[Crafty Angler]

To get on point here, let's start with History.

Unfortunately, many Americans are woefully ignorant of history - not only their own but that of the world around them - and they are therefore doomed to repeat it, just as we are now beginning to do.

Regardless of who is elected, neither outcome can fill you with a great deal of optimism about the future. Simply put, I believe that if McCain is elected we'll end up in a military conflict that will be staggering in terms of loss and it is not going to be in the Middle East.

And sadly, if Obama is elected, I'm afraid we'll suffer a loss to our country of an entirely different kind that will be just as difficult for us as a nation to recover from.

Electing the McCain/Palin ticket will just be a continuation of the Bush doctrine.

To give the devil his due, I do have to admit that Bush and Cheney - or more accurately, Cheney and Bush - have made great use of that terrible attack on our own soil during the first term of their administration.

They initially used our justifiable outrage and anger over the attack to pursue a military objective - bringing OBL to justice - and then used the fear of a repeat attack, using Al Queda as the boogieman under the bed, to keep the country hypnotized and hysterical.

And while they played us like the suckers in an enormous game of 3 Card Monty, they shoveled obscene amounts of money to their friends at KBR and Halliburton - and assorted other shell companies based offshore - outsourcing troop support. These contractors were protected by a well-armed private army of mercenaries (Blackwater) who are not answerable to anyone but the Executive Office and are fully funded by our tax dollars. This is the redistribution of both wealth and power, indeed.

They also used the fear of a repeat of a 9-11 style event to justify the passage of bills like the Patriot Act that are violations of our Constitutional rights as Americans. They later used that same unreasonable fear to make unsubstantiated claims about WMD's and Al Queda's supposed links to Iraq to depose and execute a former U.S. ally after abandoning the real mission in Afganistan.

That so many Americans are so easily led is nothing less than frightening to me.

Economically speaking, the GOP's main objective has always been a reverse Robin Hood. Steal from the poor and give to the rich to redistribute the wealth in this country thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the working poor.

It is a throwback to Reagan's success in breaking the back of the air traffic controllers that has led us to where we stand today, "we" being those of us who are ass over teakettle busy working trying to make ends meet, raise children, put food on the table and keep our homes while many slide further into debt. BUsh's economic plan is really the fulfillment of the Reagan theory of trickle down economics - which essentially means if you feed a horse enough oats, sooner or later enough may come out the back end to feed the sparrows. Picking through detritus to survive is not an easy or pleasant chore.

Finally, it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one - IF you know your history - that the Republicans now abrogating our rights and determining how we are able to live our lives are quite literally the great- and great-great grandchildren of the robber barons of a century ago who amassed the previously unheard of wealth they are now building upon. And the working middle class again has the same burden to bear that their great grandparents fought so hard to overcome. He who ignores history is doomed to repeat it.

In terms of national security, we are at a watershed moment for our country with this election and perhaps we are witnessing the last days of the empire. I would hope it's not so but the policy of military colonization that spread England's military resources too thin toppled their empire just as it had for the Romans centuries earlier. Pick an empire, any of them if you know your history, and you'll see a pattern.

Our military resources are stretched paper thin right now and the mud has yet to hit the fan. The real threat to global security is rapidly regaining strength and we can't do a damned thing about it.

Russia has invaded Georgia, a sovereign state on their border and by Russia's own admission, has designs on Poland. Okay, class, what happened in Poland not all that many years ago? And what did it lead to?

Bush has voiced his objection to the invasion of Georgia and can't do a damned thing about it other than try to place weapons in Poland that are just going to enrage the bear. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come if your know your history and understand current geo-politics. That is the genuine threat today in the world. And that is the next global security issue our next President will face.

So, who do you want to deal with it?

You know what McCain's response will be. If he becomes ill or dies, do you want to leave that decision to someone like Palin?

That's your decision in November.