As we listen, (or don't) to the tedious rhetoric and bickering of the presidential hopefuls of both parties, I keep wondering when we'll hear something new, something original. Something that would make us leap from our chairs shouting "Yes!"
Bringing the troops home from Iraq would be good, of course, but to some would hint of remorse for the appalling suffering and destruction we've inflicted upon the innocent people of that nation.
Here's an idea that would have me for one shouting "Yes!" Why not stop funding the killing machine immediately, and instead spend our billions on rebuilding that shattered nation? Let Halliburton et al. give back some of their obscene war profits in the form of all the bulldozers and tools and equipment and building materials they already have over there, and let Halliburton pay the legions of unemployed Iraqis good wages to get the process started. If anything can, such action might even start to redeem our horrible reputation abroad.
And while we're at it, and closer to home, why not offer American citizenship to any "illegal immigrants" who are prepared to sign up for a specific period of time to be spent rebuilding our own nation's infrastructure, which we're told is falling apart round our ears? We could give them health insurance, good food and lodgings, pay them well—and I bet it still wouldn't cost half as much as building useless fences and hiring more border police.
Any politician who came up with ideas like these would certainly get my "Yes!"
Diana Fassino
Ketchum
