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The nomination of Dr. Rice

Posted In: Editorial — January 26, 2005 @ 3:19 pm — Peter

Senator Byrd - Speech

I heard this on KGNU this morning and thought it was a great speech opposing the nomination of Dr. Rice. While she will likely be walked right into office and any dissent will be cast aside, it is nice to know our elected officials are contesting her appointment. She is part of this gang of thugs that thinks we can bully ourselves to a sound state of national security. This is such flawed logic… The more muscle flexing we do around the world, the more people will hate us. The more nations we invade, the more insurgent uprisings with thwart our efforts. We need to transcend these primitive tactics and explore more evolved types of diplomacy. As long as there are massive groups of people living in poverty and squalor, the world will hate us. The US needs to engage in massive philanthropic efforts to rid the world of chronic poverty and hunger. If these conditions did not exist, it would be much more difficult for insane dictators to take power. Instead, we oppress the populations of third world countries by exploiting their labor forces, and ignoring issues of poverty that could be remedied with the same amount of spending we have allocated to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are we willing to commit massive resources to these efforts for a false sense of security, when we could channel the same resources toward poverty alleviation and gain real security? This quote sums up my feelings best…

“Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.” –Abraham Flexner

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