Texas Fred had a wonderful survey on his blog recently — a survey I’d like to re-create here with the identical question pattern.
If you have the time, please respond; I’d very much be interested in the resulting comments from one and all, Left or Right:
- 1. Describe your political persuasion.
- 2. A huge number of Conservatives and quite a few Republicans are seriously pushing to get Fred Thompson to declare his run for POTUS. If he doesn’t declare, or should he declare and not win the nomination, who would you want to see in his place from the current crowd of GOP potentials?
- 3. Describe your feelings regarding the war in Iraq.
- 4. Do you think Iraq was a part of the terrorist organization that attacked the USA on 9-11?
- 5. Do you believe the U.S. government was in ANY WAY involved in the attacks of 9-11?
- 6. Do you believe that we can achieve an actual victory in Iraq in any form?
- 7. If you believe that we can achieve victory in Iraq, what do you think the USA must do to make it happen?
- 8. If you believe there exists the possibility for victory in Iraq, can that victory be won thru diplomatic negotiations? If you answer yes, who would these negotiations need to include?
- 9. If you are a Democrat, who is your candidate of choice?
- 10. What are your feelings concerning the security of the USA and our borders and coastlines?
Please take these questions, provide introspection, and insert your comments as desired.
Thanks again to Texas Fred for this necessary series of questions.
BZ
1. Conservative, with an independent bend of late.
2. Rudy Giuliani
3. ALWAYS supportive of our Troops, but increasingly disgusted with our politicians for using them to score political points with either their own parties or voters, and with the MSM for ignoring the positive strides being made for all Iraqis by those same Troops
4. YES
5. NO
6. Only in the long term and with little or no interference from Congress or the Senate
7. Increase the numbers of Troops to all Units immediately; increase the funding to the Military; decrease the numbers of Military speaking as “un-named sources” to the MSM, which, I feel, greatly undermines the commanders and puts vital information into the hands of our enemies
8. No, we must NEVER negotiate with terrorists/insurgents from any part of the world
9. N/A
10. In my opinion, we need to: significantly increase the number of border patrol agents, the U.S. Coast Guard, and port authority officers; vigorously enforce existing deportation laws; exert constant pressure on Canada and Mexico to BE, not become at a future unspecified time, part of the solution; immediately suspend any and all ideas of a U.S., Canada, Mexico union (although this Canadian has always been in favour of a U.S./Canada union).
THANK YOU, Texas Fred for creating this survey, and thank you, BZ, for allowing me to give voice to my opinions. Also, you take very good photographs.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
1. Jacksonian.
2. Rudy – the mob is the closest thing you have to transnational terrorism and he took down the NYC mob backing the democrats. The man needs to learn that President is *not* super-Mayor.
3. Iraq is a strategically defensive war, along with Afghanistan. It is vital to the survival of the Nation State system. It *must* reach a stable and accountable Nation State, regardless of type, for Nation States to survive. We must understand that the Nation has other powers, including war powers, enumerated in the Constitution, and all of them must be used if we are to survive as a Nation. We can ‘win’ in Iraq and still lose… if Iraq goes into chaos, then all bets for civilization are *off*.
4. Directly involved, as in ‘the plot’? No, it bears al Qaeda hallmarks of their Template lifted from Aum. Indirectly via aid, support, funding, training and such to al Qaeda? Yes. You don’t have to pull the trigger if you train your confederates well.
5. No. We were clueless. Still are in far too many ways.
6. Yes. Getting civil government to properly stand up and get *any* level of trust will be years in the doing and most likely a decade or longer. That said the Iraqis are at the 35-50% point on self-protection, so it will not be US fighting aid that will win if we stick to the job now.
7. I can find a few hundred billion in pork that would be a *real* good start… what needs to happen is *real* manufacturing capability has to get started there, which I outline in the upgrade partnership plan. The Middle East needs to see that this thing called ‘working for a living’ can yield a good life. That is currently not present in the Arab mindset and needs to be set down and hard someplace. The cycle of tyranny needs to stop by their People finding value in themselves. A People who value themselves and can protect themselves and have an accountable Nation is victory, not an end to fighting. Israel has not stopped fighting, and yet it has these things.
8. No. That is the path to failure and has been so for 90 years.
9. There are very few Jacksonians left in the Democratic Party. I have never been a Democrat. Nor Republican, for that matter.
10. There is *no* border security in the US, nor security at the Ports of Entry. We are on a timeline to disaster. It is not a question of *if* the next strikes come, but of when, how often and how lethal they will be. We are at war, and best we learn that down to our bones, or it is the chains of slavery we will face along with the loss of liberty. The pleasant and quaint 20th century is over now, and our enemies wish to drag us back to an era before 1648. That conflict saw 15-20% of Europe dead. We face that on a global scale if we do not fight as a People who want to have a Nation.
I am by nature a pessimist and I believe in the Freedoms given us to choose a better way. We strolled into Hell from a bright and sunny day and there is no way back. But we can *march* through and out and make Hell pay. And, like Churchill pointed out, don’t stop.
1) libertarian (small “l”)
2) Probably Mitt Romney. Gulianai’s not bad either. McCain is a facist.
3) Reservedly in favor of undertaking it to begin with, unwaveringly for following through.
4) Of course not.
5) Of course not. Occam’s Razor applies.
6) Yes.
7) The U.S. must stay in Iraq until and long after Iraq is stable.
8) Not entirely, but they have to be part of any solution. They should involve legitimate political concerns, not terrorist organizations calling themselves political parties.
9) Not a Democrat.
10) Close ’em. Unf*ck the naturalization process so people who want to be Americans can do so. Prosecute and incarcerate/deport illegal immigrants. Enforce the damn law, that’s really all I ask.
Deborah: thanks for the kudos on photographs. And thanks for your input!
AJ: Excellent! Thank you!
Robo: Libertarian with a little “l”, eh? I too have a portion of the Small l in me as well.
BZ