May 15, 2013
The Honorable George W. Bush
Office of George W. Bush
P. O. Box 259000
Dallas, TX 75225-9000
Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your service to
our nation and congratulations on the completion and dedication of your
presidential library. I look forward to
my first opportunity to visit and tour this impressive historical facility.
Generally speaking, I believe
your two-term administration was effective and the nation benefitted from your
leadership, especially following the 911 terrorist attacks. However, there were moments where I
questioned your actions and decisions -- there are three specific occasions I
wish to address. I am hoping you will
take the time to provide me with a more comprehensive rationalization for the
courses you chose. I have no right to
ask for this nor do I believe you have to justify anything to me -- I chose to
sit on the sidelines while you chose to get in the game -- I'm simply curious.
The war in Iraq went on far
too long. The "surge", in my
mind, was more of an indictment on how the war had been prosecuted to that
point. I never got the sense from you or
the Secretary of Defense that urgency was an essential element of your
strategy. (Urgency being the recognition
that as long as you are fully-engaged in a major initiative, you cannot address
other initiatives in a comprehensive fashion.)
I understand that nation-building is a slow, deliberate and arduous
process; however, it just seemed that as long as there wasn't any real pressure
to bring our troops home, other than Cindy Sheehan, you appeared content to
sustain our prolonged involvement. I'm
not convinced it was ever about Iraqi freedom.
It was, more likely, another means of financially doping our national
economy. I believe the opportunity costs
of this war will have as much influence on your legacy as any of your
pro-active policies.
Illegal immigration is more
than a human tragedy. In my mind, it has
the potential to destroy our nation as we know it. Not because we don't have the ability or the
desire to absorb another twelve million residents, but because it is now
acceptable to disregard those laws which offend our
sensibilities, and it is
acceptable for our elected officials to disregard their oaths of office. The rule of law is the only thing that sets
apart civilized societies from others. I
never believed you did your utmost to uphold the law of the land when it came
to protecting our borders, or that you trusted the ingenuity, imagination, and
creativity of the American spirit to solve the labor availability crisis. I will never stop believing we could have
found a way to satisfy our labor requirements without compromising the security
and future of our nation.
I watched your library
dedication television interview on Fox News.
Toward the end, you were asked about America's future role in foreign
affairs. I don't disagree with your
position that we must not retreat from our historical prominence. However, the success of nearly every human
endeavor is a function of financial investment whether in the private, public,
or non-profit sectors. The prosperity of
this nation once allowed us to heavily invest in those initiatives intended to
make this a safer and better world for everyone. We were once a generous nation driven more by
virtue and ideology than by self-absorption and instant-gratification. We once managed our finances responsibly
which allowed us to lead and to respond immediately in time of crisis, and to
challenge the bullies among us. Sadly,
this is not the case today. Our growing
demand for domestic entitlements, our grotesque national debt, and our
continued disregard for balanced budgets, has literally stripped this nation of
its teeth -- we have become a paper tiger.
How do you propose to be that worldwide force for good without the
financial wherewithal to be the leader of the free world?
By now, you probably think I
am woefully naive when it comes to matters of government and politics. You may have concluded my altruistic
tendencies have preempted my ability to grasp the nature of humans and the
reality in which we exist. But this I
know -- aspirations are the energy of nobility.
If we are not aspiring for something greater than what we have become or
have already achieved, then we are on the same course as every other failed
society before us.
All the very best,
Bill Monroe
No comments:
Post a Comment