May 28, 2007

Memorial Day: Dishonoring the Sacrifices

Memorial Day is supposed to be a time to remember and honor those who have given their lives for this nation and its founding principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is also a welcome break from the constant political theater in Congress disguised as public policy, which dishonors our military heroes and heroines.

Attempting to hijack the president’s authority with a date specific withdrawal from Iraq was a waste of time. The president said he would veto that idea, and he did, even though the Democratic leaders included the illogical concept in the war funding bill. This just created an unnecessary distraction for our military leaders, and gave the media several weeks of a “showdown” that never was.  

The Democratic leaders and political spin masters are now trying to say that they did not retreat on their demand for a mandatory withdrawal date from Iraq, because they will never give up on the idea. Most of us do not care how they spin it, as long as our military fighters get the maximum support possible to fight for this country.

Most of us do care, however, that the president did not blink. Just because the public has grown weary of the daily dose of reports about the ugly realities of war, war weariness is not an excuse to cut and run, announce a date for certain withdrawal from Iraq or think we can bury our collective head in the sand and the terrorists will leave us alone.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not been able to do his job for the last several weeks, because of the unending congressional hearings related to whether he improperly fired some federal prosecutors. So far, there’s been a lot of smoke and no fire. And even before the hearings are completed, the Democrat-led Congress has scheduled a “no confidence vote” for mid-June. It sure would be nice if Congress would pursue terrorists with as much vigor as they are pursuing Mr. Gonzales, so Mr. Gonzales can get back to work.

And now that gasoline prices are on the rise again and people will be taking Memorial Day trips like they usually do, the media is working itself into a gasoline crisis frenzy to blame the evil oil companies again. And not to miss a tantalizing media moment, Congress passed a “gas price gouging” bill, which was put on a fast track using special House rules. This would allow members of Congress to be able to say back home during the Memorial Day recess that they were doing something about high gasoline prices.

Never mind that the “bill” has more holes in it than old Swiss cheese. Never mind that no one can quantify what is meant by “unconscionably excessive”. Never mind that the language is so vague that it invites lawsuits. And never mind that the bill will do absolutely nothing to impact the cost of gasoline, which is driven by world supply and demand.

Congress does not and should not try to control gasoline prices. That’s the purpose of a free market system. Excessive constraints on domestic oil drilling and refinery capacity have made us more and more dependent on foreign oil for the last 25 years. This so-called gas gouging bill just creates another annuity program for lawyers if it becomes law. 

The recently proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill has moved to the front of the dishonors parade. Congress did not expect the level of public outcry, because as usual, they have not been listening to real people outside the Washington Beltway. One response to the bill printed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (May 24, 2007 “The Vent”) expressed the frustrated reaction of a lot of people. “I am beyond anger. My family has fought to preserve our republic in every war since the Revolution and today my two senators and our Congress are set to give it away to an illegal invasion.”

Presidential candidates are not left out of the dishonors parade. In a recent speech, John Edwards called the phrase “war on terror” a bumper sticker slogan designed for politics. Technically, the war is against world wide Islamic fascism, where terror is the means by which our enemies try to break the resolve and determination of the people of this country. I don’t think those who died for this country would have been real concerned about political semantics.

Political theater, hearings to nowhere, empty gasoline legislation, citizenship giveaways and politicizing the semantics of war are the media-driven consequences of the very freedoms so many have given their lives to protect. And I’m sure all of the dishonors parade participants would be quick to deny that there was any intent to dishonor our fallen soldiers.

Over 640,000 heroes and heroines have died for this country since World War I. We can only wonder if they would feel honored this Memorial Day.