Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/465103
"Boy,here'ssomething we could use more of to- day: unity among the American people. Ameri- cans are so divided." "Maybe so, but we've been divided worse before." "We were?" "Watch the History Channel series 'Sons of Lib- erty.' It dramatizes the heated arguments that took place among Colonial leaders, who had a lot to lose by declaring their independence from King George III of Great Britain." "If they were so divided, how did we pull off our inde- pendence?" "We did it the way America has always solved major prob- lems: leadership. Great lead- ers emerged to guide us. Gen. George Washington offers a fine example. Some wonder how things might have turned out had he not led the way." "I knew he was important to America's Founding, but I didn't realize he was that im- portant." "From early in his life, he was a natural leader. He had an imposing presence, stand- ing nearly 6 feet, 3 inches tall at a time when the average man was about 5 feet, 8 inches. And he was invincible. During one battle in the French and Indian War, four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him, yet he re- mained unscathed." "Some fellows are blessed with such luck their whole lives, I guess." "In 'Washington: A Life,' bi- ographer Ron Chernow shares lots of interesting facts about George Washington. Despite having little formal education — he was the only American Founder who did not attend college — he proved to be a po- litical genius and great mil- itary leader. In 1775, he took command of our motley crew of an army and led it in a war that lasted about seven gru- eling years. And though he made mistakes, he ultimately outwitted the British, won the war and secured Ameri- can freedom. Some historians think that no other man but Washington could have pulled it off." "I imagine he was popular after his war and ex- ploited that popular- ity to become our first president." "Yes, he was popular among the colonists, but he wanted noth- ing to do with being president. He wanted to retreat to his beloved farm at Mt. Vernon, Va., but duty continued to call. His leader- ship was needed to help estab- lish our Constitution, which grants power to us little folks. He then became president re- luctantly because he knew his leadership was needed to en- sure the early survival of our fledgling government. The truth is, he hated being pres- ident." "Hated it?" "According to Leadership.com, which summarizes Chernow's bi- ography, the press was vicious by his second term: 'His opponents accused him of everything from being an inept general to wanting to establish a monarchy. At one point, he said that not a single day had gone by that he hadn't regret- ted staying on as president.'" "Who would have guessed that?" "He handled his job with grace, however. He was aware, says History.com, that 'the way he handled the job would impact how future presi- dents approached the posi- tion. He handed down a legacy of strength, integrity and na- tional purpose.'" "Too bad modern presidents don't hand down such things anymore!" "Washington paid a big price for his leadership and service. He almost went broke from all his years of public ser- vice. Land-rich but cash-poor, he had to borrow money to at- tend his own inauguration. Af- ter eight long years as presi- dent, he finally returned to his beloved Mt. Vernon to farm and enjoy life. But he lived only three more years, dying at the relatively young age of 67." "That's regrettable after all he gave to his country." "Yes, but the point is, Amer- ica may be divided at the mo- ment. We have major problems looming. But I'm placing my bet on America. It's just a matter of time before the country that produced George Washington gives us more men and women of integrity to do what great leaders always do: bring us to- gether and overcome our seem- ingly impossible challenges." TomPurcellisaPittsburgh Tribune-Review humor colum- nist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. TomPurcell Awaiting our next George Washington His opponents accused him of everything from being an inept general to wanting to establish a monarchy. Cartoonist's take Last week President Obama sent Congress legislation to au- thorize him to use force against ISIS "and associated persons and forces" anywhere in the world for the next three years. This is a blank check for the president to start as many new wars as he wishes, and it ap- pears Congress will go along with this dangerous and costly scheme. Already the military bud- get for next year is equal to all but the very peak spending lev- els during the Vietnam war and the Reagan military build-up, according to the Project on De- fense Alternatives. Does anyone want to guess how much will be added to military spending as a result of this new war authori- zation? The US has already spent nearly two billion dollars fight- ing ISIS since this summer, and there hasn't been much to show for it. A new worldwide war on ISIS will likely just serve as a recruiting tool for jihadists. We learned last week that our bombing has led to 20,000 new foreign fighters signing up to join ISIS. How many more will decide to join each time a new US bomb falls on a village or a wedding party? The media makes a big deal about the so-called limitations on the president's ability to use combat troops in this legisla- tion, but in reality there is noth- ing that would add specific lim- its. The prohibition on troops for "enduring" or "offensive" ground combat operations is vague enough to be meaningless. Who gets to determine what "endur- ing" means? And how difficult is it to claim that any ground op- eration is "defensive" by saying it is meant to "defend" the US? Even the three year limit is just propaganda: who believes a re- newal would not be all but au- tomatic if the president comes back to Congress with the US embroiled in numerous new wars? If this new request is not bad enough, the president has an- nounced that he would be send- ing 600 troops into Ukraine next month, supposedly to help train that country's military. Just as the Europeans seem to have been able to negotiate a ceasefire between the opposing sides in that civil war, President Obama plans to pour gasoline on the fire by sending