Tuesday, November 29, 2005

We Are Not Anti-War, We're Anti-Iraq


It's certain that the President gets blamed for too many things.

However, the nature of the beast is that if you're the poster child for a key issue, it's probably going to be you who gets blamed.

Confidence for President Bush is floating around the 37 percent range. The following are the results of a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll taken Nov. 11-13, 2005 of Adults nationwide.

63 percent do not approve of the President's handling of the Iraq War

54 percent believes that it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

38 percent believe that the war has been worth the cost.

63 percent want to bring home our troops within the next year regardless of a stable government.

32 percent are confident that Iraq will be able to create a stable government.

The American people are not stupid. We live in a popular sovereignty where power is given by the consent of the governed. It is evident that the greater majority of people in the United States do not support, and do not have confidence in Iraq's future.

NPR has a great timeline about Iraq and I suggest that everyone read it.

Also, Fox News has a story by the Associated Press about former Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff. The story reveals Powell's reservations about invading Iraq and the lack of information justifying the invasion.

Like I said above, the President cannot be blamed for everything. The President can hardly do anything without the approval of Congress. So, I suggest that if you've read this blog that you contact your senators and representative to ask them sincere questions about Iraq if you have them and to voice your opposition if you oppose the war.

There is no easy solution to Iraq. I affirm the conservative sentiment that now that we have invaded Iraq that we cannot simply leave them to crumble. However, we are a sovereign nation, and if being in Iraq is not in our best interests, than our best strategy is to figure out how to leave Iraq as soon as possible without it then becoming a greater danger.

Monday, November 28, 2005

NY Times Editorial on Foreign Policy, etc.

Kudos to Peter for establishing this site. I'm curious about the links--is fox news included just to illustrate that this is a "fair and balanced" blog? ;-)

As an avid China-watcher, I found the following NY Times editorial echoing my personal sentiments toward US foreign policy regarding China.


from: nytimes.com
November 23, 2005
Editorial
China Snubs Democracy

Almost everywhere President Bush went in Asia last week, he proclaimed America's support for democracy and human rights in China. And almost every time he did so, Chinese leaders either ignored him or changed the subject. Beijing even dispensed with the symbolic gestures that often accompany American presidential visits. None of the human rights cases Mr. Bush personally raised with China's president, Hu Jintao, earlier this year have yet been resolved. Christians who tried to worship alongside Mr. Bush were turned away or detained. Prominent democracy advocates were confined to their homes for the duration of Mr. Bush's stay.

Despite the lack of results, we applaud Mr. Bush for raising these sensitive but crucially important issues. Democracy and human rights are universal, not merely American, values. Beijing's stonewalling on democracy is more than a diplomatic snub of Mr. Bush; it is an insult to China's own people. One thing still reliably Communist about the Chinese Communist Party is its Stalinist repression of all political dissent.

Still, the ritualistic American preaching of democracy to China's increasingly confident leaders has become less likely than ever to directly produce any useful effects. Washington's international reputation has been battered by its invasion and botched occupation of Iraq, while China's has been steadily rising on the basis of its phenomenal economic advance. Beijing's leaders are in no mood to listen to lectures from an American government that depends on Chinese surpluses and savings to finance its supersized budget deficits.

The best way for America to advance democracy in China, as elsewhere, is by setting a positive and consistent example, at home and abroad. That is not something that the Bush administration has yet learned how to do, even after having made democracy the rhetorical centerpiece of its second-term foreign policy.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Campaign


Hey Folks,

Ron Nate, the faculty advisor to the College Republicans, helped initiate a chain of events that will now allow us to campaign for Democratic candidates at the expense of the Democratic National Committee.

What does that mean for you? It means that you will be able to receive political campaign experience at no cost to you whatsoever.

This is also a great opportunity to to increase LDS influence in Washington. By showing that Mormons are not a politically homogenous group we will be doing a great service for LDS issues.

We'll be going to places like Ohio, Pennsylvania or New Mexico. We'll be campaigning alongside influencial people in Senate and House races. This is an exciting and important time for the LDS community and BYU-I is going to be at the forefront of it!

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to email us at demspresident@byui.edu or post to this blog. Be sure to tell your friends that our next meeting will be Wednesday, November 30th at 6:30 PM. Stay tuned for the meeting location.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Welcome!

Welcome to the College Democrats! Feel free to post your thoughts and comments.