US Senator Sam Brownback from Kansas has thrown his hat into the 2008 Presidential ring. Is this a good thing for Kansas? Of curiosity I had to go to Sen. Brownback's webpage and carefully read the articles to try to figure out where he stands on issues important to me.
From his website I see he has traveled to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He has insights on Ethiopia's "War on Terror" and Genocide in the Darfur Region. Brownbeck said he is "concerned about the effects of media and advertising on children's health" but doesn't think government regulation is an answer. He has reintroduced a bill to making it mandatory for doctors to inform women seeking an abortion on a fetus 20 weeks after inception that the fetus feels pain.
I read his comments on his visit to Iraq where he referenced Bosnia, Korea, London, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Ethiopia but in all of this referred to this and that it is difficult to spot what he thinks should be done other than calling on the Vice President and the Secretary of State to ask for more meetings with leaders of three major factions Sunnis, Shi'as and Kurds to develop a plan. As I see it however there are dozens of factions and splinter groups and each groups leader believing they are THE leader so that those the US sees as leaders of any group may not be the person the members of that group sees as it spokesperson or leader. Personally I don't believe there is any easy answer.
I do have my own thoughts on the matter however, as distasteful a thought as it may be I believe we should OCCUPY Iraq and turn it into a US territory in the middle east. Set up a government based on our own US standards modified for the region and quickly settle, co-opt or eliminate the militant factions. A good rule of thumb, ANYONE not in military or law enforcement uniform caring a weapon is a criminal and will be arrested and tried as such. After the work is done and the region is settled phase out US influence in favor of locally elected government officials and allow the Iraqis' to begin to run their own country. We are there we can either take orders from them the current Iraqi government, insist they take orders from us or continue to do as we are having the local government the US government and the occupying forces at odds where none is completely sure what the others intend or are actually doing.
I believe Presidents make good Presidents when they realize that the political thought of the vast majority of Americans lies more or less in the center. Sen. Brownback does not seem interested in serving as a moderate voice for people across America. Without a doubt Senator Brownback seems to represent a far right Republican view of issues and where will that leave those with a liberal view of how their lives should be run and those of us who are independent enough not to subscribe to either a Republican nor a Democratic agenda, but able to recognize a good idea when it is presented to us?
