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For the regular readers of this blog, this will not come as a suprise. But I still wish to explain my reasons for voting Republican for the first time in my life tomorrow.
I am not a Bush supporter. I don't belong to the "blogs for Bush" campaigns, nor have I done any active campaigning on his behalf. I get turned off by the religious rhetoric that Bush uses constantly, even though Kerry uses it as well. I don't like the way Bush has allowed the federal government to expand its budget every year. Now is not the time for new entitlement programs. I think that Bush could have done more to serve his country during Vietnam, but I have never fought in a war either, so I'm not in a position to judge that harshly. I think Bush did not adequately explain the reasons for removing Saddam Hussein from power, even though I think it was the right thing to do. I think Bush did not do enough to plan for post war Iraq, although I doubt anyone thought it would be that easy to take Baghdad in three weeks. I don't like the way Bush has continuously held off letting our Marines take Fallujah back, although it seems that those on the ground know a whole lot more than I do. A friend of mine serving with the Marines just returned from Fallujah, and he stated that things could have been worse had we just blown the place to bits. I'll take his word for it, as he would know better than I. There are other things about Bush that I dislike, but none trump the main issue in this election- the war against Islamic Terrorism.
As you can see, I am not thrilled that Bush is the better choice, but that is the problem. I waited and waited for Kerry to come forward and state how he would do a better job ending the war against Islamic terrorists than Bush. It never came. Not only did it not come, but he stated ideas that would push our country back towards the September 10th '01 mindset. Things like the "global test", which is ludicrous on its face. The UN is currently beholden to dictators and thugs, when you have Lybia and Cuba as leaders of the Human Rights Commission, you know it has gone past the point of relevancy. We are just beginning to find out the depths of depravity associated with the abominable UN Oil-For-KickBacks program in Iraq. If this is the "global test" Kerry refers to, we might as well just leave Iraq and Afghanistan and start building walls around our country because we will never past that test. That would be bad enough, but then Kerry says things that scare me even more. North Korea is a threat to the safety and stability of the world, without question. But there is no way we can approach North Korea without involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. We will have a much greater chance of peacefully disarming North Korea with its neighbors backing us than we will alone. Kerry stated openly he wishes to return to bilateral talks, which would be a disaster. That policy is what allowed Kim Jong-il to ignore his commitments and build nuclear weapons in the first place. In Iran, Kerry suggested supplying nuclear fuel to Iran to "test" them and see if they complied. Iran has already broken multiple commitments with its nuclear program, so I can't see why they deserve another test. Kerry stated multiple times that he would never hesitate to use force against our enemies if we are attacked again, but that's not good enough. We can't wait to be attacked again, we must pro-actively disrupt the regimes and dictatorships that support our enemies, which is precisely what Bush has done in the last three years. Anyone who believes that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Islamic terrorism simply hasn't been paying attention.
The one thing that I respect enormously about Bush is the cabinet of advisors he has around him. Powell and Rice are two incredibly capable and intelligent people that have served admirably in a precarious time. Rumsfeld, whom many criticize, has in my mind changed the face of the military in such a way that we were able to defeat the Taliban and Husseins regime in incredibly efficient ways, ways in which even the Soviets were incapable of doing in Afghanistan for instance. I am no big fan of Ashcroft, but despite the cries to the contrary, the bill of rights hasn't been revoked, and the Patriot Act has not turned out to change my life in any way other than having to wait a little longer at the airport, and there haven't been any successful terrorist attacks since 9/11. This means he doing something right. I could be happy with this cabinet for another four years.
I will reiterate, domestically and socially I agree more with Kerry's policies, but none of that will matter one iota if we are hit on again on a 9/11 level. Everyone should realize that if Osama and the other nutbags were able, they would have killed many more than they did. A nuclear attack on a major city in our country would cause such economic and social destruction that stem-cell research would become irrelevant.
I believe that our country needs George Bush for another four years to finish the job he started, defeating Islamic fundamentalists by removing state sponsors and injecting democracy in the middle east.
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