True Public Policy Takes Over Iraq Debate
Posted on: Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 amRead more about Iraq & War on Terror
Finally, the Democrats have given up on including a timeline in their Iraq War funding bill. They made their case - clearly - against staying in Iraq and the bulk of their corpus was elected specifically because of Americans’ discontent with the way the war was going. However, funding the troops is the right thing to do from a public policy perspective.
Again, I’m the first one to congratulate the Democrats on their victory in the 2006 elections. Those elections were exactly what they should have been - the American people making their feelings towards an overwhelming policy known. This is exactly how public policy is supposed to work down to the very details. What is not, however, part of those details is the way some Democratic leaders are deriding the funding bill. From today’s New York Times:
“There has been a lot of tough talk from members of Congress about wanting to end this war, but it looks like the desire for political comfort won out over real action,” said Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, who was unsuccessful last week in his push for a withdrawal of combat troops by spring. “Congress should have stood strong, acknowledged the will of the American people, and insisted on a bill requiring a real change of course in Iraq.”
With all due respect, that’s just wrong, Senator Feingold. Congress “holding strong” to a course of action that would have detrimental effects on our troops in action would be the exact wrong way to go about this bill. The best thing that the Democrats and anyone who voted for them could have asked for was the House of Representatives passing the bill that included a withdrawal timeline. That was their mission - to represent the people. They did that job admirably.
But that doesn’t mean that our troops should suffer the consequences of those who do not understand the basic concept of public policy. That’s just not fair to the men and women who volunteer to defend our country.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:02 am
We may not solve warfare or famine in your time. But the cure of all disease may be within our grasp. Imagine the if the trillions spent on “Wars of Choice” or “Wars against a concept” was spent testing every natural and artifical substance known to man against every disease known to man. Imagine if we spent the remainder on determinining the molecular structure and sequencing the genes of every disease so that we could construct cures that while harmless and inert to ourselves, are deadly and irrestible to the viruses, anti-viruses, and bacterias that plague us. War is not the triumph of God. War is the failure of men. Though there are necessary wars such as World War II, most wars could be prevented. For instance, if we stopped buying oil from Saudi Arabia, the money that finances terrorism would dry up and the so called “War Against Terror” would be over. It is instructive to note that no major politician has as his chief goal, destroying terrorism in this way. Perhaps they don’t really want it to stop….And besides, every major politican is getting bought by foreign oil interests and domestic big oil. We could easily use coal and nuclear energy to be free of those who fund terrorism. Unfortunately, the politicians have yet to find a way to get paid if we switch to domestic energy sources. Every pundit who says we can’t switch to domestic energy is also on they pay roll of big oil and foreign oil interests.
May 25th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I wouldn’t say that every pundit who says we can’t switch to domestic energy is on the pay roll of big and foreign oil interests only because that’s not a proven fact.
However, to speak to your point about money spent on war, I look at the huge dollar amount that we spent and continue to spend in Iraq and I wonder about all of the ways we could have used that money over here! I mean imagine if we pumped that amount of money into our education system - or better yet, if we pumped that money into necessary expenses such as rebuilding New Orleans, “green” energy development, hybrid and electric car technology, fighting the abuses against our sovereignty on the Southern border, etc.
Once someone really starts looking at the way our government is set up and the way that money is spent in this government, you get sick at how it’s so improperly used. Then you get downright disgusted when you see how much money we pump into other areas of the world while there is famine and homelessness in OUR streets.
I’m waiting for the candidate who runs on a platform of cutting foreign aid and foreign spending so he (or she) can increase the amount of aid given to Americans here on our shores.
Thanks for the comment.
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
[…] you know what? The Democrats did their job on this issue! You see, Americans are brainwashed by the mass media (and to a large degree by the very political […]