not fight the terrorists in the Middle-East, then the terrorists will come to fight their war here. On July 7, 2005, radical Islamists attacked the trains of London. At that time, Condoleezza Rice said, "These terrorists attacked without warning on September 11, 2001. They have attacked in Madrid, in Jakarta, in Morocco. This is a worldwide war against ideals. There is no separate peace to be made with terrorism. They are after our way of life and we have to deal with them. There is no other way than with strength." CNN Headline News is running a special next week called "The Perfect Day". This title was taken from the chatter of the radical Islamists. They refer to September 11th as the perfect day. They delight in bloodshed. They have no conscience about killing innocent men,women and children. Most frightening of all is the fact that our enemy has no fear of death. This war is unlike any other ever fought. For example, the cold war was easier to deal with because the Soviet Union did not want a nuclear war any more than the United States. They were sane--they had a desire to preserve their own lives. In World War II, after the U.S. bombed Japan, they decided that they didn't want more of their people to die either, and thus surrendered. But an enemy who doesn't fear death is capable of any atrocity imaginable in the darkest mind of a criminal sociopath. Not only do they have no fear of death, but they are convinced that they are assuring their salvation by doing what is "right". There is only one way to deal with someone who will murder because he believes it is right, they have to die. If they don't die, then countless innocent people will.

If you are one who does not like the war in Iraq, consider this; when you lie down in bed tonight you don't have to worry about a bomb tearing through your roof. You don't wonder if you will get blown up if you eat in a restaurant. You don't concern yourself with the possibility of radicals breaking in your door and torturing or killing you for owning a Bible. If you are a woman, you won't have the experience of a recent Pakistani woman who spoke to a man who was not her husband. She was buried in sand up to her neck, her head was covered with honey, and she was slowly eaten alive. No, when you lay down at night you think about paying the electric bill, why your son is failing math, or if your house will ever sell. You aren't consumed with a constant fear of death because of our men and women in uniform keeping terrorism at bay. Yes, it is a tragedy that our soldiers sometimes die, but let me remind you that this is a volunteer military, it is not a draft. The men and women fighting this war chose to become soldiers. Although it has been said many times, I will say it again, "Freedom isn't free." We have our freedoms because of the bravery of our forefathers. From the founding fathers of the Revolutionary war, and every war thereafter, the price of freedom was blood. They died to give us this gift. What gift will we give to our posterity? My husband was enlisted in the U.S. Army for nearly 8 years, and although he had a desk job, he was keenly aware that he was first and foremost a soldier. If that meant firing an M-16, throwing grenades, and sleeping in fox holes he was prepared to do his duty. Every American who enjoys the blessings of freedom should be willing to stand shoulder to shoulder, even if armed only with rocks and shovels, to preserve our Constitution, our freedoms, and our way of life. A candidate who is a wimp on the subjects of terrorism, national security and border control will open up our nation for radical attacks, and these terrorists will not stop until they achieve their goal; to convert the world to Islam and force us to live under their radical ideology. Do we want another September 11th?

If we lose the war on terrorism no other debate really matters. Stem-cell research, abortion, social security reform, taxes and free speech won't be issues anymore. There will be no debate on these subjects if we are over-run by Al-Qaeda. We won't have time to worry about those subjects if we are constantly being bombed or shot at. Our world would change as drastically as England's did when Hitler began attacking their nation during World War II. Winston Churchill warned Parliament repeatedly about the danger of Germany and was ignored and treated as a fool. It can even be argued that his predecessor, Prime Minister Chamberlain, helped the Nazis in their rise to power. We have been warned about the dangers of the Middle-East instability, will we ignore it, throw in the towel, and be at the mercy of radicals? Will history say that "the invasion of the U.S. could have been avoided if President ____________ had not been weak on the problem of terrorism"?

On the first anniversary of the terrorist murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, his father Judea Pearl released this statement. "The murder weapon in Danny's case was aimed not at a faceless enemy or institution, but at a gentle human being--one whose face is now familiar to millions of people around the world. Danny's murderers spent a week with him; they must have seen his radiating humanity. Killing him so brutally, and in front of a video camera, marked a new low in man's inhumanity to man. People of all faiths were thus shocked to realize that mankind can still be dragged to such depths by certain myths and ideologies." Mr. Pearl continues, "Danny was killed because he represented us, namely the ideals that every civilized person aspires to uphold--modernity, openness, pluralism, freedom of inquiry, truth, honesty and respect for all people. Decent people of all backgrounds have consequently felt personally targeted in this crime, and have been motivated to carry on Danny's spirit."

This is just one of many examples that we are not dealing with a typical enemy. The enemy does not live in one country that we can just bomb into submission. They spread their radical theology throughout the world. It is not a war on a religion, it is a war on radical ideologies. Even Hilary Clinton, who now supposedly regrets voting in favor of the invasion of Iraq, has admitted that Saddam Hussein and his regime harbored, gave aid, comfort, and financial support to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. This is a very complicated war involving people spread throughout the world, and it will take a very brilliant President to manage the complexities of this problem.

This is not to say that the other issues are of no import. They are very significant, but they are secondary to us maintaining our country as a free and sovereign nation. It is important to know each candidate, what they stand for, what they believe in, and what they consider to be significant. It is imperative that each of us decide which side of the ideological divide we are on and choose the candidate that suits us best. Many people do not know the real difference between the Democrat's platform and the Republican's platform. Others, try to please everyone by being "moderate". In my opinion a moderate is a person who refuses to stand for anything. People who walk down the middle of the road get run over, that is a fact. The days of fence sitting are over. This is too important.

To help you in your understanding and decisions I will soon explain why a two party system really is good for this nation. I will also explain the differences between the Republican and Democratic platforms. Then, in the days following, I will write about each candidate individually so that we can get a picture of the ideals they represent. We must choose carefully. In the words of the great President Abraham Lincoln, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." We need a president who will maintain his character even while he is the leader of the free world.