A government the people can trust

U.S. Rep. Bobby Bright recently returned from Afghanistan, where he traveled as part of his duties as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats and capabilities, and is convinced that the United States must remain involved in that Middle East quagmire until it is stabilized militarily and “can sustain a government the people can trust.”

Don’t look now, Congressman, but even the United States doesn’t have a government the people can trust, and hasn’t since President Nixon’s Administration of the Forked Tongue.

Last week, parents across America kept children home from school so they wouldn’t be “indoctrinated by Obama’s socialist agenda” when the president addressed students on studying hard and setting goals. Dothan schools didn’t make the speech available as it happened, but recorded it. There’s been no word on whether plans have been made to show it to students.

Americans distrust the proposals for health care reform. We distrust the trillion-dollar bailouts of banks and automakers. Americans distrusted President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the presidential cabinet. Americans distrust the Clintons, both the former president and the current secretary of state.

Some are even suspicious of Bo, the Obama’s Portuguese water dog.

We appreciate Congressman Bright’s hopes for Afghanistan, but we cannot share his optimism. 

A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News suggests that a majority of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

We tend to agree.

However, Bright surmises that the state of the government is such that the Taliban would be likely to take over as soon as Coalition forces withdrew.

Bright advocates shoring up the government, stabilizing the military, then leaving.

We can’t help but see that as an exercise in futility. In that part of the world, disorder and conflict represent a normal state of affairs. Whether we bring our troops home tomorrow or 10 years from now, Afghanistan’s future is in the hands of the Afghans.

Our goals should be dismantling the terrorist organizations that threaten the United States rather than attempting to shore up a government that cannot stand without the United States holding it up.