Wed 06 Oct 2004 issue of the Ellensburg
Daily Record (Ellensburg, Washington)... written by Mathew Manweller...
Central Washington University political science professor...
"Election determines fate of nation"
"In that this will be my last column before the presidential election,
there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too
serious, and the stakes are too high.
This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that
will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation
crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies
retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence.
Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the
daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the
consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history. If we, in a spasm of
frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message
to the world and ourselves will be two-fold.
First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things.
Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon
the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the
Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will
signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle
difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the
mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations. The defeat of
President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may
need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions.
America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history
regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn
away from who we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson
of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you
don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in
the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated
America.
Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracing polls will do the heavy
lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia
times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist
in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of
American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly
photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people.
Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that
he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the
homeland.
It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest generation'.
But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's 'last
generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in
the fire of WW II, they may be the last American generation that
understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to
admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by
many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake
'living in America' as 'being an American.' But America has always been
more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real
estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.
This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp
the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion
they may deserve.
I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election
of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on
the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks
of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal
sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as
caretakers of the City on the Hill."
