Most Consequential Elections In American History
Thursday, August 7, 2008– I came across these articles by Kenneth Walsh at RealClearPolitics.com and thought they were outstanding. I have been wanting to do some history blogging but just do not have the time, so I thought I could at least put some good links up. I may make some comments later.
Friday, August 8, 2008– As far back as I can remember, maybe my first Presidential election in 1980, I can recall commentators saying that THIS election (whatever the year) was the most important election of our times. I know that we have a tendency to forget history and to focus on the here and now or on tomorrow, instead of the distant past and the long range future. We, sadly, have become entrapped in the urgency of the present, therefore, THIS election is the most important of our lives. But perhaps it may be because the problems we are facing as a nation are slowly accumulating so that TEOTWAWKI is looming ever closer and we feel it. (Alright here it is…TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt…a little bit of Survivalist lingo).
Look at the problems that are looming- Energy Crisis (c’mon, I remember the first energy crisis back in the ’70’s. And our Pols haven’t figured it out yet???? We buy oil from muslims, we fund their worldwide jihad, very simple. Middle East Crisis with Israel and the Palestinians- again, this was going on in the 70’s and our Pols still haven’t figured it out. (Where is Thomas Jefferson and the willingness to send in the fleet and the Marines to stomp out petty dictators so that free trade can take place?…a reference to the War with the Barbary Pirates of the early 1800’s). Immigration Crisis- look at what we did to the Indians, only this time we are the Native Americans and Mexico et.al are the new Colonizers… open borders lead to a loss of nationhood, not difficult to figure out if you only study the history. See also the Fall of the Roman Empire by the slow invasion of the Germanic Peoples. (OK my ancestors were German so I guess I need to pay reparations to the Celts and maybe the Italians as well?) Iraq-Afghanistan-Iran Crisis- Thank you Jimmy Carter for the Iran crisis! Again, this is not difficult, the Iranian Pres. has announced his intentions of gaining nuclear weapons and of destroying Israel and the world yawns. Our options are 2: wait for him to launch nukes or send nukes with his terrorists and then respond, or we can pre-empt with yet another war. Neither option is good, but I would really rather wait till he blows up Tel Aviv, NYC or DC before we attack, wouldn’t you??? Sheesh!
So, yes this next Pres. election is rather crucial for the future of America and the Western Civilization I have grown somewhat fond of. We are a nation at war, and facing the threat of an even wider war (Oh by the way, did you hear the Russia invaded Georgia yesterday? No, not our Georgia, the Georgia next door to Russia, a sovereign nation that used to be a part of the USSR). Now, which candidate has military and war experience? Which candidate knows the price of war? Which candidate has, not one, but two sons in the military now? Which candidate has over 20 years experience in the Senate? Ohhh, the old guy, the short guy who isn’t as good looking as the young guy.
Here are the links to the USNews articles by Kenneth Walsh:
www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/07/23/abraham-lincoln-and-the-election-of-1860.html
Mark12ministries's Weblog 
You asked for comments on Bush’s war.
Well, it was a loosely defined war.
He invented the Iraq war.
1st, he wanted to get rid of Saddam.
2nd, he claimed to get rid of WMD.
3rd, he invoked an Al Qaida connection which never was in Iraq in the first place.
Then, his “Generals” including Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Firth and Libby, and the arrogant Rumsfeld, were determined to make Bush a war hero.
All of them have had a grudge against Saddam from the time of the 1st Gulf war.
There are books written about the false propaganda that the White House promulgated in the news media,and to stir the congress which was numb. Also the public emotions were at a low ebb to question who they supposed to be the honest white horse who was not able to prevent the 9/11 and now is coming for the rescue. This Horse who started to spew the poisonous diatribes of preemptive doctrine, and “those who are not with us are against us”.
Amazingly, the wise and the prudent were silent in this great land of Washington, Lincoln and Reagan.
Now after an end of a second term we have war failures and no ending in sight, and the most horrible financial failure of 3/4 of a century.
Thank God that only 3 Month of the royal rule are left, so we can breathe fresh air hopefully
kamoon
October 9, 2008
Kamoon,
Thank you for the comments even though I disagree with most of what you wrote. I have mixed thoughts about the war, and my emotions are also mixed as my son is headed to the Baghdad area with his army unit soon. In retrospect I am thinking much more of an effort should have been made in Afghanistan to begin with. One clear failure of Rumsfeld/Cheney is the idea of small military making a small “footprint” in Afghanistan. And the disastrous consequences of invading Iraq with insufficient troops and planning for the time after the big battles are now obvious to all. I am a big fan of the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force.
All that being said, it is a good thing that we 1)got rid of Sadaam; 2)Iraq was in violation of 17 UN resolutions and the cease fire agreement; 3) Sadaam did in fact have WMD,s in the gas shells he fired at Iran in the 1980’s were real as were the gas shells fired at the Kurds in the early ’90’s; 4)While Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks they did have contact with some al qaida operatives; 5)Fighting the muslim extremists on muslim soil is much better than fighting them on American soil; 6)They have been at war with us since at least the Munich Olympics (see my article on America’s first war with muslims).
All that being said, I only voted for Bush because the alternative was much worse, both times, and I have never been a fan of Bush, he is way too liberal to suit me.
mark12ministries
October 9, 2008