Image Credit: US Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior.
A New Moon on the Rise
BBSNews 2008-01-31 -- By Naman Crowe. I see a bright new day coming. I see a new moon on the rise. I see the Republicans losing in a squeaker and the Democrats winning in the last few minutes of the Super-duper Bowl this November.
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Double Rainbow.
Image Credit: US Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior. |
It has to be close. The fact that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were elected twice – the second time after it should have been pretty clear to most Americans that they had led us into an illegal war by untruths and deceptions – indicates a very strong sentiment for the Republican way of thinking as exemplified by Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney.
The fact is that another war has been going on among the people of America these past eight years. You could call it a Civil War, non-violent but absolutely an antagonistic and desperate battle between the two ways of thinking.
It makes perfect sense for Sen. John McCain to be way out in front of the Republican pack. From what I hear and read, I get the definite impression that the majority of Republicans feel that the Iraq War was right, is right and should be fought no matter how long it takes to achieve victory. That's McCain's main suit. That's right up his alley. It's what he's been saying all along and saying it louder than any other candidate.
From what I read and hear from the news media, the economy is the number one issue among the voters, with the Iraq War coming in second. That may be so. Another big issue, especially among Republicans, is illegal immigration. Health care for all Americans has become a popular issue. Improving our education system is a traditional topic of concern.
Other concerns that have become traditional over the years include the "family values" factor, which usually translates into which candidate is able to pass themselves off as the most religious and especially the most Christian, with those in favor of a woman's right to choose considered to have less "family values" than the strict anti-abortion people. Those who are in favor of allowing folks of the same sex to marry are considered to have less "family values" than those who believe it would destroy the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.
There are other things that will factor in, regardless of whether or not people will admit it to the pollsters. These include the race factor. There are still many millions of Americans that would never vote for a black person. And there is the gender factor. There are many millions of Americans who would never vote for a woman to be president of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of its military.
Among the most important things that will factor in is the "dumb" factor. The "dumb" factor should never be underestimated. It is like the black matter or the invisible matter that fills much more of the universe than visible matter. When you hear it argued that one candidate has more "experience" than another, you are witnessing a type of reasoning that doesn't take into account that George W. Bush has the experience of seven years as president, but he is still just as incompetent as he was the day he was presented the crown.
To tell the truth, it is the "dumb" factor on the part of the voting public that brought us to this point in our history. That's why we've been engaged in this illegal war in Iraq for five years and why we've allowed the executive branch, with the complicity of Congress, to take away so much of our Constitutional rights and to Lord over us like a mighty Caesar.
In the end it will be the "dumb" factor that will make it a close race between the Republicans and Democrats this November. The extraordinary thing about it is that it will be close. That's the scary thing. If the Republicans win, that will be the final straw that broke the back of American Democracy and America's leadership role in the world, which will mean that not only will America be in serious trouble but the world itself will be in more trouble than it's been in since World War II.
It all boils down to this Civil War between the Republican way of thinking and the Democrat way of thinking. For the most part, the Democrats have nothing to be proud of. Although they've managed to gain control of the House and the Senate, they have not removed us from Iraq and they have not gained an inch of ground in the battle to regain our Constitutional rights and restore the balance of power between our three branches of government.
As for the candidates for president, they are all thinkers. Even the current president, Mr. Bush, is a thinker. But there is a difference between each one in terms of the depth and wisdom of their thinking.
The deepest and wisest thinker of those still running is the former senator from Alaska, Mark Gravel, but he is not really in the race, because he is too far ahead of his time, as was Congressman Dennis Kucinich. In a world of lesser thinkers, the better thinkers will always be considered as odd balls beyond the pale of normal thought.
This leaves us on the Democrat side with Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, a woman and a black man, as the top contenders. Both are thinkers in the Democrat tradition of attempting to make the yoke a little easier to bear for the least of these, the poor and the dispossessed and marginalized.
They are similar in their beliefs that the Iraq War was wrong and needs to be brought to a quick end. Sen.Obama showed the better instincts by speaking out against the war while Sen. Clinton was voting with the majority to give Mr. Bush authority to use whatever force he thought necessary to remove the threat of Saddam Hussein, which, in effect, allowed him to brush aside the United Nations and enter into an illegal war, breaking International Law and the United Nations Charter which America had signed an oath to.
The person with the best instincts on such a serious matter shows the best judgment, and the most political courage when you consider how popular the rush for war was at that time. I knew what Mr. Bush was up to a couple of years before he did it, as did millions of other thinking Americans, but Sen. Clinton didn't.
On top of that, when you are talking about real change and a new day coming, there's something to be said about charisma, that ability of voice and vision, with a personality that causes a vivid impression on the senses and is able to carry the pulse and will of people, especially young people, Sen. Obama is the only candidate in the race, Republican or Democrat, that has it.
John F. Kennedy was a thinker with charisma. He was wet behind the ears when elected, but by the time of his last year in office you could see him stepping up to a higher level of wisdom and was beginning to realize that the only way to a lasting peace was through peace and respect between us and the Soviet Union. Had he lived, I believe he might have followed that wisdom to include all nations.
Like Kennedy, Obama may be a little wet behind the ears, but he's a thinker who can hear the cries of the poor and he has good instincts when it comes to war and peace. And he's got charisma, the kind that brings people together with a sense of hope and a belief that things can really change for the better.
Unlike Jack Nicholson, I believe he's the best man for the job.
Naman Crowe, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is an award winning journalist who has been practicing his craft since 1971, working first with The Chattanooga Times and later with various North Georgia newspapers including The Summerville News, The Dalton Daily Citizen and The Catoosa County News, as well as numerous other publications.
A poor boy, born in Atlanta and raised and educated in the Chattanooga area where he still resides, Naman Crowe is - in the words of the late, great John Popham, the legendary Southern correspondent for The New York Times - "a delight in today's world. His background is something you can't get every time you study the masses."
Naman Crowe, continues Popham in his tribute, "Is an excellent writer and thinker and is committed to the best world he can help create on his own terms."
What you will find within the columns and writings of Naman Crowe is just that, a commitment to the best world possible, on his own terms, which is the right to stand up and talk back. The tools of his craft are the thinking mind and the written word.
We are in agreement with Popham's conclusion. "You will like him."
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