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Time to put the anti war rhetoric on hold  In spite of promises, I seriously doubt that either of the remaining two presidential candidates for the Democratic Party and a Democratic majority congress will in fact end the Iraq war. There are just too many powerful war mongering forces aligned against any lacking the courage to resist them and there are many powerful forces both Democratic and Republican, corporate and in the media still profiting from the war, regardless of its unbearable cost to the American taxpayer. HillBillery or Obama may morph the war considerably, but they will not end it. I haven't heard about their positions lately, but to my knowledge, only Edwards was loudly and publicly for abandoning our permanent Crusader Castles in Iraq. Both remaining candidates will only admit to being lukewarm in their desire to take a first strike nuclear attack against Iran off the negotiating table. If either had even the slightest realization of what is gravely at stake for humanity and our moral position in the world, he/she would begin and end every speech with a demand that Bush immediately repudiate any US use of nuclear weaponry, period. If I have learned anything in the last eight years it is that hoping for any substantive foreign policy change from either of our two Democratic presidential hopefuls will be asking for a broken heart. Just look at their foreign policy advisers: Zbigniew Brzezinski and Madeleine Albright. Has anyone ever come up with a more certain formula for same ol' same ol'? I am hoping for a surprise, but bear in mind I do not have the required lung capacity to hold my breath that long. I would also advise my comrades in the Peace movement to save their breath on the issue of war and peace. We need to shelve our differences with the Democrats now over the War in Iraq in particular and foreign policy in general. Harassing them over their pro war positions will only loose the election. This is an election no American can afford to lose. First we must secure our democracy at home. Then perhaps. at a later date, we can attack both the Democrats and the Republicans over their shared shame. I would rather challenge a Clinton or an Obama on foreign policy issues while standing in the open, storm trooper free street than challenge a McCain or a Huckabee from a cozy prison cell. I think I am not being overly dramatic if I say these are the stakes in the upcoming presidential election. 
On the domestic front, I do hope that the American People on the evening of the inauguration of a Democratic president will awaken as if from a bad dream or from some evil magician's magic spell. They will cast off the horror and brutality that has so frightened us for these long eight years and begin to rebuild. The economic and social scars will last unto the seventh generation, but knowing the nightmare is over will give us hope. I would remind us all again that this will only apply to our domestic affairs: things such as health care, a roll back of theocracy, privatization and No Child Left Behind. Our precious environment may possibly have a champion to defend her from the corporate rapists and the rule of the powerful K Street lobbyist may even be challenged. (Do not expect either candidate to ever criticize anything Israel does however or oppose the AIPAC.) At least we stand a chance under the Democrats to have again a president who listens and not a petty tyrant who rules. I will be working my butt off for whomever the nominee is (including Hillary) in hopes of turning back the reign of domestic terror promulgated by Bushco. Like the proverbial frog in the incrementally heated pot, we have seen the slow erosion of nearly all our freedoms under the lies and obfuscations of this band of Republican criminals. All I hope for this election, which I hope will return the Democrats to power, is some attempt to restore a semblance of domestic tranquility and a repeal of the police state we have so come to accept in this country. Many have been so terrified by the bogeyman of an al Qaeda fiend under every bed that it may be impossible to ever return them to sanity. Even now many remain so brainwashed and traumatized by the Red Scare of the McCarthy era prior to the demise of the USSR that, not infrequently, a right wing talk host or two will involuntarily refer to someone as a "dirty Commie." For the rest of us, terrorism hopefully will return to the manageable scope it merits: a domestic and international law enforcement issue. Who knows, someday we may be able to wear shoes again while passing through our airports and even pack mouthwash. If this does not take place, if we get one of the certifiable loonies on the Republican ticket or if the Democratic president fails to roll back Bush's Third Reich, then I guarantee I will be the first to put down the pen and pick up the sword. Our national history of foreign Imperial brutality has always been resolutely bipartisan. The Democrats however have usually stood for human rights and the rule of law within our borders. I am not denying some notable exceptions here. If this time they (the Democrats) refuse to turn back Bush's perniciousness, It will be time for a true, violent revolution. We are just too far down the road to fascism. Any arguments? As Martin Luther King, quoting Robert Kennedy, said, "Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable." These words have never been more relevant than now. This upcoming election is literally a matter of life or death. The situation is so dire. Peace (I hope)
 Robert Boldt an editor of MWC News, is a freelance film/video producer living in Jefferson City, Missouri. He is active in local politics, worked on the Howard Dean and John Kerry campaigns and is a cofounder of The White Rose Collective. Articles by Bob Boldt at MWC News http://mwcnews.net/bob-boldt |
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