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Off The Rail - Sep 14, 2006 - Printable Version
- For God's Sake, Don't Vote....
by Mike Bohling
Okay, so I got back from an extended furlough from the world of politics and global happenings, and one of the first things I did (after showering) was take America’s pulse. How do you do that, you ask? Simple. I went to Zogby, Harris, and Pew Research, and read the latest polls. The results of the surveys reminded me of a great anecdote told about Adlai Stevenson when he was running for President. A woman came up to him and said, "Mr. Stevenson, you are the candidate of the thinking people."
“I know, madam”, he replied, “but I need a majority."
The polls I read covered a wide variety of topics. After absorbing them, and what they mean to my country and the world that we share, I came up with a long list of grievances. Grievances that I would like to get out in the open. Since I want to keep the article short, I’m going to limit this discussion to one. The one complaint that I feel is the most important, and is of vital concern my fellow Americans. Once I get all of us in the U.S. squared away on this issue, I’ll go to work on my other grievances and other countries, but that’ll be for another day. This one might take a while.
My number one gripe boils down to this: How, in this era of a couple dozen TV news channels, where internet information is a mere mouse-click away, and access to facts are readily available, did so many Americans become so much less informed than they used to be? Somehow, we’ve become the only nation in the world that is moving backward in the information age, and it appears to be not only deliberate from a media standpoint, but willful from a consumer standpoint as well.
From the Zogby poll (Sept 5, 2006), I learned that 46% of the 1,014 likely voters polled believe that Saddam Hussein was linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A July 2006 Harris poll showed that half of the country believes that the WMD’s that we went to war for have been found in Iraq, an increase from 36% last year, (thanks to Santorum’s Hoax*, and the one, solitary TV news network that still propagates it.)
What the hell is going on? Do people simply not want to believe the truth in order protect their ideologies? I mean, we’re talking about half of the country here.
Despite the facts, despite the numerous Senate Commission Reports, despite Department of Defense and Pentagon statements to the contrary, and despite the very words of our beloved Commander in Chief disclaiming both of these falsehoods, half of America still believes this crap.
I can only be describe it as eager gullibility.
Look, if you are among the 46% of the population that believes that Saddam was involved with the 9/11 attacks, or the 50% that believes the WMD’s that we went to war for were found in Iraq, I have a heartfelt request for you. Please, for the love of your country, either educate yourselves, or don’t participate in any more polls. You are a national embarrassment. More importantly, find something else to do on Election Day. If anyone asks, just tell them “The dog ate my sample ballot”.
There are a bountiful number of wondrous and assorted news outlets in America and abroad. To those of you who limit yourselves to one or two sources, thereby limiting yourselves and your grasp of the world that I have to live in, please, free yourselves from those pitifully few, confined perspectives and explore other possibilities. Channel surf, search the web, pick up a newspaper or magazine, check out a few of the other radio stations. If you read or hear something in the news that isn’t verified, or that don’t think is true, take a little initiative and research it. You owe it to yourself and your country.
I appreciate that one of the wonderful things about being an American citizen is that no one has to pass any kind of test to qualify for voting rights. You have the right to vote even if you don't understand the difference between primary and general elections, have no concept of the issues or the candidate's positions, and make your choices based purely on misguided ideology. This is, after all, still America.
All I ask is that you at least try to educate yourself on the issues and candidates before voting. Know the facts. If for no other reason, just do it so your vote won’t cancel out the vote of someone who actually researches the issues, and makes rational choices based upon objectivity and logic. If you can’t bring yourself to do that one simple thing, that all patriotic Americans are obliged to do before casting a ballot, just stay home and try to figure out Doonesbury or something.
Remember, you are entitled to your own opinions and political views, and you are entitled to ignore the Abramoff, DeLay, and Cunningham ice picks plunging into the republican aorta. You are even entitled to think that things in the Middle East are going “swimmingly”, as Rush, Hannity, and the Coulter-giest would have you believe, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
Here’s a couple you can start with. Saddam did not plan or participate in 9/11, and the mobile biological weapons labs, uranium from Africa, and the materials to produce 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent, are just as elusive today as they were before we went to Iraq.
Don’t believe me?
Look it up.**
* Santorum’s Hoax
On June 21st, Rep. Hoekstra and Sen. Santorum made a big WMD announcement after having key points from an old National Ground Intelligence Center document declassified. The Department of Defense immediately debunked the claim when a senior official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable condition. He added that the weapons "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war."
Pentagon officials told NBC News that Santorum’s munitions are the same kind of ordnance the U.S. military has been gathering up in Iraq for the past several years, and “not the WMD we were looking for when we went in this time.”
** I looked up the truth about Santorum’s claims as soon as I heard about them. It took ten minutes.
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