There is a phrase that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. There is another school of thought that says stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again the exact same way and expecting a different result every time. This is rarely the case. However, it certainly seems like the current presidential administration has not heard either of these phrases nor do they much care once they do hear them. It is like there is an entire branch of our political system and an entire segment of our population who have collectively put their head underneath the sands or put their fingers in their ears. I don't understand it.

Right now there is this rather large debate going on over this resolution, or whatever the hell it is, that the Democrats want to pass that gives a timeline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Of course this has caused most Republicans to accuse them of being, essentially, wimps and declare that the entire region will collapse into chaos. You remember the "domino theory" right? Yeah, they used that same theory during the Vietnam War by stating that if Vietnam fell the rest of the region would fall to communism. After eleven years and fifty thousand dead the United States finally pulled out and all of Asia did not collapse into communism.

I hate getting involved in politics. I watch politics and keep track of it but writing about it just isn't as much fun as it once was. People are too divided in this country. That's the problem these days and that problem is the fact people are always resolutely at the opposite ends of the spectrum and no one is willing to compromise. Also, there seems to be a theme running through America these days that no one is allowed to have a differing opinion about politics and no one is allowed to express a differing opinion and no one is allowed to debate anymore. It seems that there are many who seem to think if you do not absolutely believe the President and what he says then you are some kind of traitor to the entire country and you should be imprisoned.

A while back I wrote a blog article criticizing Anne Coulter and Rush Limbaugh for being, well, what they are. I was immediately accused of being something called a "Michael Moore Lemming." This despite the fact I was considering voting for a Republican candidate for Illinois government at the time and the fact that I, personally, do not particularly like Michael Moore. He seems to be one of those people who can dish it out but just can't take it. Sorry, Michael, but you can't go around making the accusations you make and expect to not have anyone start looking at you. If you can't handle that then maybe you should just shut the hell up. If you are going to start hurling stones you had better be prepared to have a few of your own windows broken or gain a really tough skin very quickly. If you can't do that then don't start hurling.

You see, I don't think what Coulter and Limbaugh do is any better than what Michael Moore does. All any of those people seem to be doing is further dividing the country. People either line up on one side or the other and then they start screaming at each other. When everyone is screaming no one is really listening to what the other side is saying and nothing gets done. If you blindly believe what Limbaugh and Coulter say then you are just as much of a lemming as people who believe blindly whatever Michael Moore says. As far as I am concerned I don't care who you are a lemming for you are still a lemming and you are still being blind. Whether you are blind from having your eyes poked out or from a disease the end result is the same. Namely, you are still blind so what difference does it make how you got that way?

This is a problem that is very evident in todays Congress as well. The Democrats are strutting around like peacocks and doing their touchdown dances. They seem to be just doing everything they can to annoy Bush and shoot down every thing he does. At the same time Bush keeps acting like a stubborn child who is holding his breath until he gets his way and, in the process, nothing is getting done. Afghanistan and Iraq continue to descend into chaos and lives continue to be lost while our government stands on opposite ends of the Capitol building like the boys and girls at some pre-high school dance. So, the same things keep happening over and over again and nothing ever moves forward.

Look, the fact is that Iraq and the people there have been fighting amongst themselves not just for four years but for centuries. That's thousands of years if you pluralize the word "centuries." They look at the US and they cannot understand how all of our various cultures and races can live together. They cannot understand how people can openly defy and criticize the leader of our country. To them we are as completely foreign as they are to us. We cannot understand how some guy can hate his neighbor because his neighbor had an uncle three thousand years ago who did something to someone in his family. That kind of thing makes no sense to us but it's the way we think.

It seems as if there are people in this country who are taking the "Tinkerbell" approach to democracy in Iraq. They seem to think if believe hard enough and clap your hands then democracy will just happen automatically there. This is America, they seem to think, and we know what's right and how to do things so the rest of the world should just fall in line and everything will be sunshine and roses. They can't understand why those crazy people over there just won't fall in line and believe along with them. Come on, campers, let's get happy and put on a show so we can save the farm!

Life doesn't work that way. Pulling out of Iraq right now is a risky endeavor. Look at what happened in Afghanistan once the Soviets pulled out. It descended into tribal warfare to the point where the Taliban seemed like a better alternative. At the same time it is becoming very obvious that our being there is not making things better and that our people will continue to die in large bunches. So, what's the solutions? Well, maybe some kind of deadline isn't such a bad idea. I know I work better with a deadline in place. It makes me work with urgency and I work harder to get things accomplished. Without a deadline I am just as likely to let a thing sit there until people are pounding down my door to get some kind of status report.

At the same time I wonder about giving out the deadline for everyone to know. That may be the kind of thing you want to keep a secret, but I am not entirely sure about that. I just know that maybe if the Iraqi people know we are going to leave at a certain point some folks might just step up and take charge of things from within their country and do something to make things better. Maybe an actual strong leader will emerge. At the same time we don't want another Saddam, so you have to be careful there as well.

None of the answers are easy. I am a writer, for crying out loud, and it's not like I get top secret intelligence reports from the CIA in my morning e-mails. All I have is what I see on the news and there are people who will tell you that the media is too liberal and anti-Bush anyway. I have no idea if they are or not as I am not officially employed by the media (although I am willing to be, should you happen to work for any media outlet). I just know that from this end things don't look so hot. It looks like people are just digging in their heels and throwing temper tantrums on both sides of the political aisle and that people are not listening to each other.

I think it's up to the rest of us to try to change that. Look, there are people on Xomba here that I do not agree with, but I read their stuff anyway because I respect their opinion. Everyone with an opinion should be willing to change that opinion if enough evidence is presented to show that their opinion may be wrong. There are people on here who are staunch Republicans who love people like Coulter and Limbaugh. That's fine, but you can't blind yourself to every single point the other side is trying to make. Not everything a Republican believes in is wrong and not everything a Democrat believes in is wrong. At the same time not everything a Republican believes in is right and not everything a Democrat believes in is right. Somewhere in the middle is the answer and that's where we all need to start reaching now.

Too many people are not listening. Everyone is just busy screaming. It's time to stop screaming, rest our throats, and maybe take a nice long drink. In fact, it would be best if both sides would just have a drink together and get a little silly. Nothing eases tensions like going bar-hopping and getting silly. Maybe karaoke should be involved but I would suggest that you use that sparingly because if there was ever a weapon of mass destruction it might be karaoke.

Bryan W. Alaspa'a novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.