Tonight I went to an independent film theater here in my town called Ragtag Cinema-Cafe. Me and my roommates and two other friends watched George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck
It was quite entertaining, and a good break from studying (which I have done plenty of lately and is cause for the lack of updates; tests are now only two weeks away). It is about CBS reporter Edward Murrow's criticism of Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950's for his methods of hunting communists. The result of the historical confrontation was Senator McCarthy being investigated by the Senate. I think the film is great and I highly recommend it.
I think oftentimes people in power can go on such "witch-hunts", looking for opposition or attempting to find opposition in order to create a scare, and help to keep themselves in power. Sometimes it's manipulative, but what if it wasn't? What if the person in power themselves were convinced there was a danger? What if evidence did point that way? Some say that intelligence on Iraq was exaggerated, was a witch-hunt, much like McCarthy's witch-hunt of communists in the 1950's was an abuse of power and a spook. Well, what happened in the past with Iraq is already past us. What's been done is done. However, the future is still before us.
Democratic Senator and decorated Vietnam veteran John Murtha within the last week proposed a plan for troop withdrawal from Iraq that was met with fierce opposition by Republicans, and caused Republicans to force a vote on immediate troop removal. The vote failed miserably, and caused one of the greatest uproars the legislature has seen in history. Democrats accused the Republicans of misinterpreting Murtha's plan for a gradual pullout, while Republicans held strong to a "do not abandon our soldiers, don't show weakness to terrorists" front they have presented for some time now.
We got our hands in the mess, and regardless of the past, we need to clean them now. For our country to healthfully move forwards, I believe that Democrats and Republicans need to work together. I'll say it again, in italics; Democrats and Republicans need to work together. Instead of these he-said-she-said back and forth fighting about I-wanna-do-this-I-wanna-do-that politics, our lawmakers need to, simply put, play nicely and learn to cooperate. John Kerry isn't evil, he's smart, but not always right. John Murtha is not a coward, but a concerned statesman. Dick Cheney isn't the devil's advocate, but he isn't always right either. Bush actually does care about America, despite what you may think and despite what he might be doing. Probably the first step to a politically healthy America is for everyone to sit down on their hands and have a timeout until they're not so angry, and then stop pointing fingers and start producing plans to correct what problems we have.
Good night, and good luck.
