Friday, October 13, 2006

Politics

Martha Raddatz, ABC news chief White House correspondent posed a very interesting question to the american public regarding the war in Iraq since it is so distant and out of mind for many. Should the american public who are not part of the military make sacrifices to engage in war? For instance a tax or something, or a draft perhaps. I think her point is that the public is out of touch with the war, and would we be so willing to wage war if we all had to share in the responsibility in a real way and like the folks in the military do?

If you have high speed you can listen to what she had to say HERE
It's 53 min long but worth it. And I noticed that there is another interesting program at the same site. Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer discuss the value of an independent judicial system for our democracy. What justice Breyer said on the Charlie Rose show about the same subject almost brought me to tears.

O'Connor points out that there is a bill in the state of South Dakota that is called "jail for judges" Judges could be taken to court if the public doesn't agree with a finding. That is very scarry.

Bicycle log has avoided getting political as I'm not really about that. But I'm kind of a student of history. I've been reading a book about the bombing of Dresden. It's called Dresden by Frederick Taylor. He outlines how quickly democracy was undone in Germany prior to WWII, when one party took over a whole country and propoganda played a major role in this. Individual rights and political parties were eliminated one by one. We all know what happened as a result. It wasn't that long ago.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately there aren't many "young people", aka people my age, who really care all that much about current affairs, or history for that matter. They're in their own "bubble".

I would venture to say that most of the American public is in their own bubble too.

I definitely don't have answers to Raddatz's questions. The war is being paid with taxpayers' dollars; if people are opposed to that they should say something about it.

don said...

Raddatz has been to Iraq several times. She thinks the public is out of touch with what is going on. It's true what you say about (some) young people and she points out the value in programs like the Daily Show if it engages them.

Grown adults are guilty of being uninformed or poorly informed, or just don't care, and who knows perhaps at the same rate?

I agree, the public should say something about it. They have a chance when they vote.

Conrad Burns and Jon Tester had a debate on Montana TV yesterday but I had to leave too early to watch it. I would have loved to have seen it. That race will be interesting and has been making national headlines. Burns got more money from Abramoff than any other senator. And now the GOP has been pouring money into his campaign and has sent Laura, and Dick over to campaign for him doing everything they can to not loose that seat.

I watch TV while in Montana. One Burns negative add was full of liberal/ left stereotypes, and he didn't just target Tester, he went after Tester's "supporters" in a pathetic attempt to pit voters against eachother.

The last I heard Tester was 7 points ahead.