Below is an email (with names removed) that I sent my friend fresh-out-of clerking for a 5th Circuit of Appeals judge who is now working for BC '04 in Florida (he's a lawyer). I'm appealing to our friendship, he's notoriously stubborn but he has listened to me on other issues before. I should also say that he and I used to see eye-to-eye in politics, but I've since changed given the disaster the current administration has been. Warning: it is a bit long.
You know me, and my current rants aside, I think you respect my judgement and opinion about the world. We are very good friends and I know that I implicitly trust you as I hope you implicitly trust me. Regardless of politics, I will and will always continue to be your very good friend. So, friend-to-friend, heart-to-heart, please (I'm begging) please carefully read the following and don't let any of your preconceived notions bias your perspective on what I'm about to say.
I strongly suggest that you cease working for the BC '04 reelection campaign. Since you're not a citizen and can't vote I obviously don't need to say Vote for Kerry, but I will say please don't fradulently vote for Bush. (I remember the little incident in 1998, DON'T do it again!)
Why do I say this, knowing I know your political bent? Obviously the first reason is that it is my heartfelt desire to see you, a fine, upstanding loyal friend, do the right thing as I believe it to be. That's not politics speaking. I am very concerned about the path this country may go if Bush is reelected. There are very likely many criminal elements (whether you choose to believe that or not) invovled in the higher echelons and they will NOT just cease their activities unless forced to by the rule of law and public opinion. I don't want you exposed to any danger and getting yourself into a position where they have blackmail material on you or threaten you if you were to decide to go public with anything you'd witnessed. The best thing is to get out now before you open yourself up to that sort of situation. Believe it or not there are many cases of well-documented fraud against subsidiaries of the RNC that has caught at least the attention of the blogosphere and now the AG in S. Dakota. Much of that element has moved to Ohio now, I can only assume some of it may be in Florida as well.
Secondly, many notable pundits of what I would still consider our political ilk are now coming to reluctantly support Kerrry. That's not because they believe he's necessarily going to champion their political goals, but they think the alternative is just too scary. Bush's admin is in denial about reality almost to a comical point, especially about the situation in Iraq. If you don't believe me on this, here (www.danieldrezner.com and oxblog.blogspot.com) are two libertarian-Republican blog sites that have decided to endorse Kerry. Check out their credentials and their eloquent arguments, they're impeccable, and they certainly parallel your experiences. Daniel Drezner is an assistant professor at U Chicago, he recieved his PhD from Stanford in Poli Sci, he's had numerous fellowships at prestigous institutions, worked as a consultant for the RAND corp. and even was an unpaid foreign affairs consultant for Bush-Cheney in 2000.
The oxbloggers are all Rhodes scholars in IR or Poli Sci from Ivy League institutions, are all of the libertarian-Republican bent and are all endorsing Kerry. One of them, David Adesnik sums up my feelings about Bush very well, "As a professional researcher, I think I simply find it almost impossible to trust someone whose thought process is apparently so different from my own." Bush does not weigh facts and then make decisions. He goes on faith with no concern for the realities of the situation. That sounds pretty scary to me. Certainly as a well-educated Princetonian who values those 4 years, I would hope one of the most important things you learned was to carefully come to conclusions based on the known facts and draft arguments in favor of those conclcusions using well-established and agreed upon premises. To do otherwise would be intellectually dishonest, and as numerous media reports have pointed out, this admin. has done so time and time again. There WERE NO WMDs in Iraq. That is a fact. Yet Bush tells us he would have done exactly the same thing when the whole reason he purportedly was going in in the first place was to rid Iraq of WMDs. That my friend is intellectually dishonest and is anathema to my way of thinking, and I know deep down yours.
Finally, why should a person vote for Bush? Well it's simple, here are a few reasons:
You're a devout Christian and are determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. John Kerry is absolutely against this, that's a fact. This does not apply to you.
You're in Big Business and your industry stands to profit immensely from the policy directives that this administration is making. Kerry wants to close your tax loopholes. This (I'm pretty sure) doesn't apply to you (yet). I don't know what your law firm does, but I know you're not owned by any corporation and I don't think you would like to put one corporation's interests ahead of the good of the Nation.
