Before I make my argument, I would be remiss if I did not mention that something happened Tuesday night that all Brown students should be proud of. As you know, many Democratic Brunonians have been giving up their weekends over the course of this campaign to volunteer in nearby swing states of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and their voices made a difference - Kerry won both.
For many Brunonians, Bush's reelection is a cloud without a silver lining. But it's not all that bad - really. Yes, we can all look forward to four more years of Bush, but don't buy your ticket to Canada just yet. There are a lot of good reasons not to be discouraged. Here are a few:
Iraq: Iraq is a mess, but electing Kerry would not have made the war go away. U.S. intelligence was wrong about why to go in, as were U.S. strategists about how to win. Kerry and many of his supporters had the naïve idea that he could come in with a fresh view and make everything better. This was all too reminiscent of Nixon's "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam.
There is no easy answer in Iraq, but do not doubt that Bush, who remembers "Mission Accomplished" as well as anyone, now realizes the difficulties. Bush has the experience and knowledge of the situation to bring about a resolution that will be good for both the United States and Iraq. Furthermore, the Bush administration is now in the midst of reducing U.S. peacetime troop presence around the world, a plan that Kerry opposed. Most Brown students would agree that the fewer troops we have abroad, the better.
Terrorism: This one is easy. Laugh all you like at the duct tape, color coding and photographs of Bush buddy-buddy with Saudis in "Fahrenheit 9/11." The fact remains that there has not been an attack in the United States since 9/11.
Abortion: Bush is unlikely to have an impact on Roe v Wade. Today the concept of stare decisis - the idea that the court should reverse one of its decisions only with a very good reason - is more important than the issue of abortion itself. Even if Bush does manage to appoint three or more Supreme Court justices, it is very unlikely a change would be made, especially with the active, well-organized and vocal pro-choice lobby in this country. Even if the decision were reversed, this lobby would make it unlikely that many states could illegalize abortion.
Economy: Though Bush's first term saw a net job loss, the major precipitating factors of this recession: the tech bubble collapse, Sept. 11 and the exposure of corporate corruption and malfeasance, were a long time in the making. Bush inherited the recession - he did not create it. He quickly addressed the situation with an aggressive system of tax cuts designed to jump-start the economy, and our present rate of growth shows that it has worked.
As for his deficit spending, it is a fact of the past two decades of presidential politics that the party in power spends while their opponents lament their spending. The occasional exception is a brief period of fiscal responsibility created by challengers who found themselves in power after criticizing deficit spending.
Incumbents tend to realize that more important than how much we owe is how much we produce. Bush, like many Democratic presidents, got us out of an economic crisis with deficit spending. Dubious? Look at the trends in any number of economic indicators, like the increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the decrease in inflation and unemployment. These numbers speak for themselves.
Matthew Lawrence '06 is a Republican, but he insists that he doesn't eat babies whole.
