Somewhere Between Appeasement and Independence…

It’s finally here.
This long and seemingly interminable campaign season culminates today when Americans go to the polls to cast votes for the candidates of their choice. Practically every election has been described as the “most important of our time,” but this quadrennial exercise seems to fit that description even more this time.
This election is not about the usual issues. Of course people care about the economy. They care about better schools. They care about being able to provide a better life for their families. They’re concerned about the world they live in and the condition its in–whether it’s political, societal or environmental. These are issues every voter cares about. While they’re all important issues, I honestly don’t believe they’re the deciding factors for Election 2004.
It occurs to me that this election is a referendum between two ideals: appeasement and independence. The ultimate deciding factor this time around is about the ability to defend America and to maintain our way of life against those who would want to destroy it.
One one side, you have the doctrine of the appeasers. These are the people who are seemingly more concerned with how we are viewed in the world than how we should advocate or defend our own sovereignty. They are the people who would prefer to check every decision through the United Nations. They are the individuals who would resist the use of force at nearly every opportunity simply because of how it might look.
On the other side, there is the doctrine of the independents. They are those who believe that we have the want, power and will to defend our very way of life. They believe the threat to the American way of life is as great now as it was in the days necessitating American independence. They’re individuals that believe our sovereignty doesn’t take a back seat to anyone, nor should it.
It’s a much bigger issue than whether we should have gone to war in Iraq. It is entirely about prosecuting a war on terrorism and the preservation of our society. All of the other issues are important, but none of them matter if we can’t live our lives with the freedom we enjoy.
We have a reminder of what’s at stake in this election with the most recent message from Osama bin Laden. He says that neither Bush, Kerry or al Qaeda dictate the security of the United States. He claims our security is in our own hands. “Any state that does not mess with our security has naturally guaranteed its own security.”
I don’t know about you, but I was always taught that a veiled threat is a threat just the same.
Never mind that on September 11, 2001, we were the victims of an unprovoked attack. Never mind that the USS Cole was provoked in an unprovoked attack. Never mind that the attacks on American embassies were unprovoked attacks. Never mind that the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center was an unprovoked attack. We weren’t messing with al Qaeda’s security then and we were still attacked multiple times.
We’ve tried appeasement before. It clearly did not work.
Today is the day we elect the leader of the United States of America. We have a clear choice between someone who will look to placate the rest of the world and potentially compromise our security and someone who has the strength of character to stand up for the same independent spirit that forged this nation.
The choice before us is clear. Only you can decide whether America will deal in the currency of appeasement or of independence.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com