If You Can't Say Anything Nice

Didn't your mother say that to you when you were young? My mother did. Often. "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all!" She was right, too. As a kid I said way too many not-nice things, and I still do, to my shame. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 4, verse 6: "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Why am I bringing this up now? Well, for one, my mother is here visiting this weekend. :-) I love my mom - she's one of the most intelligent, easy-going, loving people I know. You should see her blast through a crossword puzzle. I'm amazed when I see it, especially since she was too poor to ever afford to go to college. All of her knowledge has come through her own effort. She reads a ton, and I can say that, without doubt, it's from her that I got my love for reading. Having a love for reading, and being pretty good at it, is one of the joys of my life, and it's helped me in so many ways. Reading well is a skill that everyone should develop at an early age. I have been blessed to have a mother that encouraged me to read. Happy Valentine's Day, Mom!

The second reason I am bringing this up is that I have been dismayed - even angered - by all of the partisan political mud-slinging that has been going on in the blogosphere and the major media lately.

I'm not talking here about honest political debate on the issues. Not at all - political debate is critically important. It's what keeps our republic working. It's one of the reasons that the First Amendment to the Constitution was written. Honest political debate is one of the foundations of our country, and by no means should it be stifled.

What I've been seeing and reading lately, though, no impartial observer would call honest political debate. It's mud-slinging - nothing more.

The most egregious example of this is the Bush AWOL story. The leftists, despite all kinds of evidence to the contrary, continue to fan the flames of this non-story. Whenever anyone provides evidence that the story isn't true, the promoters of the story continue to invent ever-more-bizarre conspiracy theories to keep the story alive. It has gotten to the point that it's really ridiculous. Kevin Drum, over at CalPundit, is one of the major promoters of this nonsense. At one time, I thought he was one of the few serious left-wing bloggers. My respect for him is gone. It appears that no matter how much evidence is released showing that President Bush honorably fulfilled his National Guard duties, Mr. Drum will invent some new reason to disparage the President.

The Bush AWOL story has been refuted so thoroughly (see Bill Hobbs' excellent coverage of this) that it's impossible for me to understand why those on the left just won't let it go. It appears to me that they've become so blinded by hatred for the President that they've lost touch with reality. It's pretty pathetic and sad, actually.

Unreasonable attacks on President Bush aren't the only thing bothering me. Now there are reports (The Drudge Report claimed to be the first, but that has been disputed) that John Kerry had some sort of affair with a young female intern. Nothing I can find substantiates the claim. The major media outlets aren't talking about it much yet. Of course, Kerry has denied the reports. There just doesn't seem to be much to this, at least, not yet.

You know, I think character in our politicians matters. It's important that they be honorable and truthful. I expect them to examine the facts behind the legislation that they consider, and then vote according to what they believe will be best for our country. Disagreement isn't a problem; reasonable people disagree on things all the time. As long as they honestly disagree, that's fine with me.

That doesn't seem to happen that much anymore, though. Both parties have, way too often, put the good of the party ahead of the good of the country. Personal power is more important than doing what's right. Again, both parties are behaving this way. It's despicable.

Those on the left will undoubtedly say, "Well, the Republicans started it with Clinton." OK, fine. Let's assume that it's true (I'm not conceding that it is; I'm just allowing that it is for the sake of argument). Does that make it OK to groundlessly attack President Bush? Do two wrongs make a right?

I have a proposal - one that will be completely ignored, but I'll make it nonetheless:

How about if we all seriously and honestly debate the issues for a while?

Democrats, since you all are the minority party right now, and a Republican is in the White House as well, the ball is really in your court.

•  Explain how you will make our country more secure. Let's hear some concrete, specific proposals, with dollar figures attached. Our national security is the issue I am most concerned about, and when I hear that your candidates will ask the United Nations for permission before we defend ourselves from bitter enemies, I am not inspired with confidence. Since when has France cared one bit for the safety and security of Americans? If you ever want my vote, you'll have to do much better than what I've heard thus far.
   
•  If you don't like what's happening in Iraq, tell us all what should be done, and how, and explain why it will be better than what's happening now. As far as I'm concerned, an early pull-out of our troops is not an option. The Iraqi people deserve the best that we can give to make their country a functional, secure and free democracy. That's going to take a while, and it will be difficult, but we've been successful in building democracies in the past, and we can be successful in Iraq, if we're persistent and courageous.
   
•  Explain how you will deal with the terrorism problem as a whole, and specifically, with Islamist terrorism arising in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. Are you going to deal with it as a law enforcement problem, or will you take stronger action? Will you confront terrorism vigorously or try to appease the terrorists?
   
•  What will you do about Israel and the Palestinians? The Islamist terrorists use the Palestinian issue as an excuse for their behavior. Palestinian terrorists (not "freedom fighters") continue to attack Israeli civilians, despite cease-fire agreements, in defiance of all of the "peace plans" that have been negotiated. Will your candidates support Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism? Will they demand that the Palestinian terrorist organizations be disarmed and disbanded? Will they support Israel's right to exist as a nation, and demand that the nations of the Middle East do so as well?
   
•  Explain your proposals for health care. Why is your plan better for America as a whole and, especially, for my family? How much will it cost? Will my family's health care be better or worse? Why? Tell me why I should accept worse health care for my family, in order to benefit someone that pays nothing into the health care system. It sure doesn't seem fair to me.
   
•  Explain how you will reduce the federal deficit, since that seems to be such a hot issue for you right now. Are you going to raise my taxes? Explain how that won't hurt the economy, when it seems to finally be turning the corner and is starting to consistently grow.

Rather than wasting my time attacking President Bush with irrelevant attempts to assassinate his character - really lame attempts at that - tell me how your agenda will be better for me and for the country. What will you do? I want specific proposals, with dollar figures that are backed by reasonable data, not crack-pot schemes that will raise my taxes through the roof, with no benefit to me or my family whatsoever.

So, what do you say? Can we stop the nasty politics of character assassination and talk about real issues? I'm waiting - but not holding my breath.

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful St. Valentine's Day. The origins of St. Valentine's Day are actually unclear, and it isn't known for certain who the "real" Saint Valentine was. There are three different historical martyrs that were killed on February 14th, and none of them are clearly the Saint Valentine. The tradition of February 14th being a day to honor romance and love apparently started in the Middle Ages.

In any case, have Saint Valentine's Day full of love with your sweetheart, friends and family.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13.

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