Collegiate Times

It all hinges on the war. Of the tens of thousands of words yet to be printed on the opinions page about the coming year’s presidential race, “war” will top the list. Flags will be raised, scandals will break, and issues will be debated. Nothing, however, will weigh as heavily on a candidate’s chances as their attitude towards the use of military action.

Last week’s column “The Future Looks Bleak for Republicans” rightly points out that voters will want a major change. Sadly, many will seek this change not by looking deeply at the issues but by glancing at superficialities. Some will only look at the letter beside the name and say, “Well, we’ve had our fill of ‘R’ for eight years so I think I’m going to try ‘D’ this time.” Others will reason, “White men have been leading our country for two centuries, let's give another group a chance.” Still others will go with their gut and say, “That person just looks and sounds like a president,” We can only hope that the CT readership will make a more informed decision.

When watching a movie about giant transforming alien robots, a perception of reality is the end goal. When analyzing the philosophy and character of the single most influential person on the planet, however, we have to scrap the flashy chrome effects. Imagine a wigged George Washington with crooked teeth or a gangly Abraham Lincoln with a scraggly beard earning the hearts and minds of the people with their courage, intelligence and proven wisdom. No makeup. No teleprompter.

As polls show the war disapproval rating at 70 percent, America is desperate for someone to stop the chaos. The majority of the Republican candidates keep singing the song of “offense in the war on terror” while the majority of the Democrats are trying to formulate explanations for why they originally supported the war and have since changed their minds.

Fortunately there is an alternative perspective. In the past, such a rebel would be provided by a third party whose message would be unfairly ignored and ridiculed in the shadow of the two established parties. This year, however, there are two anti-war candidates, one on each side, who stand out amidst their peers on this issue and have been doing so long before it was ever popular.

Both congressmen Ron Paul (R) and Dennis Kucinich (D) voted against the Iraq war from the beginning. Both have been courageous enough to call for a decreased American presence in the Middle East citing substantial evidence that our presence there only increases our enemies. This Tuesday, Paul and Kucinich co-sponsored a bill to repeal Bush’s authority to use force in Iraq.

Congressman Paul makes the level-headed assertion that, "Military force is justified only in self-defense; naked aggression is the province of dictators and rogue states.” Congressman Kucinich agrees, “We need to move this country away from war as an instrument of policy and achieve strength through peace.”