The die is cast
Posted by lordpinoy on April 26, 2007
While browsing the net for news today, I’ve come across a reference of this ad for then, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan:
There is a bear in the woods. For some people the bear is easy to see. Others don’t see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it’s vicious. And dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who is right, isn’t it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear.
—- A political campaign ad for Ronald Reagan (1984)
At that time, during the 1980s, The USSR has just invaded Afghanistan (implying that there is little to stop them from imposing its might on their neighbors. There were estimates [needs citations for these] that its growth rate (economics/population/development, etc.) was exceeding everyone else’s.
The USA have just come out of the painful Vietnam experience.
Reagan’s platform: Prepared for Peace.
It meant that it wasn’t just enough that they can reverse any attack on their sovereignty, they must ensure that anyone just thinking about it would call it off immediately.
It wasn’t enough to demonstrate that they can withstand any kind of opposition. They must demonstrate that they have several first strike options to discourage an aggressor.
In our present time, we do not face an ideological enemy (or so, I believe), but the prevailing conditions of this country aren’t better. So far, there is little to indicate that we can trust the candidates and in a rather disturbing way: the voters themselves. We ourselves cannot be trusted… are we? can we?
So it begins.
Only a few days remain before election starts
Perhaps cheating will be avoided.
Perhaps they really do care.
Perhaps our votes will really count this time.
Because many are serious about this right, maybe this time, it would make a difference.
Maybe money couldn’t and wouldn’t buy votes.
Perhaps this time, they’d make good on their promises.
… and likewise, we’d make good on ours.
Once we have exercised our voting rights, we will stand by it and/or suffer for it.
It will be done.
As Julius Caesar did on the banks of the Rubicon several millennia ago, iacta alea est, the die is cast.
May fortune smile on us all.
