Politics...

WARNING: If you don't want to talk or read or hear anything 'politics' skip this post!!!

Most of you reading this probably know that we are pretty conservative in our political views, and you may also know that I don't really like arguing politics (Matt does), but I couldn't let this one go. Yesterday I had a new friend email me to thank me for some worms I had given her to start a vermicompost tub (we kind of swapped - she had given me a bunch of seeds for our garden). Anyway, in her email she asked me to sign a petition on Dennis Kucinich's website to impeach President Bush because she said, "If we let these criminals get away with the deceit and outright abuse of power we are just asking for more of the same." I was just going to ignore the email & not respond, but as the day progressed I decided I couldn't let it rest. This was my response:

You're very welcome for the worms. And thank you for the seeds! As far as my political views are concerned, my husband & I are actually quite conservative. While we have not agreed with every decision Pres. Bush has made, I know there will probably never be anyone in office who will do everything I would do, the way I would do it. We are big supporters of the military (my husband just returned home from an Iraq deployment at the end of May, and my brother-in-law is leaving next year). I had questions about the necessity of the war and I asked my husband after he had been there a while, what he believed. He had access to top secret information the whole time he was over there (he ran a detainee compound & was privy to the information on the military's internal internet), and while he is not allowed to tell me any of that information, he did tell me that after having read the intelligence on Iraq & all the other stuff he read, he does wholeheartedly believe now that the war was a just cause. I trust him implicitly so I don't question him on that matter anymore (especially since he'd get in a ton of trouble & lose his clearance if he gave me details). We don't know everything that is going on, and I don't know that I want to know everything that goes on behind closed doors in our President's intelligence briefings. That's why we elect people to make those decisions for us. My husband wasn't one of the soldiers who volunteered to go to Iraq, in fact he was angry when he got the notice (he was only given 10 days notice). But even after a miserable year of being away from his family and being surrounded by insurgents who wanted nothing more than to have the chance to kill him he still believes in this war. Now, he does believe it's time to begin turning more over to the Iraqis, which is what we are doing, but we need to make sure they can handle everything. Most of the men who served with him over there had volunteered to go, some of them are even on their 3rd or 4th tour, and many of them even extended their service & stayed on while over there. I fear that if we start prosecuting the leaders of our country for decisions they made based on intelligence they were given at the time, we're headed down a very slippery slope. History has shown that many of the times we have been attacked have been because our country was perceived to be weak, or too afraid or unwilling to retaliate. I believe that Pres Clinton nearly decimated the military while he was Commander in Chief, but I would never advocate anyone going after him for those decisions. I like to believe that our country's leaders base their decisions on what they believe is best for our country at the time. We are all human & no one is infallible, and I don't expect them to be (except my husband - I do expect him to be perfect & I really don't like it when he screws up ;->). I do believe that this troop surge that has worked so wonderfully should have been implemented much sooner, but I believe that Pres Bush was trying to kind of compromise with those in opposition to the war. In case you're wondering, we do not like war - my husband just enlisted for 6 more years in the National Guard and any time he's deployed (twice now in his military career, once under Clinton in Bosnia, and this last year to Iraq) his life is in danger & there is a chance that our children would be growing up without their father. It's as my husband said to my children, he would rather take to fight somewhere else than let the terrorists bring it over here & put his family in danger. He has told me that the people in Iraq are so thankful to our country for what we have done. The women who have been so incredibly oppressed under Saddam's rule are very grateful. Matt told me that before Saddam, Iraq was actually one of the more progressive countries around as far as women's rights go. There are many women still living who were professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc), who under Saddam were forced into oppression, and they are thrilled that their granddaughters get to attend school for the first time in their lives.
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. I understand that everyone has their differing opinions, and I have no problem with that. And I don't like to argue politics because I don't try to push my politics on others, but I've had many people try to do that to me. I'll say what I believe in and I'll listen to their opinions (I'm always right, of course ;->) and I'm okay with agreeing to disagree. My husband enjoys arguing politics, and he's good about it because he never gets angry or heated. But I will always defend our Military because I believe that if our country has a weakened military other countries will see an opportunity, and I really enjoy being able to spend most of my days worrying about nothing more that having to coordinate my kid's activities rather than worrying if we're going to be bombed or I'm going to be stoned while we're grocery shopping because my head's not covered, or because I had the audacity to look a man in the eyes when he spoke to me. Thanks for the invite, but I respectfully decline.
I hope we can still be friends - I respect you and your opinions & I hope you feel the same about me.

I'll see you later!
Trish

Her response:

I appreciate your opinion and am actually somewhat relieved that it may not be as horrible as I have been reading. I will need to think about what you wrote, and although it will probably not change my mind, I will be less aggressive in my stance. So for that I am thankful! And I can also agree to disagree!!! This was a lesson I had to learn early on since I am someone with strong opinions! I have completely turned a 180 in the past though many times because I really try to listen to opposing theories, though I admit that I do not generally "seek" them out (for example, through reading).
I hope your husband will be safe when he is over there so he can be around for all of you.
Talk to you again soon,
Jennifer

I don't think I changed any opinions, but that wasn't my intention (although it would have been nice :->). But I felt better.

So today I was listening to Joe Pags on WOAI in San Antonio and he mentioned this YouTube video clip of Obama giving a speech when the teleprompter broke. I have no idea when he made this speech, but I watched it when I got home & it is hilarious, so of course I had to add it to this post. Here it is:




Okay, I'll stop now. I won't promise that I'll not post any more about politics, but this will probably be the only one.