# Which road will America take?



## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

WOW! Here's a very interesting editorial written by a LIBERAL professor at a very Liberal Washington University. An amazing piece that gives the usual leanings of the writer and the Institution sponsoring it. But is well worth reading as it gets down the the most fandmental issue of where is America going to head.

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Published in the Daily Record on Oct. 6

By Mathew Manweller

Due to the high demand for this column, the Daily Record has decided to post it online. It is normally not the paper's policy to post opinion columns or editorials online. This column will remain on the site until Oct. 27. Should you want to purchase a print copy of it, please call (509) 925-1414. The opinions stated on this page do not reflect the opinions held by the Daily Record. This content is owned by the Daily Record.

In that this will be my last column before the presidential election, there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high.

This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence.

Down the other lies a nation that is aware of it's past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be two-fold. First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things. Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations.

The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from whom we are.

Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well-learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America. Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracing polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grisly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.

It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest generation'. But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's 'last generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great depression and hardened in the fire of W.W. II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake 'living in America' as 'being an American.' But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.

This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve. I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City on the Hill."

Mathew Manweller is a Central Washington University political science professor.

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Well which road are we going to choose?


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## mr.trooper (Aug 3, 2004)

Our generation is too soft and Idealistic. As much as I hate the thought, i believe that they will buy John Kerry's crock about making America a better place with no problems and a merry happy economy. That's what they want. They don't want to be a great nation, they want to be comfortable. They want to be spoon feed just like they have been all there lives. They don't want to be responsible for their freedom; they want the government to do it for them. The seeds of socialism were sown long ago, and are now beginning to sprout. First they will elect a radical Democrat who has a few socialistic ideas, and then who knows: maybe a full blown communist will be in the white house. I hate to say it, but I believe we will get what we deserve for a life of slack, irresponsible, lethargic behavior. The thing is, when we finally realize what happened it will be far to late. What will you do when we finally become a socialist state? Will you rebel? Will you Revolt? If so, what will you revolt with? Will you rebel against a powerful army when all you have left are single-shot rifles, shotguns, arrows and muzzle loaders? When the technology available to you would be familiar to a Soldier at the end of the Civil war, will you resist the army of Socialist-America? NO YOU WILL NOT. You will stand back and do NOTHING. Because by the time you wake up, it would be suicide to resist. You won't even know what has happened until the swat team comes into your house one night and takes any repeating firearm you own. After all, arrows and single-shots are all you really need for hunting, aren't they it?

Your future is in your own hands.


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## seabass (Sep 26, 2002)

Oh my. I have a feeling the people running this site are pretty happy they made a separate "politics" section to keep this stuff out of Hot Topics. The stuff I read here is getting pretty close to comedy; the extremists are out in full force. :roll:


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## SniperPride (Sep 20, 2004)

The gravel one.


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## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

Mr T wrote:



> Our generation is too soft and Idealistic.


And if I might add a generation with NO PATIENCE and DEMAND INSTANT GRATIFICATION.. It started with us the 50 something crowd and got worse each generation since. That will never be fixed and is destroying our moral fiber and other aspects of the greatest nation in the world.


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## sdeprie (May 1, 2004)

Zogman, I agree, unfortunatly, they call that progress.


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## mr.trooper (Aug 3, 2004)

I have every right to be Extreme! I'm a conservative!

seabass, am i an Extremist or are you just riding the fence?

But honestly, what is extreme about that? That's exactly what has happened in so many other countries. You think you have a right to bare arms, but I would be willing to bet that 50 years from now we will be lucky if we are still allowed to have firearms for hunting. I never said Kerry would takeaway firearms. He likes to use them as propaganda tools, and if he got rid of them, he wouldn't be able to play the outdoorsman for the media. I think that he will ban or at least heavily regulate any guns that he doesn't see as useful for hunting (not like he would know).

The sad thing is, I think we need them more than ever right now. People like to wine about "Homeland defense" I don't think I need to remind you that the best homeland defense is an armed populace. The sad thing is, if they wanted to, china could invade us, and the only way we would be able to stop them is to use nukes. Most of our army AND reserves are being rotated in and out over seas. But even if they were home, we would still be out-numbered more than 2 to 1. I hope it doesn't ever come to that, because i think we would get our butts handed to us.


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

"The sad thing is, I think we need them more than ever right now. People like to wine about "Homeland defense" I don't think I need to remind you that the best homeland defense is an armed populace. The sad thing is, if they wanted to, china could invade us, and the only way we would be able to stop them is to use nukes. Most of our army AND reserves are being rotated in and out over seas. But even if they were home, we would still be out-numbered more than 2 to 1. I hope it doesn't ever come to that, because i think we would get our butts handed to us."

Terrorists are never going to pull up to maine in a speed boat and declare a jihad, they will never "invade" America on such a scale as we think of in past wars. None of us will ever get to beat a terrorist senseless in our homes. Because of this, I don't think that arming the populous for defense against terror is a reasonable way to promote gun ownership. On another note, I agree that if China invaded us we would be screwed. The general idea is to not piss off the rest of the world such that they have a reason to invade us. A proactive solution is the best solution.


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## SniperPride (Sep 20, 2004)

Militant_Tiger said:


> The sad thing is, if they wanted to, china could invade us, and the only way we would be able to stop them is to use nukes. Most of our army AND reserves are being rotated in and out over seas. But even if they were home, we would still be out-numbered more than 2 to 1. I hope it doesn't ever come to that, because i think we would get our butts handed to us."


I disagree, USA's civilians are the most heavily armed civilians on the planet, well until kerry outlaws all the guns, then you are right we are in trouble. china doesnt have enough guns for all their troops :lol: 
But I think we could put up a hellofa fight, I know I would
:sniper:


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## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

This is worth a bump :sniper: :sniper: :sniper: :sniper: :sniper:


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## racer66 (Oct 6, 2003)

2 bumps, wait a minute, the wife just headed for the bedroom, I'll see ya guys later.


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## sdeprie (May 1, 2004)

3 bumps. MT, how many times have you visited other countries. Japan, Korea, the Phillipines, Singapore, etc. Just looking at the old sites gives you real cause for reflection.


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