I'll Take That With a Side of Censorship, Please

I seem to have developed a reputation for being "passionate" about politics. I put passionate in quotes, because its the nice way that people say "Bethany, you're completely insane. Please shut up." I was never like this before. I believe that certain circumstances in my recent past have awakened in me a zeal for politics, or more specific, a crazed obsession that causes me to spout out my opinions on things happening on The Hill. Typically said spouting is neither asked for nor desired by the parties that find themselves victim to it.

I often try to censor myself as to not offend anyone with my opinions, but I'm beginning to believe that perhaps censorship is a farce. Perhaps, people should be able to divulge their thoughts without fear of reprehension from others. It is, after all, a constitutional right. The right to speak one's mind is one that should be taken advantage of, in a proper way. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not speaking of self-righteous blabbering that has no concern for anyone else's feelings. I simply mean that one should be able to talk about one's opinions in a thoughtful manner and not feel fear of needing to be "politically correct."

That being said, I have become very afraid about our country in terms of foreign affairs. There is a gent by the name of Oliver North that some of you may have heard of who seems to have things spot on in terms of our President's knowledge on foreign matters and the history surrounding it. Apparently, President Obama has been quoted as saying that he wants to restore the "respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." Funny... History shows that such "respect" and "partnership" between the US and Muslim countries most certainly did not exist 20 or 30 years ago. 1979, 30 years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran returned to his country and led the Islamic Revolution, and declared the US "the Great Satan." I don't sense any partnership or respect here. Oh, and also, the US embassy in Tehran was attacked and 53 American citizens were held captive for well over a year. Partnership? Respect?

OR, how about 20 years ago? Maybe there was some respect and partnership there. Let's see, shall we? Yeah, pretty sure that the Libyan dictator attacking a US Navy ship isn't exactly a sign of a partnership. Or, Khomeini issuing an order for a British novelist to be killed because of a book he had written. Nope... No respect there.

Now, mind you, currently in Iran there are college students setting themselves on fire as a demonstration against the US. There is propaganda covering the streets, store fronts, school campuses... all calling for the death of the Great Satan. Obama wants to have a diplomatic relationship with these countries that loathe and despise us. I can't blame him for not wanting to go to war, but seriously, this isn't exactly a schoolyard squabble between friends.

How on earth can he know how to deal with these nations that want to destroy us if he doesn't know the past? If he wants to get back to this mystical existence of tolerance and peace and love and happiness... Maybe that time should have existed in the first place. If it did, it certainly wasn't 20 or 30 years ago as he seems to think.

This is really a frightening fact... The President of the "leader" of the Western world is basically ignorant as to our past relationships with the nations over the big pond. Ones capable of building nuclear weapons to wipe us off the face of the earth. I guess we can only pray that his advisers and cabinet are more informed than he is.

I am not saying any of this to bash Obama. After January 20th, he became my President just as much as yours. I will respect him for the office that he carries, but this does not mean that I have to agree with him or appreciate his ignorance. All presidents have their faults, but he is coming into office with a massive handicap in the form of inexperience. His lack of a background in politics and his obvious inattention to detail in history is putting him in a danger zone with the potential to make some staggering mistakes.

We can only hope and pray that he does the country good on the domestic side. We may be completely screwed otherwise. God bless America.

Click to read Troubling Talk by Oliver North