THE WAY I SEE IT
by Don Polson Red
Bluff Daily News 5/28/2013
Fallen but not in vain; new supe; enemies
Honoring and remembering America’s fallen military
heroes must command our attention, not just on Memorial Day with services, but with
an appropriate attitude at all times. On that count, many of our citizens
unfortunately place different values on those who serve, their sacrifices, and
their lives, depending on whether they voted for their Commander-in-Chief and
support his policies. Many of us set aside the officeholder when offering our
unqualified reverence for lost lives and living veterans; we seek without
partisan blinders to recognize the good that has come, and the evil that has
been thwarted, in all of America’s admittedly imperfect wars and battles.
Let us hope and pray that blood, treasure and
sacrifice expended in Iraq, Afghanistan and the ongoing war against Islamic Al
Qaeda terrorists, do not end up squandered. The determination to translate “war
weariness” into wholesale retreat, abandoning gains in those countries and in
that cause, goes on. Such was the case in Vietnam when Congress refused to
provide agreed upon support to the free people of South Vietnam, and their
elected government, as brutal, totalitarian North Vietnam swept aside what
50,000 American lives, many times that in injuries, as well as what
freedom-loving people in the south, had secured.
Half a century earlier, in the Philippines, on the
other hand, the sacrifice of thousands of American soldiers was rewarded with a
free, western-friendly government and people whose loyalty accrued to
everyone’s benefit as they allied with America against Japan in WWII. Will we
come to regret—at President Obama’s doing—failing to protect the democratic,
egalitarian gains that replaced Saddam Hussein’s bloody tyranny? Suppressing
the abominations of Sunni terrorism against Iraqis? Will America’s departure
from Afghanistan leave a successful or a failed model of self-governance? A
nation friendly or antagonistic toward the Islamic terrorist war on America,
our western allies and values?
Foreseeable and preventable losses of American lives
have occurred at the hands of Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Libya, through
failure to take recommended measures to increase security at our diplomatic
mission in Benghazi. The Boston marathon bombing was preventable due to dropped
balls and failure to prudently identify the Tsarnaev brothers when Russian
sources raised red flags.
Obama seems to think that, with a wave of his hand and
well-crafted phrases from his teleprompter, he can simply pronounce the war on
terror over. Radical, and radicalized, Muslims are no less determined to impose
a caliphate and sharia law on western, particularly American, nonbelievers.
Dead citizens and military (as in the British soldier hacked to death near his
barracks) will not be prevented by such staged fanfare. Gains from military
sacrifices can be squandered; wars don’t end absent capitulation by a losing
side. Honoring the fallen requires that the living cherish that for which they
made their sacrifices.
Our newly appointed district 2 supervisor, Sandy
Bruce, gave a good accounting of herself at the Tea Party Patriots meeting. I
took notes, intending to devote more space than I now have to her responses.
Her biography is impressive and has been reported elsewhere in earlier
articles. The process by which she applied and was ultimately selected by Gov.
Brown seemed surprising but, nonetheless, a possible home run of an
appointment. Welcome to the “boys club.” As she made clear, her prior hats—a
county employee and union official—are now on the shelf while she looks at all
of her decisions from the point of view of the best interests of Tehama County
as a whole.
Brown could have picked someone from the Democrat
Central Committee but chose, in Ms. Bruce, a lifelong Republican who votes, as
she said to us, for the person and their track record rather than the party
label. I would hope that translated to Romney/Ryan last election but that’s her
private decision. Even though a county supervisor has almost zero impact on our
gun rights, a question on the subject elicited her firm support for the 2nd
Amendment, as well as the entire Constitution and Bill of Rights. No surprises
there.
On the potential for conflicts of interest, given past
county employment and union responsibilities, Bruce insisted it would not color
her decision-making, and that if it ever seemed a close call, she’d defer to
the county counsel’s office. She had no reservations supporting the other supervisors
in opposing AB 537, which would markedly shift the balance of power in favor of
public employee unions by mandating mediation at the request of either party;
both sides must consent now. That would be a huge power grab by union bosses
who could use the mediation process to force concessions from we, the
taxpayers, by imposing more generous terms on municipalities. If a private
sector union gets too greedy, the business employing them goes broke (as in
Hostess); public employee unions, through excessive demands, can always urge
tax hikes to satisfy the budget shortfall.
Finally, it should deeply disturb all but the most
partisan of liberal political hacks that Obama and his people would approach
conservatives, our groups and efforts to advance our principles to be akin to
“enemies” worthy of retribution, intimidation and persecution. Using the IRS,
OSHA, EPA or any other branch or agency is, to them, just a convenient, but
very thorough, all purpose hammer, cudgel or machete. If the imagery fits, they’re
Obama’s twits.
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