ON HOLD
There are quite a few subjects which are going to remain “on hold” until the presidential election is completed.
It is unfortunate, but that is the way it works. Both major political parties avoid stirring up anything which might be misunderstood or purposely twisted to bring about their ruin.
As an example and of prime importance as soon as we feel we can discuss it safely, is the obvious fact that American forces in Iraq are going to have to be expanded, it is becoming increasingly evident that we are going to have to re-establish some form of military draft to expand our armed strength. We cannot continue to “draft” men and women from the National Guard. It is limited and, unfortunately, recruiting has dwindled due to the continued and, in some cases repeated calls to active service .We will have to be content with talk about shorter tours of duty, perhaps. Many feel we have mis-used the National Guard in recent years, anyway. There was time when regular army personnel looked upon the National Guard as a way for some men to avoid being drafted, and they sometimes scoffed at it as a haven for son's of rich men. Certainly some individuals whom I have known joined the National Guard limited service programs to avoid induction. The National Guard, in most cases, was thought of as being a civil defense force . They have been “called out” by several presidents to prevent civil disturbances - strikes, segregation and disasters -natural and otherwise. An echo of this past estimate of the National Guard have almost surfaced in criticism of George W. Bush having served in the Guard. Each time it has been mentioned it has been quelled because to hold that body up to any ridicule which now constitutes the backbone of our armed forces could be a costly thing on Election Day.
Don't expect to hear abut any meaningful changes in our foreign trade problem, either - trade deficits and a continued flow of American jobs and manufacturing facilities to overseas locations. That, too, is on hold until after election day when, it is hoped, we can return to the relatively calm land of ordinary living.. I find it interesting that we can become a people so markedly divided in so many vocative ways can ways can, still find it possible to seek and actually find an amazing sense of peace and unity.
The federal budget and the continued existence of Social Security programs and Medicare will be back on the desk for changes without all the pseudo-dramatic tenseness, frantic warnings of imminent dissolution and bankruptcy and such colorations so artfully applied in pre-vote days, weeks and months. I ,for one, will be glad to witness the return of normal times so we can get on with our lives. We will, no doubt, look back upon this particular presidential race as have been the one when we had an unusual series of hurricanes which struck Florida, in particular, and, we hope, blew away all evidence of chads and uncounted ballots so noticeable during the last election. We won't hear much about that subject either until the election decides - one way or another we hope, this time.
A.L.M. September 26, 2004 [c547wds]
