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 )