Stick to the Issues and Seal The Deal

by Michael Douglas Carlin

Originally posted on 9/05/2008

I was sitting at a dinner this week and I had the displeasure to hear an acquaintance speak about Senator John McCain in a very foul manner. I was appalled at what I was hearing. She spoke about how John McCain didn’t really suffer in the Hanoi Hilton. She attempted to minimize the sacrifice that he made for our Country. I really couldn’t listen anymore and I lost my temper. I shook my fist at that woman and I told her that I would not have her at my dinner table speaking ill of someone that had sacrificed so much for our Country. If I would have allowed her to continue I would have brought dishonor to my own two sons that have chosen to serve their Country by joining the armed forces. I would have diminished the two tours of duty in Iraq in the Army and a contract to serve in the Air Force. She was shocked but she shut her mouth.

Now we have Barack Obama that has also suffered some slanderous comments. He is a man that has defied the odds and done something no American man has ever done before. He is the first African American Democratic Candidate that has ever run for President. He has paved new ground in the use of the Internet and Cellular Telephones in his campaign and he mobilized millions of Americans that have never been engaged in the political arena. He deserves our respect.

Both of these candidates are always careful to speak about how much they respect each other and we should all follow their example.

When we disagree about issues…let’s keep it to the issues.

In America, we all like to lay blame. When gas rises we want to blame someone. We have chosen to blame President George W. Bush. He has extremely low approval ratings. Is it all really his fault? Could a single man really have stopped the tide of globalization? Cheap labor in other countries became skilled enough to lure jobs from America. Multi-National Corporations took advantage of that labor. I can’t really see that this was his fault. What we have gained from other countries having commercialism or capitalism has brought a measure of stability to the world that wasn’t there before. We now have interdependence beyond what has ever existed and the idea of peace is more solidified than at any other time in the history of the world. Further, the 70’s brought hijackings of planes and we did nothing, the 70 Olympics were terrorized and we did nothing, the Marine Barracks in Beirut were bombed we did nothing, the Cole was bombed, the Embassies were bombed, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time and we did nothing. The Pentagon and the World Trade Center were bombed at 9/11 and George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and sent the Taliban and Al Qaeda packing. I personally was against the war in Iraq…I thought it was going too far…but now there appears to be a stable government forming. The chance of having peace in the region is one country closer to achievement. You can’t argue with the success. You shouldn’t throw stones at the man that had the courage to stand up to terrorism.

Now we have the ability to stomp out terrorism for good. Afghanistan is the battlefield. If we abandon Afghanistan now we prolong the war on terror for the next hundred years. Or we can thwart the efforts of the Taliban and Al Qaeda by stomping them out now. If we allow farmers to return to the poppy crops there we provide terrorists with a revenue source. With a solid revenue source we allow them to reconstitute and plot against us. We need sustainable living in Afghanistan for all of the people to grow and produce products that thwart the war on terror. We succeeded in Iraq…let’s push forward for a stable and democratic Afghanistan. I put forward the idea at the Mayor’s Conference in 2007 that each city in America adopt a city in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many cities have been adopted and there are incredible success stories. More needs to be done.

The belly aching about lack of jobs needs to stop. New jobs are going to be the result of renewable energy. Right now 140% of all output of Solar Panels is spoken for. We need more investment into energy and that investment needs to be the catalyst to create new jobs. Picture a world where every roof has Solar Panels built in that bring the bulk of the energy to America.

Michael Douglas Carlin is a filmmaker, author, and journalist. American Federale is available on iTunes, Amazon, and GooglePlay. Rise a Knight is available on Amazon. Peaceful Protests and A Prescription For Peace is available on iTunes.