The Politics of War

Everyone on the planet seems to know Christine O’Donnell’s thoughts on masturbation. She headed an “Anti-masturbation campaign” and spoke about it on MTV in 1996 on the television show “Sex in the 90’s”. Christine - who is running for Senator in the state of Delaware - has been a “gift” to comedians across the country as they debate on stage whether or not she was a “witch” (as she proclaimed on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect”).  As a comic, I am grateful to Christine for all that she has done to create laughs for this great country, but Christine is not the only political candidate in this mid-term election who appears to be more fiction than substance.

Sadly, most candidates are lacking in substance and their campaign ads are more likely to tell what is wrong with their opponent instead of where they stand on the issues. I live in Los Angeles where the airwaves are full of campaign attack ads throughout most of the day. All the commercials show an out of focus bad picture of the opponent with horrible music and a few sound bites with a cheesy voice-over. Missing from all of these ads are the candidates’ platform and their stance on real issues.

The most important issues to voters in these elections are the economy, healthcare and the deficit. Large numbers of Americans are still out of work and it is a daily struggle to put food on the table. People are losing their jobs, their homes and their healthcare in one fell swoop and sometimes it seems like Washington, D.C is “printing money on demand.” I share these concerns with voters but I also have another worry – the wars.

Missing from the priorities of most voters are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  These two wars have claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 U.S. soldiers and injured tens of thousands more. These two wars have killed hundreds of thousands Iraqi and Afghan civilians, but none of the politicians are talking about it.

The war in Afghanistan is now in its ninth year and the war in Iraq, which still has a considerable American presence, is in its seventh year. There are nearly 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and nearly 50,000 troops still in Iraq. Billions of dollars has been spent on these two wars, with all of that spending passing through Congress, and yet for the mid-term elections these two wars have become “the forgotten wars” that no one dares speak about.

For the sake of the soldiers and their families, I think we need to press the political candidates to talk about the wars and the future of these countries. We owe it to the soldiers to never forget them, regardless of the politics of the day or what the polls say.

Photo credit: Christine O'Donnell Facebook