in the US military. The ceasefire agree- ment signed last week includes a demand that all foreign mil- itary forces leave Ukraine. I think that is a good idea and will go a long way to reduce the tensions. But why does Obama think that restriction does not apply to us? Last week also saw the Senate confirm Ashton Carter as the new Secretary of Defense by an overwhelming majority. Carter comes to the Pentagon straight from the military industrial complex, and he has already an- nounced his support for sending lethal weapons to Ukraine. Sen. John McCain's strong praise for Carter is not a good sign that the new secretary will advise caution before undertaking new US interventions. As we continue to teeter on the verge of economic catas- trophe, Washington's interven- tionists in both parties show no signs of slowing. The additional tens of billions or more that these new wars will cost will not only further undermine our economy, but will actually make us less safe. Can anyone point to a single success that the in- terventionists have had over the last 25 years? As I have said, this militarism will end one way or the other. Either enough Americans will wake up and demand an end to Washington's foreign adventur- ism, or we will go broke and be unable to spend another fiat dol- lar on maintaining the global US empire. Ron Paul is a former Congress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul How many more wars? Another view By Jason Stanford What would it look like if politics stopped at the water's edge? It wouldn't look like the mess that John Boehner cre- ated by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a session of Con- gress on March 3. By allow- ing Netanyahu to stage what is effectively a campaign event in the U.S. Capitol, congres- sional Republicans have not only damaged our relations with Israel but threatened our diplomatic negotiations with Iran. Even for Boehner, who gets a gold star when he doesn't let the government shut down, this is a big screw up. It's one thing to turn an at- tack on the U.S. into a partisan drinking word—BENGHAZI!!— but we can all agree that Is- rael is an important ally, and Iran should never have a nu- clear bomb. By trying to one-up Obama, Boehner exposed how much he's willing to put polit- ical gamesmanship ahead of adult statesmanship. With about two weeks before Netanyahu's speech, it's getting tense: Joe Biden made up an ex- cuse about a prearranged trip to a country to be named later so it doesn't look like he's tak- ing sides in Israel's upcoming elections. Haaretz, the leading Eng- lish-language source for news about Israel, wrote that the Boehner-Netanyahu power play is "sabotaging Israel's most precious asset," that is, close relations with the United States. The U.S. Ambassador has warned Israeli officials that, "Ultimately, this will have a price" if Netanyahu uses the U.S. Capitol as a stage to crit- icize ongoing U.S.-led diplo- matic negotiations. And though everyone would like this to be about a big par- tisan slap fight in D.C., the real threat isn't to our relation- ship with Israel. This is elec- tion-year posturing by Netan- yahu. He needs votes, and then he'll need foreign aid. He'll get over it. The real problem is that by allowing himself to be used as a pawn by Obama's politi- cal enemies, Netanyahu is help- ing Iran. "Unknowingly, Netanyahu has become the Iranians' se- cret weapon. If he didn't ex- ist, the Iranians would have to invent him. Destroying the strategic alliance with Amer- ica would be a real existen- tial threat to Israel, but so far, he's much closer to leaving scorched earth in Washington than he is to stopping Iran's centrifuges. In this situation, Iranian leaders don't have to do a thing but sit in front of the television, eat popcorn and laugh," wrote Barak Ravid in Haaretz recently. Oh yeah. Iran. March is not just when Israe- lis go to the polls but the next deadline in the diplomatic ef- forts to keep Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Right now, the U.S. is leading six countries in seeking a negotiated settlement with Iran that would prevent them from becoming a mem- ber of the nuclear club. This ef- fort, which began under George W. Bush, has kept Iran's nu- clear program frozen in place for years. These countries—Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, German, and the U.S.— are using a combination of sanctions, inspections, monitor- ing, and the ever-present threat of having drones move into the neighborhood to pressure Iran into giving up their capacity to enrich uranium. There are signs that we could be getting close to a deal. But that's not good enough for those who would oppose breathing if Obama called for clean air. To be fair, conserv- atives think the only way to make their way in the world is first threatening and then us- ing force. It's the whole "peace through strength" thing they go on about. Or they just want to forget the whole peace thing and go ahead and bomb Iran. What they haven't said is how this ends if we do it their way. We can't bomb them into forgetting how to build a nu- clear bomb. Should we disen- gage from diplomacy and just glare at them? Do we go to war and then, what, endlessly prop up a moderate government? The only way to keep Iran from getting the bomb is to negoti- ate it away. That's a goal we should all be able to get behind, but by in- fecting diplomacy with parti- sanship, congressional Repub- licans are giving Iranians an excuse to walk away from the table which is exactly why pol- itics should stop at the water's edge. United we stand, divided we grandstand. Jason Stanford is a regu- lar contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, a Dem- ocratic consultant and a Tru- man National Security Proj- ect partner. You can email him at stanford@oppresearch.com and follow him on Twitter @ JasStanford. Boehner, Netanyahu helping Iran GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS If this new request is not bad enough, the president has announced that he would be sending 600 troops into Ukraine next month, supposedly to help train that country's military. Tom Purcell OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, February 18, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6