I Support Obama To Preserve The U. S. Constitution

If this message sounds the least vituperative, please know I do not mean it to be that way. I am passionately involved with politics because I see the ship of state in danger of being sunk by a tsunami of ideology, and it scares me to death.

So, what about this VP pick, Sarah Palin? I heard her speech at the Republican National Convention.

You know, the only reason I can see why she was chosen was this “narrative” thing her party’s strategists seem to think they can pull over on the American public. She was glib and patently dismissive of Sen. Barack Obama’s real experience and community service. She could stand in for Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter any day.

In fact, “conservative” spin doctors have been spinning the outrageous (and cynical, which is antithetic to John McCain’s essence) claims that she has more experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined, and much of the folks for whom red meat is red meat regardless of how putrid, will swallow it.

Here’s what they’re basing that claim on: the positions of mayor and governor are executive branch positions. Never mind the fact that the town had fewer than 7,000 people and the state of Alaska is one of the least populous states in the union; she has had to make “executive decisions.”

According to the town’s meeting minutes, the most momentous decision she had to make as town mayor was where to move the town dump. And she’s been guv all of 20 months.

Let’s forget for a moment that she is a woman and look at the qualifications. McCain has never been a mayor, a governor or the head of a company. He has never made an executive decision in his life, so following their own logic, Sarah Palin has more experience than John McCain!

So, that shows you how much value their statement about the Democrats versus her experience contains – none. She was not chosen for her statesmanship, but for her ability to attack. Fact is, she has a bachelor’s degree in journalism (versus Obama’s graduate law degree and professorship teaching constitutional law for more than a decade), is an extreme-fringe evangelical who wants creationism taught in public schools, and believes Jesus will soon return, as soon as the Apocalypse happens (I suspects she wants it to).

This from a woman who says the war in Iraq is “God’s task.” Never mind that oil and war profiteering long have been proven to be the true reasons we’re there.

She has often been observed hunting wolves and bear from a helicopter, does not believe global climate change is caused by humans and wants to take the polar bear off the endangered species list. As mayor, she tried to ban books from the local library.

Six months ago, Palin told members of the Alaska Independents Party – who advocate for a vote on secession from the union – to “keep up the good work” and wished the party luck on what she called its “inspiring convention.”

Do your own digging, if you don’t believe it.

Just recently, a Dutch intelligence team that had infiltrated the Iranian nuclear industry for purposes of sabotage were tipped off that an American attack on Iran was imminent, and fled Iran.

And in the midst of all this, Palin would be a literal heartbeat away from having to take over the presidency if McCain, who would be the oldest candidate ever to be elected to a first time as president, and who has had several bouts with melanoma, can no longer perform his duties.

You’ll have to excuse me if I find that quite worrisome. I think that would worry anyone who truly ponders the facts as they are, not as they are portrayed on television most of the time.

“Straight talk” is fine and dandy if the shortest, most simple answer makes you feel better, but the real world is a great deal more nuanced than that.

I want a president who will weigh the options in an international crisis from a standpoint of knowledge and understanding of differing global zeitgeists, not one of the ideology of military strength. The idea is to defuse or contain the bomb, literal or cultural, not to let it wreak destruction, damn the likelihood of collateral damage.

McCain could have chosen from any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could indeed step in and be an effective president. I find this choice ill-conceived and cynical.

Darn right, I am upset. I don’t think a bosun’s mate can captain the ship of state.

Three more thoughts when it comes to citizen versus corporate culture:

Thomas Jefferson warned the Continental Congress against the proliferation of corporate takeover of the commons, which is why we have socialized institutions like public education, libraries, law enforcement and fire protection, highway infrastructure and defense.

Why the phobia about socialized medicine, I don’t know? Yes, the Canadian system is far from perfect, but the Danish, Swedish and English systems are exemplary, according to citizens of those countries. We don’t need to pattern single-payor medicine after the worst example.

Pick the best points of the best examples, and fine-tune it to the American way of life.

Point two: Republican Teddy Roosevelt warned the American public that there is a global “shadow government not beholden to any citizen or country.” Yes, he really said that, as have many others of both parties.

It is not conspiracy theory, but fact. Follow the money: Who is pulling the strings?

Point three: Republican Ike Eisenhower warned the American public against the proliferation of the military-industrial complex. Ever since the onset of neoconservative ideology in American government, there has been a total disregard for this warning.

This is why I support a true patriot, a constitutionalist who will preserve the constitutional intent of our founding fathers: Barack Obama.

Jan Benschop lives with his wife, Linda, in Abingdon, Va., and is a retired science and technical writer. He is also a musician/songwriter and is working on a sci-fi novel.