America's fear of second-guessing
Now there's a problem isn't it? Kerry's a waffler, Clinton was a waffler, in fact every democrat I can think of in the past few years has been a waffler. Come to think of it, more than a few Republicans have been wafflers too. Thank Goodness!
No, people will say-- you must "stick to your guns" and "stay the course." Well, sure that type of approach is good as long as your open to new ideas. Frankly, anyone that sticks to anything for the sake of sticking is making a HUGE mistake. Even visionaries evolve in their thinking. As the experiences of life continue, more information is gained, and better choices can be made. Can you imagine if one day you suddenly say "Ok, that's it" I know all I need to know. Well, I hope your grocery store doesn't go out of business or your friends don't move--Caus' you'll be out of luck won't you! Education and learning are life long activities that don't stop just because you've left high school or college.
A lot of attention has been paid recently to Kerry's votes in Congress, that somehow because you vote for something, then information changes, and you speak out about that change, you are not a solid thinker. May I suggest that this is utter nonsense.
Let's take the Patriot Act for one. There are a lot of good provisions in this Act for seamlessly allowing information sharing between federal agencies. Great. Everyone is for this. Now comes some different information, buried in the Act. The government can secretively monitor you, go into your house without your knowledge, or, take you for questioning and hold you indefinitely, if they suspect you of being or knowing and international or domestic terrorist.
At first that sounds OK, I'm not a terrorist you think. Well, how do they define terrorist? or terrorism? How do they define know? If you go to the same place everyday for coffee and chat with the owner do you "know" him? If it turns out he or she is a terrorist or sympathizer are you accepting of the possibility that you might be questioned without a lawyer and held until they can prove to their satisfaction that you aren't in league with him or her. Remember even a guilty person will say they don't know anything about what they want.
More importantly, the thinking person will say hmmm there's a problem there. I don't like that part of the Act. In fact, many people in the Congress thought the same thing and decided to put a "Sunset Clause" on the Act. During 9-11, an emergency time, Congress gave President Bush a pass in the interest of national security saying ineffect: "during this time of crisis we will suspend some personal rights in order to be safe" They knew that the sunset clause would allow things to go back to normal in a few year's time.
New information comes in that President Bush wants to make the Patriot Act PERMANENT The part that made people uneasy is still in there. Now there is no protection from the government in using this act. Remember the government can use any means at its disposal to prosecute someone and in fact considers doing so its duty. If they can get someone suspected of a terrorist charge, the doors open wide as to how they can pursue them. Who wouldn't use a tool like that if they could.
So Kerry says this is no good, I don't like this new information, so he speaks out against it, because this new information makes a huge difference in what was originally proposed.
In the world of politics, or anything else, being open to new ideas helps people make BETTER decisions because they have a larger, more informed perspective. Don't discount someone because they are willing to explore the situation further and come up with a new and better conclusion.