Through the Misty Dawn - Editorial

Rhetoric or Truth........

During WW II the rhetoric of Sir Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was historic, momentous and essential to the cause of winning a world wide conflagration. Millions of Americans were involved in various ways and we were fighting on both sides of the planet. Today the rhetoric sounds absurd and inappropriate and also out of the mouths of woefully inexperienced and untested candidates.

One candidate is going to "Make America Great Again."

Another candidate is going to "Revitalize our Economy. The youngest candidate is promising to bring the troops home from Iraq.

Another candidate is going to win the female vote while another shows signs of garnering large numbers of black votes. Voting blocks might determine the winner of primaries and the national election.

Still another candidate claims to understand the business world better than the others and promises to bring jobs back to the United States from abroad.

And finally one candidate takes a strong stand on the issue of National Security.

All of which proves that there is nothing new under the sun. The rhetoric is very much the same as heard during the previous forty seven year span of Presidential elections I've experienced during my lifetime. During 1976 I campaigned briefly in one of those elections, primarily in New Hampshire and very unsuccessfully.

During my limited sojourn to New Hampshire I learned very quickly that rhetoric is no substitute for knowledge and experience. I also learned that the psychology of appealing to voters is far and away from being able to lead a great nation. It was a valuable lesson that matured me in my political evaluations in the years that followed. I was able to look far beyond the rhetoric of candidates.

On the eve of the Florida Primary I have several comments to share.

1. The president and the government do not control the economy of the free market in these United States. Not one of the candidates nor even President Bush and the Congress is going to change the ebb and flow (ups & downs) of the economy. The law of supply and demand dictates the rise and fall of business activity. We have over built and inflated prices have slowed the market place.The time required for the accumulation of capital will bring about the turn around so long awaited.

2. It is easy to forget the horrible strike against the Twin Towers in New York. Briefly it was an indelible example for others around the world and cried out for exemplary measures to dissuade such ideas from ever surfacing again. There was then and now no turning back from an immense retaliation. Two democracies are evolving in the Middle East which will have unimaginable and great significance in the future for our benefit and benefiting those people long suffering under the dictatorships and tyranny of despots and tyrants for centuries. Their frustration has led to a fomenting of scapegoating against the free world as if responsible for their own subjugation. No differently than we pay homage to those who sacrificed during WW II, we will in due time pay homage and respect to those who courageously made great sacrifice to deter the ideas of terrorism in the 21st Century.

3. Talk is cheap during an election year. But the price we've paid for freedom extends back over centuries and the lives lost in that cause is totally incomprehensible. Candidates that portend that fighting a war in Iraq is somehow related to the decline of the United States are displaying a naivete and using deceit that could well serve the enemies of the United States and the Free World at large. Those that believe they can destroy Freedom forget that 40,000,000 Americans served this country during the 2nd World War. The numbers called to serve from our Allies was equally astounding and the losses unfathomable.

4. Glib talk and rhetoric have their place in other arenas but not today in a contest that will bring forward another leader for the United States of America. We have a young electorate and they may not understand the true March of Freedom that dates back through the centuries. We have a press that has a penchant for headlines and perhaps they too are too young to understand the march of history. Therefore, in the days that follow each of us will have that great responsibility to relate to others the importance of meeting an enemy and prevailing, whatever the cost.

Note:

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Richard

www.symphonybyenglefield.com (Click Here)

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• #1 Comment from fisherkristina
  3/29/08 11:26 PM | Permalink

  Very good entry. Very thought provoking.
  
  Krissy
  http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink