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Hanging Bush’s Iraq War Critics
Written
by Stephen Crockett, co-host of
Democratic Talk Radio
Published reports have
recently noted comments by Republican Congressman Don Young (where he
misquotes President Lincoln) that seem to urge that members of
Congress who criticize the Iraq War should be “hanged.” The people of
Alaska should be deeply ashamed of their only member of Congress. His
comments are beyond civil political discourse in a democracy.
Congressman Don Young does
not seem to understand the Constitutional duties of a member of
Congress. Members of Congress are elected to serve and represent the
voters of their Congressional District. They are not elected to be
mere rubber stamps for unpopular and unwise policies by the Executive
Branch of our federal government.
Our brilliant Founding
Fathers designed our elected Legislative Branch specifically to act as
a check on the other two Branches of government. Situations like the
Iraq War are exactly what they had in mind when our Constitutional
system of “checks and balances” was designed.
By any objective measure,
the Iraq War policies of the Bush Republicans have been a disaster.
The human toll and financial costs to both Iraqis and Americans have
been unreasonably large. Incompetence in both design and execution has
been apparent. The situation is not likely to improve.
Young
would like to paint any America citizen stating what is obvious to all
unbiased observers as treason. Like other extremists in the Republican
Party, Congressman Young seems completely blinded by Republican
political partisanship and Right Wing ideology. His historically
inaccurate comments demonstrate a dictatorial bent that should
disqualify him from serving as an elected public officeholder. I
certainly hope Alaska voters will retire this dangerous politician in
2008.
Branding honest Americans
as traitors for disagreeing about any political issue is offensive. It
is standard operating procedure for the modern Republican Party in the
era of George W. Bush. This Karl Rove tactic has been used routinely
by both Bush and Cheney. It is echoed over and over again by their
allies in Congress. The idea is to cripple the democratic process and
stop the American political system from having important policy
debates.
This intimidation tactic
is largely responsible for getting us into the Iraqi mess in the first
place. It is now being used to keep us from finding the wisest way to
get out of the current situation. Republicans like Don Young should
stop using this unpatriotic and anti-American tactic to thwart our
badly needed national policy discussion on Iraq. Young owes every
American a public apology.
The comments by
Congressman Young were reported in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on
February 16th in a story by Sam Bishop titled, “Congressional
saboteurs? Don Young gives Abraham Lincoln credit where none is due”
http://newsminer.com/2007/02/16/5274/ . It is unfortunate that
these kinds of comments are not exceptional for Republican members of
Congress.
Written by Stephen
Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio
http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ).
Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland
21919. Phone: 443-907-2367. Email:
midsouthcm@aol.com .
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