Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .
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Quote of the Day:
‘The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.’
— William Faulkner
Media Notice: Jim Babka will appear on the Jerry Hughes show today. Details are at the end of this message
Subject: The Future
President Bush revealed our future last night. He has no intention of leaving Iraq, and the Democrats lack the votes to make him withdraw. U.S. forces will be in Iraq past January 20, 2009, when a new President is inaugurated. That’s another 16 months.
We will be in Iraq even longer than that. Even if the new President wants to leave, it will take several more months to do so. The U.S. may be there for as long as another two years.
But it could get worse. President Bush wants us to stay in Iraq forever, like we have in Korea. He may get his way, no matter who wins the election in 2008. The same dynamics will still be at work on January 20, 2009. The new President will be afraid to be the one who lost Iraq. We have been here before.
Richard Nixon made a career accusing Democrats of losing China to the Communists. This was part of the inspiration for LBJ fighting in Vietnam — he didn’t want to be accused of having lost that country. Then, Nixon won the presidency in part because he claimed he had a “secret plan” to end the war, but . . .
Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the war was to continue it for many more years. He didn’t want to be blamed for losing Vietnam. He wanted to create conditions in which there could be a “decent interval” between departure and defeat. It’s very likely that the next President, and many members of Congress on both sides, will feel the same way about Iraq come 2009.
Think about what the Democrats have mostly been saying. For every Democrat who wants to leave Iraq there are two who have said they simply want to redeploy U.S. troops out of the conflict areas. But this would still leave us in Iraq.
Our presence in the Middle East inspires Muslims to radicalize in opposition. It makes us less secure, not more. But the more the Middle East radicalizes the more it will be argued that we must continue to be there, because the threat is increasing. This is a recipe for perpetual conflict, death, expense, lost liberty, and insecurity.
Is this what you want? If not, then we must change the incentives that create these bad outcomes.
We must change the American mind, so that citizens cannot be manipulated by fear mongering. We must change the media so that they do not engage in fear mongering. When we do these two things change, the politicians will change too, because they are mostly followers, not leaders.
How do we cause these changes? We do it by using the most powerful persuasion tool in the world: repetition. Tom Paine said it well: “Time makes more converts than reason.” Replace the word “time” with the word “repetition” and you have precisely what is needed.
We must use endless repetition on our fellow citizens, on the media, and on the politicians. We must make our message seen and heard by everyone, everywhere, every day. Doing this will require us to recruit a huge army. But the beauty is that the repetition we do now helps us to recruit more people to help repeat our message more often to a larger and larger audience.
This can be a self-perpetuating process. The more we do, the more we can do. It’s a simple plan. It’s also powerful. It’s the strategic equivalent of compound interest. The more you do, the more you can do.
You gain the benefits of this strategy by . . .
- Forwarding these messages to other people
- Pounding Congress as often as you can
- Contributing so we can reach more people faster
Every step you take is a step closer to the ultimate goal. Please take more steps today. Do one or more of the following . . .
- Forward this message to friends and ask them to join Downsize DC
- Send Congress an “I am not afraid” message and/or a “Do not attack Iran” message, including your personal reactions to the President’s plan for an endless presence in the Middle East.
- Make a contribution to expand our work
Please also tune in, call in, and/or send an email question or comment when I appear on the Jerry Hughes show today. This show is a great opportunity to spread the DC Downsizer message. Please support this show. Help us create “buzz!” You can do so by listening, but especially by calling-in or sending an email.
The toll-free call-in number is: 1-866-222-2368
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Time: 3:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Central, 1:00 PM Mountain, Noon Pacific
Length: 1 hour
Host: Jerry Hughes
Show: Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes
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Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.