Bush or Kerry
By
Dr Shahid Athar
US
One of the rules in
medical ethics is to take the lesser of the two
harms, i.e. which is more harmful to the patient
- a major operation or strong chemotherapy which
may kill the patient or not doing anything and let
ting the disease take its course.
Politicians have also
used this logic. Thus, when I asked an American
diplomat many years ago as to why did the USA support
Saddam Hussain in the Iraq-Iran war, knowing well
that he was a tyrant and had oppressed and killed
thousands of his own people, his reply was, “We
considered the Iranian Revolution as evil and we
had to take the lesser of two evils.”
Now that President Reagan’s
“Evil Empire” has collapsed, somebody has to fill
the void, Al -Qaida tried on 9/11 and the ultimate
burden fell on an American president to portray
the USA as a new colonial imperial power. Close
to 500,000 American troops are now stationed in
40 foreign countries. Ddoing what? Passing food
and candies or enforcing global US economic and
military domination on the pretext of the “war on
terrorism.”
Let us now bring this
rule of “taking the lesser of two evils” to the
home scene, i.e. US election only two weeks away
and decide how we are going to apply it in making
our voting decisions. It is wrong to call either
presidential candidate as “an evil.” They are not.
They are good patriotic Americans with their own
vision of America and the American people. Many
Third World countries would love to exchange their
sold out tin pot dictators with our democratic candidates.
But, there is evil in all of us, including myself!
So, let discuss which one is less harmful for us
in 2004-2008.
The political parties:
There is not much difference
in the two parties except how they plan to spend
our tax dollars. There is a saying in the USA that
when you are young and poor, you are a Democrat
and when you become rich and old, you become a Republican.
Democrats like to spend our money on welfare and
jobs while the Republicans expend it on defense
and business. The Democratic Party has more members
among the Afro-Americans, immigrants and minority
groups while the Republicans have more upper class
white Americans, Christian evangelists and business-minded
Americans as their members. They both compete with
each other supporting Israel and Prime Minister
Sharon’s policies. This will not change , no matter
who is in power.
The home front:
There is a basic division
on ethical issues. While Republicans are against
abortion, the Democrats are pro-choice, while Republicans
are against funding for Stem Cell research, Democrats
are in its favor. I do not read lips, thus the pledges
of not raising taxes are not taken seriously. With
so much deficit, there is no way the taxes will
not go up. While President Bush promotes the Patriot
Act in its entirety, Senator Kerry wants to amend
it and “end racial and religious profiling.” The
President is concerned about nuclear proliferation
and nuclear programs of certain nations, Senator
Kerry is also opposed to nuclear proliferation.
Foreign policy and the
war on terrorism:
I am not sure what Sen.
Kerry will do if elected but I know what President
Bush has done so far. On the pretext of waging a
war on terrorism, he has got us in a big mess and
I doubt Sen. Kerry will be able to get us out of
the quagmire in the near future. For a year or so
he will have to continue the policies of his predecessor.
Over a thousand American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis
have died unnecessarily (Iraq had never attacked
us). The war has cost us $200 billion now and there
is no end to the misery of the Iraqi people. Suddenly,
those who were not terrorists before 2001 were transformed
into terrorists by our attack and occupation of
their country. This has also alienated our “friends”
in the world and those who are “with us” are so
either because of money or arm twisting. I personally
feel the foreign policy of the current administration
has been a disaster and I hope President Bush, if
re-elected , would do a better job during his second
term.
The Choice:
The voters have a responsibility
to act on behalf of our children who will face the
consequences of our choice: the economy, environment,
collaboration with world community, dissolving the
culture of war and terrorism is the agenda on our
watch .The voters must decide for themselves as
to which candidate may be better for our economy,
for all Americans, and for winning the heart of
those who hate us abroad. We should not be like
the leader of one of the “axis of evil” country
who endorsed Bush on Oct. 20. Iran’s endorsement
will backfire against President Bush as those who
do not like Iran will vote for Kerry.
American Muslims, before
they expect the candidates to support them, must
put their house in order. They will find support
from like- minded peace-loving fellow Americans,
especially the religious community. The choice for
5% undecided voters is simple. If they like the
policies of President Bush and give him the mandate
to continue they should vote for him. However, if
they want a change, they should vote for Senator
.Kerry. What we do now affects our own homes and
the world we live in.
(Dr. Shahid Athar is
a naturalized US citizen and an author of 7 books
(www.islam-usa.com). He can be reached at sathar3624@aol.com
)
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