Why I'm Not Voting for Hillary
I tried my best to ignore the repeated accusations of being cold and calculating. It sounded like some sound byte the media was fed by Giuliani supporters, and I knew they were going to try to take out the first serious woman contender for the presidency over some bullshit. I don't like calling a successful woman "calculating," since you know with a successful man it would be called "ambitious" or "cunning." But sadly, after reviewing the evidence, I'm forced to agree: Hillary Clinton is calculating in the worst possible way.
It all comes down to the war vote for me. Sure, that makes me sound like a single-issue voter. Unfortunately, aside from global warming, it happens to be the most important issue our country faces right now, challenging us as a nation morally, spiritually, politically and financially. Think back to 2003. Did you really think that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction? Or did you know with just a whiff that the whole thing was a lie? The Democrats who caved in and voted say they were fooled, but the fact is that anyone of average intelligence could smell that bullshit a mile away. I don't believe for a second that any Democratic congressman really thought we were going over there to disarm Saddam of any weapons. The entire thing, a lie. An obvious lie. A lie so obvious that you and me, Joe Schmo Progressive, could tell with our average ability to reason. The president lied, and Congress was complicit in it. And now an entire country has been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and we've lost the trust of the world.
I cannot be convinced that this vote was a mistake, that the senators were "fooled" or didn't know what they were authorizing. Nor could you convince me that the vote was only one out of many, and should be looked at in context of all others. Clinton voted for this war for the same reasons Kerry did, but more so. According to Newsweek and other sources, she did it because she knew she'd enter the race in 2008 and, as a woman, needed to look "tough on terror." She wanted to look tough; hundreds of thousands people died. And she's still posturing, voting to declare the Iranian Army a "terrorist organization." Do you want to elect someone who goes to war just so they can craft their personal image? I don't think the world could take another four to eight years of that.
I've been thinking about decimation lately. You familiar with it? It was a rare but effective form of punishment within the ancient Roman Military. The offending legion was separated into groups of ten, and within that group, straws were drawn. The nine soldiers with long straws were forced to beat or stone the one with the short straw to death. The loss of one-tenth of the unit was a blow to the military, but was effective in stopping future desertion. The nine-tenths of the soldiers who'd participated felt such guilt that they then fought like zealots; by killing a randomly-selected comrade, they felt that their shame prevented them from being anything other than a soldier, a killer.
I feel like the years following 2001 were a decimation of sorts. Made to turn on each other, and led to kill innocents, the Democrats began to feel like there was no going back. They do feel guilt, yes, but it's that guilt that keeps them playing along. The Democrats who voted to authorize the war hem and hedge and half-apologize, but they'll keep voting within their new identities whenever the next torture or wiretapping bill comes up. They think the vicious cycle has to continue.
I think it does not.
It all comes down to the war vote for me. Sure, that makes me sound like a single-issue voter. Unfortunately, aside from global warming, it happens to be the most important issue our country faces right now, challenging us as a nation morally, spiritually, politically and financially. Think back to 2003. Did you really think that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction? Or did you know with just a whiff that the whole thing was a lie? The Democrats who caved in and voted say they were fooled, but the fact is that anyone of average intelligence could smell that bullshit a mile away. I don't believe for a second that any Democratic congressman really thought we were going over there to disarm Saddam of any weapons. The entire thing, a lie. An obvious lie. A lie so obvious that you and me, Joe Schmo Progressive, could tell with our average ability to reason. The president lied, and Congress was complicit in it. And now an entire country has been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and we've lost the trust of the world.
I cannot be convinced that this vote was a mistake, that the senators were "fooled" or didn't know what they were authorizing. Nor could you convince me that the vote was only one out of many, and should be looked at in context of all others. Clinton voted for this war for the same reasons Kerry did, but more so. According to Newsweek and other sources, she did it because she knew she'd enter the race in 2008 and, as a woman, needed to look "tough on terror." She wanted to look tough; hundreds of thousands people died. And she's still posturing, voting to declare the Iranian Army a "terrorist organization." Do you want to elect someone who goes to war just so they can craft their personal image? I don't think the world could take another four to eight years of that.
I've been thinking about decimation lately. You familiar with it? It was a rare but effective form of punishment within the ancient Roman Military. The offending legion was separated into groups of ten, and within that group, straws were drawn. The nine soldiers with long straws were forced to beat or stone the one with the short straw to death. The loss of one-tenth of the unit was a blow to the military, but was effective in stopping future desertion. The nine-tenths of the soldiers who'd participated felt such guilt that they then fought like zealots; by killing a randomly-selected comrade, they felt that their shame prevented them from being anything other than a soldier, a killer.
I feel like the years following 2001 were a decimation of sorts. Made to turn on each other, and led to kill innocents, the Democrats began to feel like there was no going back. They do feel guilt, yes, but it's that guilt that keeps them playing along. The Democrats who voted to authorize the war hem and hedge and half-apologize, but they'll keep voting within their new identities whenever the next torture or wiretapping bill comes up. They think the vicious cycle has to continue.
I think it does not.