The Herald News
Posted Oct 10, 2008 @ 05:38 PM
Once again, we find our nation in dire straights at the hands of and due to the Republican administration.

John McCain professed loudly that his campaign should be put on hold due to the financial crisis. A pure political ploy much like that which he accused Barack Obama of a few weeks back. It appears that the McCain campaign is starting to flounder and he is starting to increase the use of dirty politics and lies about his opponent much like Bush did, to not only him during the Republican nomination process eight years ago, but also during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 to Al Gore and John Kerry.
This campaign and upcoming election has been mired in the absolutely irrelevant issue of McCain picking Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate, and Sen. Hillary Clinton not winning the nomination and then not being asked to be a running mate.

This election is about so much more than that inconsequential issue. This election is about returning the United States to its people. It is about repairing the damage to our country and those liberties, rights and principals that set us apart from all other countries. It is about the treasonous acts committed by the Bush administration. Those acts include the suspension of Habeas Corpus by dogmatically characterizing enemy soldiers as enemy combatants. It is about the U.S. invading a sovereign country for reasons based on lies by the administration. It is about the resulting loss of more than 4,000 valiant and dedicated soldiers who go where they are told without questioning their orders.

It is about the invasion of privacy by using illegal wire taps and subsequently ignoring the Constitution they swore to uphold. It is about the outing of a covert CIA employee and the termination of federal judges for political reasons, just to name a few.
There are many more immoral and illegal actions committed by this administration that can be noted. All are reasons for impeachment, yet we find our nation struggling with a decision coming this November. We find ourselves actually trying to decide who should lead our country. It should be clear that McCain is another four years of Bush.
He has continually sided with the Bush administration. He has been either in the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate since 1982 and has been part and parcel of the legislations that have allowed big business to live by different rules than the average citizen as well as receive relief in the form of government subsidies and bailouts. Where is ours after all we have been paying for big business? He has sided with the Bush administration on every action that flew in the face of the U.S. Constitution. He has helped this administration commit troops to battle knowingly based on lies and misinformation. Troops should never go to battle unless it is a last resort. I know ... I am a Vietnam combat veteran.

Capitalism is not about saving floundering businesses, yet McCain and the Republicans think so. Liberty, freedom and justice are not about changing the rules as you go to fit your desired outcome. They are precise in their intent, design and permanence.
Being a soldier in this country is not about fighting wars that exist for the sake of big business and imperialism. In this country, being a soldier is a noble profession as witnessed by our previous historically righteous reasons for sending them into combat.
Our country needs to change its direction and regain its principled place in the world's society.

Michael Buckley

(Herald News)