The Clear Choice

America has reached a fork in the road. Our choice is not simply between two men, but between two starkly different paths for our nation. We can choose the same road we have been on for the past four years - which leads to a very dark place - or we can strike out on a new path of hope and progress.

How does one lay out the case for voting against George W. Bush? He took advantage of a national tragedy, capitalizing on our fear and grief to gather support for a radical conservative agenda. He lied about the threat Iraq posed, and now thousands have lost their lives on the battlefield. He is the first president since the Great Depression to oversee a net job loss. Where do you start?

The New York Times captured the sentiment of millions in their endorsement of John Kerry:

"We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted.

"Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better."

After Sept. 11, George W. Bush had the opportunity to be one of the best presidents this nation has seen. With citizens of our country and the world mobilized behind him, Bush could have offered a message of hope and lead the nation forward to great things.

Instead, he gave us a message of fear: do what I say, or we're all in great danger. He did not lead us towards great things, but rather two wars, an angry international community, and a divided nation.

Bush and his administration told us Saddam Hussein posed a threat, and he did not. The subsequent war demolished our international standing and cost thousands of lives. Bush likely knew the threat posed by Iraq was marginal at best, but his administration pressed on with talk of "mushroom clouds" and terrorists in American cities. A scared populace sent their children to war on Bush's word, and over 1,000 came back in flag-draped boxes. Bush has not apologized for their deaths and he won't even let cameras see the coffins returning from battle.

John Kerry may have voted for the war long before it happened, but was not expecting a hasty rush to war. He said right before the invasion that it was wrong, and has maintained that position ever since.

Moreover, he is at least acknowledging the ugly reality in Iraq and offering a plan for change - Bush, on the other hand, only wants to "stay the course." When the casualty count each month is higher than the month before, do we really want to "stay the course?" If one candidate is promising change and the other won't even acknowledge people are dying, isn't our choice clear?

Under Bush, 1.6 million jobs have been lost, something that hasn't happened in over seven decades. Kerry is calling attention to the lack of jobs and offering a plan for change. The Bush administration, on the other hand, has called job losses in places like Ohio "a myth." Isn't our choice clear?

Bush forced the USA PATRIOT act through Congress days after Sept. 11. Bush continues to defend the act, which allows the government to look at the books you check out of the library, the Web sites you visit, your medical records, your university transcripts and the conversations you have on the phone - without even obtaining a warrant based on probable cause. John Kerry thinks a democracy shouldn't have these powers and will change the act. Isn't our choice clear?

One needs to look at the big picture of the past four years to get a sense of the direction our country is headed in, and why a change is desperately needed. Look at lawn signs that say "Support President Bush and Our Troops," lines from Dick Cheney saying we are in danger if we make "the wrong choice" on Election Day, and Bush's constant rhetoric that he is the only leader we can have "in these difficult times." Then, look at the very nature of a "war on terror." How do you defeat a tactic? Can "terror" ever be defeated? Of course not - Bush said so himself in a recent interview.

The underlying, unspoken message of Bush's entire campaign is this: it is unpatriotic and dangerous to question the president in a time of war - and by the way, we'll always be at war.

Do we want to go on living in this constant state of fear? Do we want a government that can look at virtually every aspect of our private lives without any justification? Do we want a president who will send young Americans into war for false reasons and then refuse to apologize or even acknowledge their deaths?

The time is upon us to choose between hope and fear; between democratic values we have lived by for 228 years or the radical government of George W. Bush. We have a choice, and the choice is clear.