"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Gilly,

Do you think it might have been the same lies about weapons of mass
destruction that we all believed?

Thom,

It was about cowardice. When 9/11 happened a good number of people let their
emotions get the best of them. They wanted revenge and quashed all dissent
and branded anyone who said "wait a minute, let's think this thing through"
as a traitor.

The time to stand up to this was when it first happened. There were very few
who did. Here, in ASA, it was only the Navigator and he predicted the
outcome. In the US government it was those politicians who went went the
tide so they could get relected. It was relection over principle and good of
the country.

Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame. Congress failed to do its job.
The reason we are in such a mess is that a majority of people did not use
their heads.

Look at the debates here. It is either extreme right or extreme left. Very
little middle ground, no application of principles or morals, just party
politics and political expediency. Who is thinking out of the box or
thinking about the much larger picture of why these messes continually
happen regardless of who or what runs the country? No one questions the
actual system, they just simply want their guy running it.You can put Mario
Andretti behind the wheel of a soap box derby car but he isn't going to win
the Indy 500 no matter what. The amount of power in the hands of politicians
gaurantees that we will never have peace, equity, or a goal of the common
good. That day will come when Americans take back the responsibilities of
their own lives and reduce the scope of government - an anathema to
eitherpolitical party.
"The turn will come when we entrust the conduct of our affairs to men who
understand that their first duty as public officials is to divest themselves
of the power they have been given. It will come when Americans, in hundreds
of communities throughout the nation, decide to put the man in office who is
pledged to enforce the Constitution and restore the Republic. Who will
proclaim in a campaign speech: "I have little interest in streamlining
government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I
do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim
is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new
programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or
that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an
unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether
legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is
constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for
neglecting my constituents' 'interests,' I shall reply that I was informed
their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very
best I can." Barry M. Goldwater