OntheWilderSide

At the Democratic Convention in Denver, Joe Biden said:

“Whose judgment should we trust? Should we trust John McCain’s judgment, when he said only three years ago, ‘Afghanistan, we don’t read about it anymore because it’s succeeded?’

“Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?”

Kimberly’s reflections on the above, and on war, peace and elections…

I discovered the quote above in an article whose purpose was, I think, to show how great and unified the Democratic Party is.

What the article did for me was underscore a yucky realization I am often faced with. It is not just that our elected officials in America want war. It is not just that the electorate in America want a president who is good at war. In reality, our whole system of government is designed for war. Our paradigm is of a warrior state.

When it comes down to it, Americans are not even trying to elect a glorious, wise leader to guide our country. Americans want to elect a Commander-in-Chief who can address the constant fear that the people have that someone might attack us. We are electing someone to operate our guns and tanks and war machines. We are electing a Commander-in-Chief who we feel can hurt the bad, nasty, different people overseas who don’t shovel over their resources to us quickly enough. We are electing a leader of our horrible empire. And, that is truly what most Americans want.

It makes me feel as if America is like the Spartans from Greek history. Our society is designed to train and create fighters and warriors. Our culture, our values, our communities, and our family structures are designed so that our young can be lured from us easily to go to war.

The Democrats do not want an end to war. The Democrats want an end to losing wars, and an end to wars that the people of America notice.

Joseph Biden is scary. He is a part of the war paradigm. And, he just made a mistake. At the convention, Biden reminded people that when Barack Obama and his colleagues promise us that we will get out of Iraq “responsibly”, that just might mean Obama wants us to get out by winning the war (ie: conquering the people and country), and maybe even with that, not ending it or winning the war right away.

With a dark realization such as the one above, it is difficult to just shift gears into a simple answer such as asking support for a certain other candidate. Still, as most readers know, I am for Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate for President. And, I think voting for a party whose values include “non-violence”, and voting for this woman who rejects war and rejects the two party warrior government will shift us towards peace.

Though, what I think an understanding of our country’s war mentality urges even more is that people of peace must reject the foolish and naive strategy of choosing either a Democrat or Republican who say they want an end to war. Our cultures is so bent on war, just participating blandly in the usually charade will not get us anywhere. People of peace must take a bolder position, must speak loudly during the election season, and must use the voting booth to do something much more profound than pulling the lever for one of the puppets set up by the warring class and the corporate parties. People of peace must go to the polls and make a statement against war. Vote for a party that rejects the empire and proclaims peace. Or, write in something about peace for the workers at the Board of Elections to read. But, don’t take the easy way out.

How can a person of peace vote for someone whose colleagues are bragging about him asking to send in more troops?

When our society is saturated in war, going with the easy flow of the choices presented you, will only leave us in this current culture of death, destruction, and war for empire.

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The cheery, Democrat convention story I found the Biden quote in is here:
Obama surprises Dems with convention visit
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008

“John thinks that during the Bush years we’ve made economic progress. I think it’s been abysmal,” he said.

“Whose judgment should we trust? Should we trust John McCain’s judgment, when he said only three years ago, ‘Afghanistan, we don’t read about it anymore because it’s succeeded?’

“Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?”

Filed under: Barack Obama, cynthia mckinney, democrat, election, elections, Green Party Websites, Green Presidential Campaign 2008, Peace, Political Websites, president, presidential race, US Politics, war, write-in vote Tagged: | afghanistan, convention, Denver, Joe Biden