For the last twenty years the Democratic Party and Democrats have been under attack for our supposed lack of understanding of national security policy and family values. I've had it; I'm done taking any flak on these issues. The Speaker of the House protected a sitting Congressmen from investigation when he knew he was improperly sending emails to a page. Pages are generally under the age of eighteen, this one was sixteen.
I really wonder what country Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld grew up in. I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and still managed to learn the fundamentals of American government including the rights of American citizens to ask questions of their government.
By having no foreign policy vision other than vengeance, the current administration puts the United States in the same position of past super powers that squandered all their advantages on arrogance fed by blood and treasure. Without any understanding of the global relationships the Republicans will continue to export their view of morality as a foreign policy - my way or the highway fundamentalism.
As some of you may know, we were asked at the beginning of June if I would debate Jeff Crank one on one regarding the War in Iraq. We accepted, on the record with a press release, because I feel it is important for all the candidates to be involved in any forum prior to the primary. Last week we found out that the Republicans were having their own debate on the War in Iraq.
Bureaucracy is neither good nor bad; it is just an approach to organizing work. The problem with bureaucracy in our government is that no one has seriously tried to change how we approach the organization of government since the inception of the Republic. From the Federal level, the answer to any new or emerging problem is to create another cabinet position, bureau, or agency, expand the powers of the Executive, and justify the action based on the "Necessary and Proper" and "Commerce" clauses of the Constitution.
In the military we find it essential to conduct reviews of actions taken to assess the effectiveness of what we are being asked to do. Without these periodic assessments you may continue down a path that is not taking you to your desired destination. The time has passed for such a review at the strategic policy level for American involvement in Southwest Asia.
Ideas in America come from all directions; for every corporate think tank there are a hundred garage inventors. I walked into the Riviera convention center in Las Vegas and found an incubator for creative change in American politics.
I am old enough to remember the selective service system that fed our military force structure in the jungles of Vietnam. I remember older cousins waiting to see if they could get deferments, waiting for a lottery number, or just enlisting to get it over with. I also remember a national debate on the nature of selective service and its role in our republic. Apparently the leadership of the current administration and their rubber stamp puppets in the Congress remembers none of this.
When I started my service in the United States Air Force, I was part of a new, all volunteer force; an active duty force with Reserve and National Guard support established to meet and beat the threat of the Soviet Union. That war is over, we won. As Secretary Rumsfeld transforms the military force to face new threats he is very careful to state that he is not breaking the Active Duty Force, the Regular military. He praises the Reserve and National Guard forces and he calls them up again and again, something those citizen soldiers didn't sign on for.
