Tuesday's Election Is Really About One Issue

OCTOBER 26, 2004
by GREGORY J. RUMMO

          WHEN VOTERS GO into the booth on Tuesday and pull the lever that draws the privacy curtain behind them there will at least be one thing to look forward to on Wednesday: Finally, the dizzying spin from TV talking heads, talk-radio hosts, partisan sycophants and newspaper columnists about which issues are the really important ones in this year’s presidential election will cease.   

            But before the cacophony fades, let me take this opportunity to add to it with one last column on this year’s election.

            When voters enter the booth this year, there will be one central theme on their minds—terrorism—expressed something along the lines of this sentiment: Under which candidate will my family be safer in the next four years?

            The myopic among us who have been duped into preferring a return to the days when Islamo-facism was merely a smoldering brush fire, contained on another continent, will vote for John Kerry, a man who has committed to keeping America’s head solidly in the sand much like his stump-mate Bill Clinton, who for eight years responded with limp-wrists to terrorist attacks against American interests abroad.

            But these voters are missing the larger picture.

            Unless terrorism is dealt with decisively, we can forget about all of the domestic issues important to Americans such as the economy, education, health care, an energy policy that addresses the rising price of oil, gasoline and natural gas and even cultural issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. 

            The reason should be obvious: If we lose the war against terrorism, then Western civilization—our way of life as we know it—is doomed.

            The choice between the two candidates could not be clearer. John Kerry says he wants to defend the United States against terrorism. Even if that were true—and his voting record in the Senate has been consistently one of “weakness and inaction” in the words of George W. Bush—defending America in the 21^st-century simply isn’t good enough. We are dealing with monsters who behead their own people, murder innocent women and children and excuse it all as the “will of God.”  

            The correct course of action is to stay on the offensive. Terrorists must be rooted out and exterminated en masse like vermin. Despite what the critics say, the president’s aggressive war on terrorism has, thus far, prevented another attack in this country.

            Earlier this week, the president reminded Americans about the primacy of this issue on the campaign trail in Greeley Colo. during a speech to a crowd of excited supporters.

            He said, “The choice is not only between two candidates. It is between two directions in the conduct of the war on terror. Will America return to the defensive, reactive mind set that sought to manage the dangers to our country or will we fight a real war with a goal of victory?”

            Rudi Giuliani who was stumping with the president added his remarks, “We can’t take a chance in going back to where we were before September 11, 2001, with someone who can't seem to make up his mind whether terrorism is serious or a nuisance.”

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President Bush has been consistent since first addressing the country on the evening of 9/11, when he made very clear what America’s response to terrorism would be in the days ahead: “The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

Have we so quickly forgotten?

On Tuesday, Americans will make a choice that will profoundly affect not only this country but the world. And the ripple effects will extend out well beyond the next four years.

This year’s election is not about “the economy, stupid,” or “jobs, jobs jobs,” or “affordable health care.”  

Like it or not, America is leading the fight against an enemy with an ideology every much as hideous as was faced in the 20^th century when Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich threatened to overtake the world.

Americans must be equally resolved to defeat terrorism as we were in our rout of the Nazis during World War II.

            Tuesday affords us the opportunity to send a message to the world. Will we stay the course or cower in the face of evil?

            That is the issue you will be deciding when the curtain closes behind you. n

 Gregory J. Rummo is an author and syndicated columnist. His latest book, “The View from the Grass Roots—Another Look,” was just published. Visit GregRummo.com  for more information.