I recently received an email from a reader who is upset about my "Blackfive Watch". Here is the email in it's entirety:
"Sir: Considering your site below: I believe Al Quaeda is trying to get us to give up and leave Iraq. If I'm understanding you correctly you advocate the same thing. We can go after our enemy two ways: 1) Withdraw from the world and make our country a fortress. Leave the rest of the world to our enemies. 2) Go kill those attempting to kill us. I advocate the second strategy. How do I distinguish you from a traitor?
Sincerely Spoken, Brian Perkins Jr, Dallas"
As I read it, I was taken back to a point I made a few years ago concerning how conservatives think. They tend to be two dimensional or "binary" in their thinking. The switch is either "on or off" - there can be no in-between or hybrid solution. This letter shows this clearly. It is a "you are either with us or against us" type letter and it is a shame that the person can only think in on / off terms.
What about the middle ground Mr. Perkins? Can that be held? Ignoring the fact that Al Qaeda was not even in Iraq until we got there and made it a place for them to go, how about a third, fourth or fifth option? Do you really think that these are the only two options open to the United States. Let's try one on for size:
How about option 3: We continue to pursue terrorists in Afghanistan while surgically striking bases elsewhere (If we did this we may actually get the guy who did 9/11). We engage Syria, Iran and others in dialog and actually conduct diplomacy. All while executing the main item which is to get the United States off its oil addiction. We take the $300bl that we have spent in fighting a useless war and we put it on the table. We tell the auto companies that the first company to make a production car which either does not run on oil or gets over 150MPG, they get the money. What would this accomplish?
It would take away the terrorists primary weapon! The only reason they have the time or money to fight us is because we are addicted to their oil. If we make getting off of oil the true war and the battleground is our garage then we will solve this forever. If we get off of oil, we will make them irrelevant in the world. The economic might of the United States is far more powerful than the military might of the US. Because this is not WWII and there will never be a "surrender ceremony", your solution has doomed us to an infinite war. We will always be in a state of hot war under your scenario. That is ridiculous and insane.
So, this brings me back to the binary "on/off" thinking of the right wing. The idea above is complex. It requires a lot of thought and coordination to execute. It will NOT serve our base instinct to KILL. It will require a very detailed message to the Country so everyone understood what we were doing. It COULD NOT be executed with propaganda films (Perhaps the President could land a plan on an oil rig and say "Mission Accomplished" when the car is invented??), and it would require a President who can hold more than two ideas in his head at the same time.
But, the right wing of this Country is a black and white wing. It is an on/off wing. It seems to be incapable of holding hybrid and complex thoughts. And that, is a sad thing.
The right wing needs to install a dimmer switch and realize how many shades of intensity there are.