I really need to read her novel.
I really need to read her novel.
My Point-of-View
1.) I believe Saddam Hussein is a horrible person and committed atrocities against his own people. I don't think people like him should be in positions of power---and he definitely should not have access to nuclear weapons.
But I have an unsettled feeling about the motivations in going to Iraq. Why Iraq? Was oil a factor in going to war? Where are the WMDs that led us into this conflict? Will the spread of democracy in Iraq really allieve the problem of terrorism? And if we are creating such chaos in Iraq, isn't the country becoming a breeding ground for more terrorists?
And again, why Iraq? Why not Sudan? Why not North Korea? If the U.S. was supposedly justified in ousting a political leader from office, then what is keeping us from getting rid of other oppressive regimes worldwide? Understandably, our resources are limited, but why Iraq?
2.) Proponents of wiretapping say that there is nothing wrong with Bush's actions because they have nothing to hide. OK, I can kind of understand this argument. But I have nothing to hide either, yet I still feel it is wrong for President Bush to sidestep the law.
I do believe in times of war that the American president should be granted certain liberties to protect our country. But what worries me is that Bush is usurping powers into his presidency without carefully considering the legality of his actions. He does not respect the rights granted to American citizens in the Constitution, nor does he respect the balance of power between the three branches of government that our Founding Fathers carefully outlined.
The war on terrorism is indefinite, and thus, the President will continue to chip away at our rights in order to "protect" us from our enemies. But what happened to protecting our civil liberties?
3.) I am always a little thrown off when Bush supporters extol his religious credibility. "He's a God-fearing man and not afraid to show it," they say. Or, "I want a President who prays to the same God that I pray to."
"Ai ya!" as my grandmother would say. OK, I am a practicing Mormon who believes in God and who prays everyday, but I also am a firm believer in the separation of church and state. I mean, America was founded upon religious freedom. The Founding Fathers specifically created the presidency as a secular position; they witnessed firsthand what life was like under George III who held the dual position of political monarchist and head of the Anglican Church. Consequently, the frameworkers of the Constitution laid a foundation for this country where church and state are separated.
Bush is blatantly mixing the two and I think he is using his religion to court voters. Religion is a private matter in one's life and it should be even more so in the case of the president. I don't care if my president is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or atheist---all I want is for him or her to make our country a better place.
So in response to John who proclaimed that he loved a president who prayed to God, I would have to ask: what if the president was Muslim and prayed to Allah? What if she was Buddhist and avidly extolled her religious views to the media? And in a extreme case, what if he was a pagan and worshipped a rock named Krag? What then?
And so, Bush is deliberately pandering to the religious right in America. He is dividing our nation into the camps of Bush-haters and Bush-supporters. You're either with him or against him, so you better jump on his bandwagon or he'll start wiretapping your phones.
Shouldn't the president try to unify the country instead of polarizing it? I thought that was his job. Oh yes, but this is a responsibility of a president---not of a king.
***For more information about this topic, read this article from Slate.
***Other topics John and I discussed include: the leftist views of the press and how he believes the President represents the "average American." (My question:what is an average American? A WASP?)