Nation building is a farce
columnist: Gary Lee Whitaker

Reader Comments:

Posted By: Bob Miller
Date: 2007-09-22 05:30:55

There is one law that Congress should put into the books immediately. And that's a law that makes it a crime for a person to complain about Congress unless that person has actively campaigned for a public office at least once in his or her life. Talk about freeing up space on the Internet; that would do it. It's estimated that 99.7 percent of all political websites and blogs would have to be deleted. And exactly what would be lost? The advice of people who know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it who, for the most part, don't even vote. Naturally, they all have a good reason for not voting. The best one is, "They're all crooks. I'll not waste my time." Now if only they felt that way about my time. That's why it's called "Free speech", it's usually worth what you pay for &nbsOh, and if Halliburton, Blackwater, and Remington Arms are nothing but crooks, what do we call the long line of Americans who are waiting outside their employment offices each day? As of last report, there were 168,000 American troops and 135,000 American civilians in Iraq. War is big business. While there are only a small percentage of people who truly enjoy shooting unarmed men, women, and children; everyone likes the mone&nbsOne of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by sociopaths. It's not Bush and Cheney's fault that 31 out of 50 states sent them to Washington. Their backgrounds and track records were public record. I'm sure they were just as shocked as anyone else.

Mr.Whitaker, what do you do for a living? What political office have youcampaigned for? Who did you vote for in 2000 and 2004? I believe it's most important for one to provide his or her credentials when critiquing others efforts. I'm retired military, a registered Republican, served as a pilot in Vietnam in '68-'69, and ran for a US Senate seat in '92. I voted for Gore and then Kery.

Oh, congratulations on getting 5 thumbs up. I think Walt's being a little unfair not allowing us to give a thumbs down. But he's a Libertarian who wants a nice world and there's nothing wrong with

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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2007-09-22 06:06:13

Bob, you say the nicest things about me! But I wonder a little about your requirement for Congressional critics. You differentiate between those who have campaigned for office and those who have criticized Congress but haven't campaigned for office, suggesting that critics who don't campaign are also non-voters. But what percentage of people who criticize Congress do vote but have never campaigned for office? I suspect that number would undermine your statistics severely. In fact, I suspect it applies to over 95% of voters. Your "law" would prevent any of them from complaining about Congress too.

As one who has run for Congress (1996), I appreciate what you're saying, but I really don't think your solution would solve anything. In fact, I honestly believe it would make things much worse (hard as that might be to believe). In my experience, most of those who actively seek to become politically popular will sell out their most basic beliefs in order to acquire votes. Your prescription would insure that virtually only such folks would be permitted to complain about Congress.

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Posted By: Bob Miller
Date: 2007-09-22 07:53:04

I stand corrected. Who can disagree with... "Most of those who actively seek to become politically popular will sell out their most basic beliefs in order to acquire votes."? Not me.

 Still, like Columbo, I'm having trouble figuring out what's wrong with this picture. Let's see if I have it right. Walt.

1. A politician who sells out his or her most basic beliefs for votes is evil.

2 But corporate America and non-profit organizations who are the tap root of this corruption are just capitalists doing what capilatists do. They're really good, God-fearing people just trying to make an honest day's wage for an honest day's work of corruption. I haven't read or heard anything about Exxon-Mobil, Boeing, Westinghouse, GM, or Lockheed Martin being shut down because thousands of good God-fearing Americans are at their gates protesting the fact that these corporations buy politicians. And that's a good thing too; if they did, the workers at those plants would take baseball bats to them

3. Then there's that nice Libertarian who votes for a person with less than a 1% chance of getting elected because all the other candidates are crooks. Well, trust me, the Republicans wouldn't have had it any other way where George W. Bush is concerned. He needed all the help he could get in 2000 and 2004. Barbara Bush sends her love

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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2007-09-22 08:20:39

Hmm...well, this is an interesting twist. I agree with your first point. However .when you say, "But corporate America and non-profit organizations who are the tap root of this corruption are just capitalists doing what capilatists do," this is something I take issue with. Blaming corporate America (and unions) for campaign finance laws that are written in their favor is a lot like blaming Microsoft for copyright laws being written in their favor. The problem is Congress, Bob. If we don't like the fact that individuals are limited to small donations to political campaigns while corporations, unions, etc. are allowed much larger limits, then I think we should be complaining about Congress, not corporations.

Having said that, let me say that I'm no big fan of corporations. Please remember that corporations are creatures of government, not free markets. The top reason why they file to become corporations in the first place is to gain government-mandated limits on their liability, something you and I as individuals are not granted. Why corporations should get special favor under the law has always been beyond my comprehension.

As for nice libertarians who vote for people with less than 1% chance of getting elected...well, I'd have to say I'm proud to be in that category, because I don't sacrifice my own beliefs by voting for the lesser of two evils. After all, Bob, the lesser of two evils is......evil. 

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Posted By: Bob Miller
Date: 2007-09-22 09:10:18

This is starting to sound like which came first, the chicken, or the egg. You win!

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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2007-09-22 09:37:35

Well thank you! I think it's pretty clear which came first, though. Governments have existed since long before corporations came on the scene.

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Posted By: Gary Lee Whitaker
Date: 2007-09-22 21:03:17

Bob thanks for your interesting input and comments. I have not held political office but you can see me on Harry Browne’s website as a friend and I will be marching in a parade for Ron Paul next week, and have distributed 1,200 “Aaron Russo’s From freedom to fascism” CD’s. I am also a School Board member (my next article will be about education) and am on the technology committee, my job have to do with technology. I voted for Harry Browne and vote mostly for Libertarians and the Constitution Party. I am a registered Republican, but have not voted Republican for President since Ronald Reagan. The party for the most part left me many years ago. I would argue that I would be much more qualified than many of our politicians. Rudy G. has no clue about blow back or the 9/11 report. Many Congressmen do not realize that the constitution clearly states that only Congress can declare War for really good reasons? I will be honest that I am a terrible speaker and act like Jackie Gleason on the Honeymooners when a camera is put on me, so running for office would never work for me. The argument about a law that makes it a crime for a person to complain about Congress unless that person has actively campaigned for a public office at least once in his or her life makes no sense. Let’s take that argument a bit further: If you have never been a mechanic, you can’t complain about the job done on your car or it is a crime. Unless you have ever robbed a bank, do not complain about it. And last but not least is if you do not know me or have been me, do not complain about me.

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Posted By: DigitalBob
Date: 2007-11-26 04:54:55

To Bob Miller,

Anyone who is an American citizen, over 18, votes and pays taxes is sufficiently qualified to expect the best of their representatives.  And if anyone calls  someone a crook, I'd like to see the evidence.

As far as running for Congress, I can't take the time off from my day job.  My ex-wife wants her alimony on time.  The same goes for all my other creditors.  I hope there are better people than myself who can do a decent job.

Thank you for your service to our country.  Hopefully we can take care of all these veterans coming back with brain injuries from the IEDs.  We need to be really careful about which wars to fight.

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Posted By: wes carr
Date: 2008-03-15 07:00:53

Why have a military? Bluntly put, to kill people and break things. Soldiers and

Marines are not cops or social workers. Clinton made the same mistake in Somalia

using the military for "nation building". You can't keep the peace when there is no

peace to be kept. Any real change will have to come from the Iraqis themselves.

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