Last night's Republican Convention speakers made one thing very clear: they sure do value their grandchildren:
Dick Cheney: Since I last spoke to our national convention, Lynne and I have had the joy of seeing our family grow. We now have a grandson to go along with our three wonderful granddaughters. And the deepest wish of my heart and the object of all my determination is that they and all of America's children will have lives filled with opportunity, and that they will inherit a world in which they can live in freedom, in safety and in peace.
The vitriolic Zell Miller: Since I last stood in this spot, a whole new generation of the Miller family has been born: four great grandchildren. Along with all the other members of our close-knit family, they are my and Shirley's most precious possessions. And I know that's how you feel about your family, also. Like you, I think of their future, the promises and the perils they will face. Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in.
According to them, the only way to protect future generations, to love and care for our children and grandchildren, is to fight George Bush's war against terrorism.
As if war is the only and ultimate answer. The very idea of working with the international community was ridiculed. As was anyone who questioned the need to go after Saddam Hussein (yes, he may sit in a jail cell tonight, but a thousand dead soldiers have been lost, and their grandchildren - most of whom will never get to be - are certainly not better for it).
No word on how we are loving our grandchildren by handing them the biggest debt burden ever passed from one generation to another. Or on how we are making them safer by cutting social services to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
"I don't do nuance" said Bush some time ago. Neither, it seems, does the Republican party, which does not tolerate debate on the most essential of issues.
Yes, physical safety is important. But so is peace, which will only come about if future generations of Arabs see America as something other than the enemy. The Bush Administration has gone to war on many fronts, but it has yet to address any of the reasons why America is hated in so many areas of the world. Until we do so, until we are willing to look at ourselves critically, we will never stop fighting this war.
This is the legacy of the last four years. Terror attacks continue across the globe. Al Qaeda continues to operate. Afghanistan has been all but abandoned and Iraq is the most unstable place on the globe.
Our grandchildren deserve better.
