Quote: National Security

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom."

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"How far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?"

Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th President of the United States
14.10.1890 - 28.03.1969

A new star in comedy heaven

I'm watching American TV quite often because they have good comedy shows. For a few weeks now I'm following the shows of a new comedian. She is really funny! And the media seem to like her, too! I didn't see a comedian getting more airtime and being more discussed in the news. Her name is Sarah Palin.
In her shows and interviews she pretends to be a running mate for McCain and tries to show American voters the pitfalls in conservative politics. With her excessive standpoint she points out where stupidity, narrow-mindedness and fundamentalist viewpoints could lead, when combined in an influential political person.

If only the majority of Americans would see it that way. Let's come back into the real world. Unfortunately roughly 133791000 Americans (21.10) see it differently. For them, Sarah Palin is no reason to vote against McCain as president. Lately, not a single day passed where I didn't ask myself: Why?
American media and conservative politicians deliberately create a culture of fear which, as a new study suggests, might play into the Republican's hands. But that doesn't explain why conservative voters would vote for somebody who is clearly incapable of running a country.

Let's see which traits Sarah Palin has: She likes hunting, is fundamentalist christian (or close), "hockey-mum" and follows small-town values.
This is not a post against religious views, but is somebody who labelled the war in Iraq a "task that is from God" and wants to teach creationism in biology class able to make decisions on a global scale? Who does God want us to attack next? Iran? Pakistan? I think that history has shown that we don't want one of the biggest military forces on the planet in the hands of a (quasi-)theocratic government.
So what else do we have? I googled for small-town values. I wanted to know what exactly they are, but there seems to be a bit of confusion online. I couldn't find a comprehensive list! What comes to my mind when I'm talking about small-town values is narrow-mindedness, babbitts, often subliminal racism and cronyism.
If I look at that list, Sarah Palin apparently really would bring small-town values to Washington. After all, she managed to put those values to good use as major and governor. "She has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance." (NYT). This often happens on a local scale, but are 8 years of small-town values in the White House not enough? Do we really have to push it to the next level?
Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to vote in the USA. But I really beg the American voters to think before making that cross in 2 weeks. A president doesn't need small town-values, but the ability to solve global problems. A president has to be able to make informed decisions which are not dictated by the oil industry and religious fanatics. Science, almost forgotten as a source of information in the last 8 years, can help there if it is not suppressed by political and/or religious agendas. In a global economy, one of the most important issues is an intelligent foreign policy. And being able to see foreign countries from your porch doesn't improve these abilities. It only means you have a property with a good view.

So to all the "real" Americans: Stop being pro-American and start being pro-intelligence and pro-skepticism. America has lost a lot of credibility the last years. You can make a change!