I've seen links to this editorial titled "
The Only Issue This Election Day" by Orson Scott Card from numerous sites. The background is that Card is a Democrat, but one that feels that the War on Terror trumps all other issues in the coming election. I found it fascinating, which explain the number of links it has received.
I say this as a Democrat, for whom the Republican domination of government threatens many values that I hold to be important to America's role as a light among nations.
It quickly becomes clear why Card isn't happy with the Democratic Party's stance on the War on Terror. Using phrases such as "light among nations" in reference to the United States seems to be the antithesis of Democratic Party's platform. In fact, Card almost states as much when he says:
To all intents and purposes, when the Democratic Party jettisoned Joseph Lieberman over the issue of his support of this war, they kicked me out as well. The party of Harry Truman and Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- the party I joined back in the 1970s -- is dead. Of suicide.
The rest of the piece deals with why he feels the War on Terror is so important--singularly important in his mind. It's an interesting read. His comments on nation building are particularly noteworthy:
Another charge against the Bush administration's conduct of the war is that they are engaged in the hopeless task of "nation-building." And this is true -- except for the word "hopeless."
But what is the alternative? I've heard several, each more disastrous and impossible and even shameful than the one before.
I am not sure I agree, but read the whole editorial to understand the context of the quote.
