Editorial-

Democrats Will Bear Burden
Of Hope When Taking Power

Where to go from here?

There was certainly something great to celebrate, individually and collectively, as a result of the recent mid-term elections, but not solely out of partisanship, although that was certainly justified given how the Republicans conducted themselves in the past dozen years. But no, even glee at a long overdue comeuppance is far overshadowed by the true reason for celebration, which is, simply and completely, the return of hope!

Once again it is possible to hope that America will live up to its history, its traditions, and become a brilliant beacon of freedom for the world to see, to hope to reach, to emulate where possible, and to admire, even if reluctantly. It is a hope that actual American democratic values will again be upheld, rather than the cynical facade of democracy used to mask imperialistic governmental aims and unfettered business goals.

It is the hope that never again will we witness an attempt by one political party to stage a complete and permanent takeover of the government, using every means short of widespread bloodshed to achieve the goal.

The word permanent is the key; there is nothing wrong with a political party striving to dominate, that is what political parties do to represent their various points of view, but there is something dramatically wrong when a dominant political party cuts the representatives of the opposite party out of all the processes its members were elected to participate in, and then tries gerrymandering and various other manipulations to assure electoral victories, and employs fear mongering to justify its actions, all in an attempt to assure that it will remain in power forever. It is to be hoped this will never happen again.

It is also to be hoped that America will never again become involved in a pre-emptive war. It is against the nature of the nation, and despite all of the desperate efforts of the GOP and its president, G.W. Bush, to scare the public into believing such belligerent, unilateral action was both necessary and justified, this recent Congressional election shows that, as it turns out, this remains the home of the brave, not the land of the timid and intimidated. That alone is reason for celebration, and it is a great hope for the future.

Americans have always been a candid and forthright people, blunt to the point of embarrassment amid some societies, especially those of the Old World. But the GOP strove mightily in recent decades to twist that attribute, so that prejudices rooted in social viewpoints and religious backgrounds stifled dialogue, making people wary of talking with each other freely about the nation and its political life. It is to be hoped that this can be ended, and once again Americans can exchange views reasonably and respectfully.

And it is to be hoped that American military power will not be shunned by the very people who own it – the American public – because of how badly the Republicans and their president, G.W. Bush, have misused it, but rather that American military power will be once again viewed with true conservatism; that is, as something that will be always ready but rarely used; something that offers realistic and justified pause for any enemy, and which whenever employed always has two co-equal goals; that is, victory and the welfare of its military personnel.

There is need for great hope here, because the very opposite has been true under the GOP. The Republicans misused America’s military might, apparently through the intellectual arrogance of the GOP leaders and their various advisors, in government offices and in so-called ‘think tanks,’ all too often funded by reactionary ideologues. Armed might in the exercise of imperial authority is not what America is about, and if that can be made clear by the Democrats after they regain power in Congress, there is indeed reason for hope.

It should also be hoped, and expected, that the Democrats, as they have done in the past, will again put their faith in the soldiers and not in the brass. The GOP played ugly games with the Pentagon hierarchy, and U.S. soldiers were sent to Iraq with inferior or non-existent body armor, and vehicles – the Humvee’s in particular – that were like tin cans for any enemy with an AK-47. U.S. soldiers should have the absolute best gear available anywhere in the world, and it should be in ample supply.

Mr. Bush and the GOP have spent countless billions through the Pentagon, but still American soldiers are struggling with equipment. It is to be hoped, through this election upheaval, that this will begin to be turned around and never happen again.

In the opinion of The Bradley Report, the American military is the finest in the world, yet it is the brave men and women who comprise the rank and file that make it so, and the hope must be that they will be not only exceptionally well trained, but also extraordinarily well equipped. It is a travesty that in a war where countless billions have been spent and are still being spent, American troops still must struggle with equipment.

And equal with all else, it must be hoped – actually, it must be demanded by all Americans of good faith – that U.S. servicemen and servicewomen be given full and complete medical services and resources for as long as they are needed. There are billions of dollars being spent for various political and geo-political purposes, unfortunately some of which – like the privatization of traditional military functions - will not stand much scrutiny, and that only underscores why there can be no justification for failure to fully support the veterans who have in fact served the military and often put themselves in danger on the behalf of the nation.

It must be hoped that recognizing what the GOP has done with the military will not result in any hesitation by the public that voted in the new Congress, or by the Democrats themselves, to support and rebuild the nation’s military.

The GOP Congress has consistently rubber-stamped the military adventurism of the George W. Bush Administration, and this directly led from a justified attack on the minions of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to an unjustified war against Iraq. Had the Bush Administration consolidated its victory in Afghanistan and put its energy into creating a modern state out of an 11^th century Islamic model, the world would have applauded and America’s standing around the globe would have been immeasurably increased, along with its security.

Of course, instead the GOP President and the compliant GOP Congress turned away from Afghanistan immediately after the first rush of victory, and went after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. This turned the Afghanistan effort into a forgotten, backwater war, where under-funded and under-supported American troops continue to fight with little help and hardly any recognition for their uncommon valor. The sad result is that the Taliban have reemerged; where is Osama bin Laden?

This year Afghanistan farmers have harvested a record crop of opium poppies. The flowers of death grow abundantly in the battlefields Mr. Bush abandoned.

Despite the super-patriotic hyperbole and incendiary rhetoric of Mr. Bush and his administration, backed and accented by the GOP Congress, the U.S. military has been stretched to such a degree that some reservists are now doing a third tour in what began as a pre-emptive war but has now transformed into a civil war, and the regulars of the armed services have been stretched to an even thinner degree, yet continue to provide exceptional service and devotion to duty.

The brave men and women who are serving in that bloody desert deserve every consideration from their nation, and it is hoped that a Democratic Congress will begin to assure that will be the case both on the battlefield and when they return home.

Similarly, it must be hoped that in the near future, extending to the distant horizon, America will not take away the wrong lessons from the G.W. Bush GOP debacle; that is, it can only be hoped that the nation will not shrink from military preparedness. America will need to be ready to stand firm in the face of totalitarian aggression, wherever its ugly face appears, and to fight when needed. But it must also be hoped that America will never again do so arrogantly and imperially; how counter-productive that is has been clearly illustrated by Mr. Bush and the GOP.

The challenge is now before the Democrats.

The nation, thankfully, in the recent election returned to the checks and balances intended by the Founding Fathers. Now it will be up to the Democrats to show grace and stature as they encounter and attempt to clean up the flotsam and jetsam resulting from the dirty whirlwind of GOP policies and procedures.

It can only, finally, be hoped that the Democrats will look to history and not to revenge, as tempting as the latter may be, in order to restore this great nation to its proper place in the world as the arbiter of justice, the protector of individual freedoms, of lawful conduct under all circumstances no matter how difficult or extraordinary, and the one place on the globe where the tyranny of fear cannot get a foothold.

MB