Welcome

I belong to many email lists--some by choice--which span the entire political spectrum. Some of the stuff I read makes sense, some is entertaining, some is misguided, some I don't agree with, and some is so riddled with inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and logical fallacies that I'm amazed that people get paid to write this stuff.

In the past, when confronted with the latter, I was willing to hit delete and let people think & believe what they will. What harm could a dumb idea cause?

It turns out that some ideas are so bad they are dangerous.

We are currently in the 5th year of a war which has cost this nation trillions of dollars, has damaged our economy with crippling debt, in which over 4000 US soldiers are dead, an estimated 30,000 US soldiers wounded in action, countless others who will suffer from psychological & emotional trauma for the rest of their lives (and this does not even attempt to account for the cost to Iraqis, other nationals in the "Coalition of the Willing", and so-called contractors) with no end in sight. McCain has suggested that it could be another 100 years before this is finished (granted, I think he regrets the estimate). All because of a bad idea.

We now know that the rationale for going to war was fabricated, hyped, packaged and sold to the American people by our leaders who knew the truth and led us to believe otherwise (in kindergarten speak it's called lying), by ideologues who were presented with two sets of facts--one accurate and one inaccurate--and chose to bolster the inaccurate point, and by a society that was reeling from the shock that they were, like every other nation, vulnerable and wanted to feel powerful, secure, and dominant again.

Rather than holding these different factions accountable, they are still given the opportunity to act as "experts" and are still allowed access to power.

Regardless of what you feel is the best course of action now, the fact is that we should not be in this situation and if ideas were weighed solely on their merits we would not be. It is my hope that at this crucial time in our country's history that we will begin a dialogue where we can compare ideas and weigh them on their merits. It is my hope that people of all backgrounds and beliefs will contribute to this dialogue.