Media Criticism

Americans have considered Russia a whipping boy in the decade and a half following the end of the Soviet Union. Russia has been pushed into Westernizing their economy while successive administrations have failed to recognize the natural resources available within the massive country. In the 21st century and the war on terror, Russia is beginning to awaken from the failures of communism to take its role in a new type of political atmosphere.

While the Cold War is gone and done, remnants of Cold War geopolitics form Western approaches to Russia. The focus of defensive weapons in Eastern Europe on Russian borders, the disagreement over a missile defense system between Bush and Putin and the legal arms trades by Russia to belligerents in the war on terror have allowed foreign policy experts to maintain a holding pattern in dealing with Russia. In a Foreign Affairs article this month, National Interest publisher Dimitri Simes indicates the “loss�? of Russia if these policies continue because Russia has little incentive to attach itself to the West.

The most vexing aspect of the Russian issue to me is the lack of dialogue in Congress and the primary debates over foreign relations with Russia. I can appreciate that primary voters are more interested in Mitt Romney’s musings on Guantanamo Bay and Dennis Kucinich’s UFO citing but Russia is the key to America’s efforts at managing terrorism. Russia spans all of Asia and offers a connection to burgeoning powers like China and Iran that have cozied up to Putin in recent years. This nation has a number of weapons remaining from the Cold War that may be placed in the hands of authoritarians in Asia and the Middle East. Finally, Russia has the natural resources that can help the nation grow and mobilize quickly once it finds its economic groove.

America cannot add on new enemies in its efforts to create world peace. Vladimir Putin may be on his way out but it is clear that whoever his successor is will share the same mentality as Putin. The Russian electoral process is guided (or fixed) toward conservative government led by the last generation of ex-Soviet leaders. Since President Bush is stuck in a Cold War mentality, the next president will need to extend an olive branch to Putin and the new Russian leader. If the goal of America is to expand its influence globally by rebuilding international relations, this step is critical to securing a significant ally. This goal may seem lofty and mainstream candidates may be unwilling to kowtow to Russia since the shadows of Soviet rule are still cast in the minds of American voters.

Any good politician thinks about their short term prospects especially during an active campaign. If John Kerry had said he was building the Democratic Party for 2008 while running for president in 2004, he would have been creamed at the polls. Many politicians simply fail to realize that their place in politics is to compact the snow that will eventually become a massive snowball. Ron Paul fits into this camp with his grassroots campaign in 2008.

I think that Ron Paul has been receiving enough attention in the press based on the competition in the Republican field. There are plenty of candidates beyond Romney and Giuliani so why should Paul get more attention? The media has only begun to realize that Paul’s campaign is different from that of other candidates in the Republican AND Democratic fields. The problem for Ron Paul is that the media won’t help him in the short term. Ron Paul stories revolve around the shock of the candidate actually beating people financially on a quarterly basis. His aim should be a reform of the Republican Party back to roots laid down by people like Bob Taft in the 1940s: isolationist and libertarian.

His platform is appealing to Americans frustrated with the Bush Administration’s love affair with bureaucracy. Bush is not a traditional Republican but a tinkerer that benefited from a terrible attack on American soil six years ago. Paul would reorganize and decrease the size of government, recommit the country to the gold standard and draw back our influence in the world to reflect concerns over domestic defense. I think the gold standard idea is unrealistic in the modern economy but everything else sounds great to me. The problem is that as much as the American people complain about big government and overreaching presidents they are used to these malformed institutions.

Ron Paul will continue to gain supporters as the Republican debates continue into the primary season. Fred Thompson is a Reagan conservative that fails to realize that the Cold War is over, Mitt Romney is a stuffed suit and Rudy Giuliani is not desirable to a) conservatives, b) religious conservatives and c) libertarians. The problem is that Ron Paul does not fit the ridiculous form that we apply to each president. His frank manner is great to distinguish him in debates but Americans find it difficult to support people that speak common sense to power.

Since a reformed Republican party seems unlikely in the next generation, I am hoping that Ron Paul leaves the Republican Party and takes the mantle of the Libertarian Party in 2008. The major problem for parties like the Libertarian Party is that they get little press. If Paul is able to accomplish anything in the early primaries, he can bolt the party once partisan drones chose their leader. He will have run ads in the early primary states, built a following among independents and gotten his name in every major newspaper for months before the primaries even start. I hope that someone emerges from the Democrats to run as an independent to throw the two-party system into array and show Americans how fundamentally flawed our system is.

In case you were able to get past the coverage of Britney’s performance at the Video Music Awards, you realize that today is the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks in New York City. I have found each anniversary unbearable because I have to endure a week’s worth of programs about this terrible tragedy. I saw it on television and I was like millions of others glued to their TV in the following days to see how America responded. Six years later, I cannot honestly say that we have responded well.

The political rhetoric and media coverage on each 9/11 anniversary has been focused on our military response. MyGoodDeed.org is an organization that has received over 250,000 pledges by people who want to change our nation’s focus when this anniversary comes around each year. These Americans pledge to do good deeds and celebrate the heroism of firefighters, police officers and others involved in saving lives on 9/11. My cynical heart is warmed a bit by the thought that the public is able to put aside the bile associated with this event on one day each year to help others. If we could only get past the idea that a war on terror is winnable we may be able to begin to heal the wounds that we have allowed to fester in the last six years.