In the classic movie, "Animal House", college students pledging for a fraternity had to endure a spanking with a paddle as one their tests of manhood. And after each spanking, the pledge would say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Here we are in our national fraternity house, having experienced the political and economic destruction that has been done to this country. Yes, we have all taken a massive spanking, to say the least. And yet, a sizable portion of our population is still ready to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another (eight years)?"
But, it's not funny at all, because this is a very serious time in our nation – deadly serious. This is one time when we better learn from the painful lessons of the past eight years or our future will be more painful than we can imagine. When you think of the many bizarre twists and turns this nation has taken under the corrupt and incompetent Bush/Cheney administration, it boggles the mind to think that a good part of America may be fooled into voting for the second-coming of this administration – The Palin/McCain team. Oops, strike that! I meant the McCain/Palin team.
If Obama and Biden win, will America quickly undergo a transformation that will see the major problems that this nation currently faces rapidly fade; that will quickly end the Iraq occupation and bring our troops home? Will it restore our faltering economy, heal our political divisions, reenergize the Congress, solve our energy problems by curing our addiction to oil, and bring comprehensive medical insurance to all Americans? Of course not. Such a transformation will not come easy; it will take time, dedication, courage and tremendous effort. But such a change in who leads this country will stop the bleeding and allow America to begin the tremendous task of healing, restoring, and rebuilding our national infrastructure and our national psyche. The disastrous direction in which we have been heading can begin to be reversed and, before too very long, America will fully awake from the horrific nightmare that has tortured our minds.
So, are we talking about supporting and voting for the lesser of two evils? No, but let's say that we must choose between two candidates with two totally different agendas for America. We Americans now must back the candidate that we think presents the best possible chance to change the direction of our nation, even though we cannot and will not accept some of that candidate's positions. That is reality; we can either do that or just refuse to vote and watch this nation disintegrate. Obama may be far from perfect with faults and shortcomings, but I believe that McCain and his totally unqualified VP candidate will do great, lasting damage and destruction to America.
John McCain, the free-wheeling gambler, has made a stunning decision to put the unqualified, very inexperienced Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, into a position in which she could easily become the President of the United States, the so-called leader of the free world. Talk about nightmare scenarios; that "my friends", would become the greatest nightmare in the history of America. John McCain, now 72 years old, has now decided that he will jeopardize the future of America and the world in his totally reckless decision that he hopes will bring him the presidency. "My friends", if he succeeds, our nation will be led by a rapidly fading politician and a hockey mom who lacks the necessary experience and credentials – and then may God have mercy upon America's future and our national soul.
Hopefully it will never come to this, but just try to picture this hockey mom turned president in the role of JFK as he stood face to face with Nikita Khrushchev when Russia tried to install missile launchers in Cuba and the world was at a point of explosion in 1962. Just think about today's new Russia, resurrected from the ashes of the old Soviet Union, with its massive power derived from tremendous natural gas and petroleum reserves, beginning again to rattle its potent sabers. Just picture Palin meeting Putin face to face, eye to eye, in a scenario in which Russia and the US are standing at the brink of nuclear war. Think about that, think about it very deeply. For if we ever get to that point in our history, America will experience a nightmare of such proportions that we cannot imagine.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If the American electorate, having been fooled in 2000 and again in 2004, lets itself be fooled yet again – then it's one, two, three strikes and America is out!
Michael Payne
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