"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
-Winston Churchill
This saying by Winston Churchill was probably right. In this day and age almost everyone hates politics. Only about 5% of mothers actually want their children to become the president of the United States because a. our government is just blatantly corrupt, and b. the general populace no longer has much interest in politics. This country has an average voter turn out rate of about 45% and politics is almost a taboo subject in many places because no one even wants to talk about politics anymore. Without people to vote, the very foundations of an aristocracy will be formed. In which only a very small amount of people have the most power. In fact this is already starting. The current amount of money that candidates need to get into a presidential race is in the high millions. Many people don't have that kind of money to campaign so people can't run. This is a country in only the rich can be powerful, and the average voter is almost completely oblivious to the world outside their own bubble. Yes, maybe people will become fed up eventually like with the war in Iraq, but these were the same people that could have prevented this if they had been researching politics in the 2004 election. We need to reclaim our right to power. As the people of this democratic republic, we need to pay more attention to our national and international politics. If this occurs, we can be sure that a mistake like re-electing Bush will never be repeated.
The statistics of this post can be found in the book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone" by Lee Iococca
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Our Future
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana
History can teach us many things. Some of these can be in the realm or medicine, philosophy, or even science. However history can also teach us many things about government, economics, and military.
One of these lessons would be for our leaders to be flexible and not be stubborn by pursuing one goal to its death and then keep pursuing it. Adolph Hitler had made this mistake in operation Barbarosa when he invaded Russia. He refused to make even a slight strategical retreat which lost him the battle of Stalingrad, and possibly even the war if looked at in a broader view. By being stubborn he allowed his starving, frost-bitten, ill-prepared troops to fight the near endless Russian forces at Stalingrad in the freezing cold. This probably cost him the entire war. This is a lesson that has been taught to practically every high schooler that has taken a history course. However it seems that this lesson has never reached the current administration. They seem to be hell-bent on trying to keep this strategy in Iraq even though it has been completely disastrous. We have been in Iraq longer than we were in World War II and we haven't been able to address ANY of the problems facing the Iraqis when we got there. In fact, some of these problems may have been intensified because of our presence. By us staying in Iraq we are blatantly disregarding the wishes of the people of America and even the people of Iraq. We have to know when to hold and keep going, but we also have to know when fold and leave.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601721.html
By leaving now we can salvage whatever respect we have left with the rest of the world. We need to leave now. The pros of leaving easily outweigh the cons in this matter. First of all, we actually invaded Iraq on false pretenses, and no we are staying there with no end is sight. This probably makes America look arrogant causing other nations to dislike and despise America. Another thing people try to say will happen is that we will be less safe. We are actually making ourselves less safe by staying in Iraq. We are giving the terrorist organizations a common enemy by staying in Iraq. This compounded with the fact that we are actually killing them gives people that haven't joined them yet a reason to. Not to mention we have been throwing money at this problem for years, and we are now in the largest debt and deficit we have ever known. If we left, we would actually have a surplus and we would be able to have enough money to help maintain our safety in our own country.
To anyone who disagrees with me, why should we stay in Iraq? But before you tell me, ask yourself this, its it worth it to stay in this "quagmire" in Iraq and sacrifice the middle class of this country while we're at it? Not to mention those troops we are sending into Iraq? The money we save from Iraq could help the people in our own country. We should help our own country live without being on life support before we try and fix other people's countries.
History can teach us many things. Some of these can be in the realm or medicine, philosophy, or even science. However history can also teach us many things about government, economics, and military.
One of these lessons would be for our leaders to be flexible and not be stubborn by pursuing one goal to its death and then keep pursuing it. Adolph Hitler had made this mistake in operation Barbarosa when he invaded Russia. He refused to make even a slight strategical retreat which lost him the battle of Stalingrad, and possibly even the war if looked at in a broader view. By being stubborn he allowed his starving, frost-bitten, ill-prepared troops to fight the near endless Russian forces at Stalingrad in the freezing cold. This probably cost him the entire war. This is a lesson that has been taught to practically every high schooler that has taken a history course. However it seems that this lesson has never reached the current administration. They seem to be hell-bent on trying to keep this strategy in Iraq even though it has been completely disastrous. We have been in Iraq longer than we were in World War II and we haven't been able to address ANY of the problems facing the Iraqis when we got there. In fact, some of these problems may have been intensified because of our presence. By us staying in Iraq we are blatantly disregarding the wishes of the people of America and even the people of Iraq. We have to know when to hold and keep going, but we also have to know when fold and leave.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601721.html
By leaving now we can salvage whatever respect we have left with the rest of the world. We need to leave now. The pros of leaving easily outweigh the cons in this matter. First of all, we actually invaded Iraq on false pretenses, and no we are staying there with no end is sight. This probably makes America look arrogant causing other nations to dislike and despise America. Another thing people try to say will happen is that we will be less safe. We are actually making ourselves less safe by staying in Iraq. We are giving the terrorist organizations a common enemy by staying in Iraq. This compounded with the fact that we are actually killing them gives people that haven't joined them yet a reason to. Not to mention we have been throwing money at this problem for years, and we are now in the largest debt and deficit we have ever known. If we left, we would actually have a surplus and we would be able to have enough money to help maintain our safety in our own country.
To anyone who disagrees with me, why should we stay in Iraq? But before you tell me, ask yourself this, its it worth it to stay in this "quagmire" in Iraq and sacrifice the middle class of this country while we're at it? Not to mention those troops we are sending into Iraq? The money we save from Iraq could help the people in our own country. We should help our own country live without being on life support before we try and fix other people's countries.
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