January 06, 2004
Thank You John Perry Barlow
Dear Mr. Barlow,
Thank you for a thoughtful post. I, too, would like very much to contribute my thoughts.
As background, I grew up listening to the Grateful Dead. My first concert experience was December 1979 at the Uptown Theater in Chicago. I had my friend Jesus' ticket with me (we were going to meet out front), so imagine wandering around outside the marquis entrance yelling for Jesus (he in fact preferred the Western "hard J" pronunciation): "Hey Jesus, I got your ticket. Where are you, Jesus?" Alas, I missed ever hearing Donna and Keith live, and the combined Grateful Dead/Little Feat tour by just a year or so.
I bring that up to state that I was on the left for a long time. I read The Nation, The Progressive, In These Times, Utne Reader, and others for a long time. Hated Reagan. I suppose for the last 10 years I have been drifting right; right, though, isn't, um, the right word for where I am now.
Jeff Dougherty's comment #14 is spot on. In my opinion, for where America is today, Bush's foreign strategery is more better (by a long shot) than what I've heard from any Democratic presidential candidate (with the possible exception of Lieberman). That's where Bush and I meet, on the right I suppose. There is no room for compromise, for consensus, for pandering, when it comes to our national defense. I am not saying that coalition-building is, or ever was, a waste of time. America went to great lengths to be inclusive. But, in the end, America cannot chart her course based on others' opinions. For those who believe that the last two years do not fall under the scope of national defense but rather under imperialism, or war-for-oil, I just don't agree with you. Where Bush and I differ (considerably) is his domestic policy (a topic for another post).
America's power is awesome. It scares the shit out of the rest of the world. Is it possible that it can be misused? Absolutely. Is it true that there are most certainly historical abuses of American power? Undoubtably.
How can I come to such a conclusion when it is "so obvious" I'm wrong? By getting my nose out of media outlets whose job is to hate America and everything she does and stands for (I call them The Irreleventsia). America, even with its Enron's and Global Crossing's and Tyco's, is a country of great moral fiber and true economic justice. You (yes, you) can succeed if you choose to succeed in America. There are precious few countries where success depends only on choosing it and having the guts to achieve it. I say this as I sit in New Orleans, Louisiana, where we trump even Cook County, Illinois for local corruption.
BarleyFriendz, go visit Instapundit for a month. Instapundit is an information clearinghouse of legendary tonnage. Is it a "conservative" or "right wing" blog? I don't know. Decide for yourself. For me it is a resource for finding out about stories I will not read about, hear about, or watch in the mainstream media. Read about the scandal-ridden European Union; the unaccounted for billions (yes, billions) of dollars in the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food program; France's (and Russia's) odious debt not only to Iraq (well, really, Saddam Hussein), but to North Korea and a host of other dictatorships as well; US lawmakers, even those intially opposed to the war, changing their minds after visiting Iraq and witnessing firsthand all of the (unreported) successes our troops are accomplishing.
Now, is one source for news good? No. Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds states emphatically that you should not have his blog be your sole source of news. I agree. But just go hang out for a while, with an open mind. I'm going to lurk around BarleyFriendz for a while. Let me close my post with a little verse I heard a while back:
There's mosquitoes on the river. Fish are rising up like birds. It's been hot for seven weeks now, Too hot to even speak now. Did you hear what I just heard?
Say, it might have been a fiddle, Or it could have been the wind. But there seems to be a beat, now. I can feel it in my feet, now. Listen, here it comes again!
To The Irreleventsia, bloggers (left, right, and center), are not yet really audible except to the most sensitive. Are we a fiddle, or just the wind? Let's all "keep on dancin'":
They're a band beyond description Like Jehovah's favorite choir. People joinin' hand in hand While the music plays the band. Lord, they're setting us on fire.
Crazy rooster crowin' midnight. Balls of lightning roll along. Old men sing about their dreams. Women laugh and children scream, And the band keeps playin' on.
Thank you John Perry Barlow
Peace,
Nopundit