You'd like to see a change in the judicial appointees and makup of the courts. This, avowedly is the reason you're supporting Bush. Ok, fair enough. But there's a catch... the Bush admin is pushing HARD for PATRIOT II. I don't know if you've looked at PATRIOT II but it SERIOUSLY curtails your (well, at least my since you're not a citizen) civil liberties. I know that you carry a copy of the Constitution with you wherever you go. It is a work of aboslute genius, there's not denying that. I hope that you,as I do, also especially cherish our Bill of Rights, especially amendements 1-8, those that relate to personal civil liberties such as search and seizure, unreasonable punishment, freedom of speech, etc. Under PATRIOT II, if the government deems you a terrorist for ANY reason (and it could be politically motivated, believe me) those rights go OUT THE WINDOW. If the admin really has stuff to hide (as I believe they do), they will use these provisions to the fullest to silence anyone critical or inquisitive about our government or any whistleblowers that would want to come forward. That being the case, don't you think they need a compliant judiciary to uphold such actions? They need people to say PATRIOT II is constitutional, certainly very few judges believe that now, so it seems to me that they're going to appoint judges that will bend to their political will. Needless to say, the founding fathers always imagined and fought for an independent judiciary, and I consider that to be one of our country's most cherished and wisest principles. I hope that you do as well.
Ok, so those are my arguments. Maybe you're not convinced. I know, believe me it's hard to go against the guy you thought was right. It's hard to say you made a mistake. But when the evidence is so overwhelming (it's out there if you look, obviously not on FOX news, but it's out there) that what the government says is not what it does, I'm sorry, it's time to say goodbye. Re-elections are essentially a referendum on the incumbent, so since I think objectively that the Bush admin. has failed, they NEED to go.
I understand that when it comes to these emotional decisions that oftentimes one's frame of reference is more important than the objective reality one sees. There's been much scientific research on this phenomenon (Read George Lakoff's latest Don't think of an Elephant, a bit left biased I know, but the science is compelling). Essentially, it doesn't matter what you say, but how and how what you say relates to your listener's own preconceived notions. In that case, that would be your background vis-a-vis displaced Russian Jew from repressive communist regime. As you told me, everyone from your community thinks like you do, that Republicans saved us, Reagan is God, and that unbridled capitalism without any socialism is the way to go. I'm not going to argue with that b/c I think there are some valid points.
But when the party that purports to hold these values starts to abuse them and yet still pretend to be the party of Lincoln, of Reagan, of fiscal conservatism, then you've got to come in touch with reality and say "NO" and walk away and shed that emotional baggage. I'm not saying that the Republican party may someday return to its former greatness, but they're coming awfully close to the kind of totaliarianism that you so despised in Communist Russia. For the good of this country, we need to stop it. I'm asking you to relieve yourself of that emotional baggage, let it go, and just consider what the other side is saying. Or do your own research and come to your own conclusions. Please, use the brain that I know you have and consider what I've said. You'll be my friend no matter what but I don't want you to regret any mistakes that you might be making now.
I leave you with this, in my field, biomedical science, the greatest sin an investigator can make is to knowingly falsify, fabricate or plagairize data and proffer it as the objective truth. Such conduct is subject to dismissal, multiple retractions of papers, loss of respect of your community and a life of failure. It's like the moral academic equivalent of 1st degree murder. It is especially bad in that it can go undetected for YEARS and potentially life-saving decisions and drugs may be predicated on these false conclusions. People can (and HAVE) DIED from such abuses. And that's just in academia.
Now imagine the same in global politics where the stakes are arguably much greater, where the population is measured in BILLIONS (not thousands or hudred of thousands or millions), but BILLIONS. IF lies can (and have) cost so many lives in my neck of the woods, what will they do on a global scale? How can we continue to let such nonsense go unchecked? How can we have such contempt for truth that we threaten the existence of the entire human race? Such things have happened before: major wars, atrocities, and purges were all predicated on LIES that were swallowed by a compliant public that didn't question their govenment and it almost always begins with denial about objectively real facts that the government either ignores or supresses. We're on that slippery slope right now... don't be part of the impetus that pushes us over.
Believe me, the truest words I've ever heard are these, "What do people with power want? More power." This can of worms is ready to explode and the people with power will do ANYTHING to make sure they remain in power as long as they can. If it means ripping up the Constitution, they'll do it, although not so blatantly but in a more insidous manner. They don't care about the people, they care about their own egos and their own safety. They don't care about you, they care that you are helping them to achieve their goals. History has shown us that time and again.
Please, I honestly beg of you to use the rational part of your brain and examine the evidence, come to objective conclusions and then do what needs to be done. I fully expect that you will because I know you are a good person. I know that you are a reasonable person from the times we've disagreed on things and you've respected my opinion and were even able to consider it. You've listened to my advice and gave it thought. Think of this as advice. Do what's right and what your mind and conscience tell you are right.