Our Only Issue This Year...

...in this election is the War On Terror.

Orson Scott Card wrote a slam-bang article on exactly why the Democrats have to lose this election. He freely admits that he doesn't like most of the Republican policies. That a lot of what the Republicans do makes his skin crawl and he wouldn't vote for the Republicans. But, he can't see the Democrats winning, and I'm in full agreement with this quote-

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.

It is a telling quote-and a terrifying one, too.

What does the Democratic party stand for these days? From what I can tell, and what I can see, they are for-

• Anything and anybody but Bush. George Bush is the Satan that leads the unholy trinity of authorites in the Bush White House (Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld), when he isn't being thought of as under the remote control of Karl Rove. That he is like the version of Regan on Saturday Night Live-when the public sees him, he's an amiable fool-but behind closed doors, he is a freaking Prince of Darkness. Whatever Bush does that is good is analized until up is down, black is white, and you get run over in a cross-walk because you think the stop light is really a go light. Whenever he does something bad, it's plastered over without context on every TV screen and newspaper editorial on the world.
  
  He is the Great Beast to the Democrats, and his defeat is their crusade. And, anything is acceptable to defeating the Beast in a crusade. Anything.
  
• International Authorities Can Save Us. The United Nations can save us from the War in Iraq-despite the fact that it is a haven for dictators of all stripes and couldn't run a 7/11 without crashing it into the ground in less than six months. The French and Germans can save us from Iraq and the Islamics-despite the fact that the French can't even keep Paris under control, the Germans are looking at a potential skinhead vs. Islamic riots in a few years, and both are waiting to go back into Iraq so that they can loot the country (er...establish meaningful economic ties, the same ones the had with Saddam Hussain).
  
  International negotiation and consensus will save us from North Korea-which won't happen. It was the fact that North Korea's patron, China, is looking at the smashing of a lot of their plans with a re-militarized Japan and South Korea, heightened US attention in the area, and a whole bunch of other things they don't want to happen. So, the Chinese jerked up North Korea short. And they expect them to save us?
• No Security Is Good Security. It doesn't matter to them if all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. You can't listen to phone calls that are going overseas, to people that are "of interest". You can't use strenuous interrogation techniques on somebody that should have the info you need to keep terrorists from blowing up a plane, but you have to respect their "rights". Ignoring the fact that under the Geneva Convention (as far as I can recall-your mileage may vary), the way that these people have been captured on the battlefield means that you could just line them up against the nearest wall and have them shot, and the only issue that you should have is a good wall backstop to keep innocent people from being hurt downrange.
  
  Why? Because we are "harming their rights"-rights which they do not have by any stretch of the imagination beyond a four-year education in a "progressive" college. And, this is despite the fact that our enemies regard our rights as weapons to use against ourselves.
• (Some) Big Buisness Is Bad. Wal-Mart is bad, because it comes into towns and kills small buisness and pays people shitty wages. And, it provides enough cheap stuff that people on the lowest economic brackets can afford to own more than one pair of shoes, one pair of pants, and one shirt-and it gives people something that can be considered health care if they hold on long enough.
  
  Microsoft is bad, because it owns the personal PC market. You have to work to find a computer that isn't running Windows in one form or another outside of servers. And, it has probably done more for the cause of bringing computers into every home than any of Steve Job's wet dreams.
  
  ABC/CBS/NBC aren't bad...because they show the Democrats in a good light.
  

There's probably more, but you get the idea. The question becomes...do they have any new ideas? The Democrats don't-all they are is what they oppose. They oppose the War. Oppose the security issues we need. Oppose anything that isn't bread and circuses for their constiuancy. Which is a pity...the Republicans need a loyal opposition to keep them on their toes. Now, they're the party of "we aren't the fracking barking moonbat Democrats...".

And, if they win...the War will get worse. Our enemies will see that we can be worn down and made to run if we take enough casulties. Iraq will fall into a real civil war, and you can bet that Iran will try to stir the pot there as much as they can, so they can take over. Those in Iran that are looking at the government with a mixture of fear and despisement will go underground-because they know that America will not support them.

You can see more planes blowing up. More people being killed on the Internet, being shown off like bloody fetishes to the cause of Allah. And, one day, a mushroom cloud over Chicago. Or New York. Or Tel Aviv. Or San Francisco. Because our enemies don't care what they kill, as long as their faith is safe. And, the Democrats will weaken the walls that keep us safe.

That, to me, is what this election means. And, the Democrats want to be a viable political party, they need to toss out the John Kerrys and their ilk out ASAP.