thedrifter
02-05-05, 07:32 AM
02-04-2005
From Left and Right to Front and Center
By Michael S. Woodson
After the State of the Union speech by President George W. Bush on Wednesday night, I was delighted that he said America had no right to impose its form of government on other peoples, because this told me that he remembered that strength flows from humility. It does.
It is an ancient truth: pride comes before a fall, even for governments. Voluntary humility brings exaltation, and that not of ourselves, but by those who we lift up through our service. This is what American troops did for the Iraqi people, humbling themselves by risking their lives to make way for the Iraqis to vote for their own future.
And what happened? The Iraqis stepped up to the plate and did something beyond politics, and they unified themselves in their ethical determination to vote peacefully. By so doing, they turned right around and buoyed the American troops serving in their midst, supporting their sacrifices in gratitude and courage. They showed their determination to self-govern, and boosted our people’s morale. They surely boosted mine.
There’s nothing leftist or rightist about that, just front and center. All thanks to you, our brave troops. And the president should indeed thank you. You were his winning hand this week.
And one good turn deserves another. President Bush also earned the benefit of the doubt to be heard in a number of other areas because his instincts about the desire for freedom to vote in the great majority of eligible Iraqis were correct. And that is not the only thing he did right.
President Bush held to the Iraqi election date without wavering, and by so doing, focused our armed forces serving in the metal crucibles of low-intensity warfare on one goal: securing that election for all to see. And look what a job they did. I watched it on the net and on the television news. Plain as day, our troops were calm and watchful professionals, highly organized, and respectful of Iraqis coming to vote. The sentinels of democracy stood by democracy as an ideal, not an ideology of one party or another, but of freedom for an entire people.
The president exercised good leadership by seizing the opportunity and facilitating the democratic momentum in Iraq that we have seen now, and which a week ago many doubted really existed. Well, if it did exist, Bush and whoever he listened to read it right. If it did not, by expressing his judgment that U.S. troops would stay in Iraq after the election, President Bush may have encouraged the Iraqi people just enough to ignite their faith in themselves. Either way, the president did a very good job under pressure.
Our armed forces secured the confidence of the Iraqi people in guarding the polls with their lives. Had this been the single objective from the beginning, with no dancing about the issue, then a specific objective would have been in mind from the beginning. Considering it had been grappled for after several other rationales rose and fell in prominence, it shows that our troops were able to do an outstanding job at getting out the vote and protecting it as a primary objective. They adapted and overcame even though they were literally under fire, playing the role of electoral Secret Service plus anti-insurgency force. I am amazed. I can barely tie my shoes in the morning without getting lost in abstract thought. God bless them.
At the end of the State of the Union address, another good thing happened. I heard a commentator say that the president has been reading the writings of George Washington, among others.
Not long after reading Washington’s Farewell Address, I ended my political party affiliation and decided I simply wanted to be an American. To me, that meant no left, no right, but free and independent. I wanted truth, merit, freedom, honest thinking, morality and wise consistency in my approach to analyzing, voting, advocating and writing regarding our great and good country. I believe it must be both.
In my heart and in Gen. George Washington’s words, I found so many areas of agreement that I was embarrassed for overlooking his prescient papers for so long. And this week I am not going to let good news pass by without emphasizing it here. It is fitting to cheer good news here, a place where the pursuit of the truth is a living, thoughtful American ideal, not an ideology which shackles the individual’s freedom to tell the truth with loyalties to platforms and previous favors.
In this vein, I heard an interesting thing that has left a resounding question in my mind. After the Democratic cross-examination of Condoleeza Rice during her confirmation hearings en route to the Secretary of State post, many senators decried the partisan acrimony and delay tactics as a bad thing.
So if partisanship is bad, then why do our leaders, representatives and senators maintain party affiliation? Why not just take up their copy of the Constitution, fly their flag, and end their party affiliation without sacrificing their beliefs? Why not embrace ideals and serve them with free thought instead of ideology beholden to platforms and special favors and loyalties other than the American electorate? Do we not see the ultimate extreme of partisanship in none other than the Ba’ath Party that our troops are having to battle just so the Iraqis can vote?
So Mr. President, we’ve come full circle, and you are reading President Washington. May the unity that George Washington bled and froze for be blessed in Iraq and in our own nation’s capitol.
