Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Farewell, Mr. Bush

Jerry Stratton
Thursday, January 8, 2009

There’s a scene in the movie Groove where someone asks the rave promoter why he does it. Why risk arrest and humiliation just to give other people a place to dance?

You don't know?

No.

The Nod.

The Nod?

Happens to me at least once every party. Some guy comes up to me and says "Thank you for making this happen… I needed this. This really meant something to me." And they nod… and I nod back.”

…That's it?

That's it.

When I voted for George Bush in 2000, I did so for one reason: the Democrats had nominated an anti-self-defense candidate who opposed ending prohibition. I voted for Bush in 2004 for the same reason. I didn’t expect anything from him except no anti-self-defense laws. Instead, we rolled back anti-self-defense laws and got pro-self-defense laws that really helped. I have never been afraid for self-defense freedom in the last eight years.

I was pleasantly surprised at his enlightened immigration stance. I was surprised at his strength following 9/11. I’m also proud, as an American, that he chose to act against the dictatorship in Iraq. We were sitting on the border watching a dictator kill the citizens of Iraq. We could have deferred to realpolitik and let him continue. We didn’t.

I especially appreciate that he moved the United States away from the strong-man theory of stability and towards promoting the same bumbling and unpredictable but also free democracy that we enjoy here. If there’s any one policy I hope the Obama administration carries over from the Bush administration, it is that we not return to the realpolitik habit of propping up dictators in other countries. We can choose to completely disengage and leave the people of those countries to their own affairs, or we can choose to intervene in favor of democracy, but we should never again choose short-term stability over long-term freedom.

“For 60 years,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, “my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither… Throughout the Middle East the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty…”

Mr. President, here’s your nod.