Michael Woodson is a Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at singingmountains@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
Ellie
From Left and Right to Front and Center
By Michael S. Woodson
After the State of the Union speech by President George W. Bush on Wednesday night, I was delighted that he said America had no right to impose its form of government on other peoples, because this told me that he remembered that strength flows from humility. It does.
It is an ancient truth: pride comes before a fall, even for governments. Voluntary humility brings exaltation, and that not of ourselves, but by those who we lift up through our service. This is what American troops did for the Iraqi people, humbling themselves by risking their lives to make way for the Iraqis to vote for their own future.
And what happened? The Iraqis stepped up to the plate and did something beyond politics, and they unified themselves in their ethical determination to vote peacefully. By so doing, they turned right around and buoyed the American troops serving in their midst, supporting their sacrifices in gratitude and courage. They showed their determination to self-govern, and boosted our people’s morale. They surely boosted mine.
There’s nothing leftist or rightist about that, just front and center. All thanks to you, our brave troops. And the president should indeed thank you. You were his winning hand this week.
And one good turn deserves another. President Bush also earned the benefit of the doubt to be heard in a number of other areas because his instincts about the desire for freedom to vote in the great majority of eligible Iraqis were correct. And that is not the only thing he did right.
President Bush held to the Iraqi election date without wavering, and by so doing, focused our armed forces serving in the metal crucibles of low-intensity warfare on one goal: securing that election for all to see. And look what a job they did. I watched it on the net and on the television news. Plain as day, our troops were calm and watchful professionals, highly organized, and respectful of Iraqis coming to vote. The sentinels of democracy stood by democracy as an ideal, not an ideology of one party or another, but of freedom for an entire people.
The president exercised good leadership by seizing the opportunity and facilitating the democratic momentum in Iraq that we have seen now, and which a week ago many doubted really existed. Well, if it did exist, Bush and whoever he listened to read it right. If it did not, by expressing his judgment that U.S. troops would stay in Iraq after the election, President Bush may have encouraged the Iraqi people just enough to ignite their faith in themselves. Either way, the president did a very good job under pressure.
Our armed forces secured the confidence of the Iraqi people in guarding the polls with their lives. Had this been the single objective from the beginning, with no dancing about the issue, then a specific objective would have been in mind from the beginning. Considering it had been grappled for after several other rationales rose and fell in prominence, it shows that our troops were able to do an outstanding job at getting out the vote and protecting it as a primary objective. They adapted and overcame even though they were literally under fire, playing the role of electoral Secret Service plus anti-insurgency force. I am amazed. I can barely tie my shoes in the morning without getting lost in abstract thought. God bless them.
At the end of the State of the Union address, another good thing happened. I heard a commentator say that the president has been reading the writings of George Washington, among others.
Not long after reading Washington’s Farewell Address, I ended my political party affiliation and decided I simply wanted to be an American. To me, that meant no left, no right, but free and independent. I wanted truth, merit, freedom, honest thinking, morality and wise consistency in my approach to analyzing, voting, advocating and writing regarding our great and good country. I believe it must be both.
In my heart and in Gen. George Washington’s words, I found so many areas of agreement that I was embarrassed for overlooking his prescient papers for so long. And this week I am not going to let good news pass by without emphasizing it here. It is fitting to cheer good news here, a place where the pursuit of the truth is a living, thoughtful American ideal, not an ideology which shackles the individual’s freedom to tell the truth with loyalties to platforms and previous favors.
In this vein, I heard an interesting thing that has left a resounding question in my mind. After the Democratic cross-examination of Condoleeza Rice during her confirmation hearings en route to the Secretary of State post, many senators decried the partisan acrimony and delay tactics as a bad thing.
So if partisanship is bad, then why do our leaders, representatives and senators maintain party affiliation? Why not just take up their copy of the Constitution, fly their flag, and end their party affiliation without sacrificing their beliefs? Why not embrace ideals and serve them with free thought instead of ideology beholden to platforms and special favors and loyalties other than the American electorate? Do we not see the ultimate extreme of partisanship in none other than the Ba’ath Party that our troops are having to battle just so the Iraqis can vote?
So Mr. President, we’ve come full circle, and you are reading President Washington. May the unity that George Washington bled and froze for be blessed in Iraq and in our own nation’s capitol.
Michael Woodson is a Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at singingmountains@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
Ellie