Guest Column
by Dwayne Hood

Americans have lost $2 trillion dollars of their life savings in the past month.

We’re mired in two wars that stretch our military to the point of a future draft.

We’ve alienated ourselves from the world and 47 million people can’t get health care. Social Security is in danger.

Gas has skyrocketed, home values plummeted, and illegal immigrants are overrunning our nation. More than 760,000 jobs have been lost this year and we face a crumbling infrastructure and education system.

And don’t forget global warming, nuclear proliferation, and our much ballyhooed War on Terror. Meanwhile, where’s Osama bin Laden?

But the real issue is Bill Ayers!

Barack Obama knows a man who was in a terrorist group 40 years ago! Barack Obama’s a Muslim! He won’t wear a flag pin! He won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance! His middle name is Hussein! He was sworn into office on a Koran instead of a Bible! Obama went to a church with a crazy preacher! He’s not American!

And Cindy McCain says Obama’s running the dirtiest political campaign in American history.

As our presidential election thankfully approaches, we are reminded of how the Republican Party brought the term “swiftboating” into the American lexicon. Sarah “Barracuda” Palin has accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists” because he knows Ayers, who now serves as a community activist and Distinguished Professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

She says “Americans have a right to know” about Obama’s past relationships. Other GOP operatives, pundits, commentators, and talk show hosts echo a shrill chorus of righteous indignation as they warn an electorate about the dangerous terrorist in Obama’s past.

I’ve watched Fox News, waiting for interviews with the victims of Bill Ayers. I waited for teary-eyed orphans to recall mommy and daddy being blown to smithereens by that vile, rogue scum Bill Ayers. Where are they?

So Mr. Google and I searched through cyberspace and discovered why there are no interviews with victims of this reviled terrorist.

There are no victims.

Bill Ayers has never injured or killed anyone. He has never been convicted of a felony. He once served 10 days in jail for leading a sit-in protest at a Chicago Draft Board in 1969. (Imagine the fear, the horror, the sheer terror of having a bunch of people sitting down in front of you.)

But Ayers did help found the Weather Underground that bombed several public buildings between 1970 to 1973 as a protest against the Vietnam War. But they called police before bombings to ensure there were no injuries. And there were none. That in no way excuses or condones what they did. It was wrong and should have been prosecuted.

Ayers was charged in a 1973 bombing of the Pentagon and lived underground for 10 years. But the charges were dropped in 1976 because of misconduct by federal prosecutors. He eventually came out of hiding in 1980 and resumed his identity. (What’s the point of hiding when no one is looking for you?)

Thankfully, the Weather Underground was not in the Tim McVeigh league of bomb making. A couple of their nail bombs did not explode and they bombed a statue in New York twice but failed to destroy it. And the only fatalities of their movement were three members who blew themselves up while trying to make a bomb.

These people were nothing but a footnote to American political wackery until Alaska’s favorite hockey mom elevated them into a domestic Al Qaeda.

In contrast, John McCain flew 35 bombing missions over North Vietnam and is a revered war hero. It’s naive to believe no one was hurt or killed in 35 bombing runs over cities. But they’re just a nameless, faceless enemy discounted as a cost of war because we claim moral authority to invade or bomb any country we wish. And to question McCain’s service is a blasphemy, a sacrilege that places you along with “terrorists” like Bill Ayers.

Every four years, the GOP runs out an inflammatory ruse to lead gullible voters away from critical issues like energy, immigration, and health care. Four years ago it was gay marriage and now it’s Bill Ayers. And sadly, many people with an American Idol mentality refuse to read news because it’s a chore. Instead, they tune into talk radio or watch Fox News so highly paid zealots can incite them into fear mongering and demonization. It’s like leading obedient little dogs around on a leash. They’ll parrot talking points and sic themselves on whomever they’re told to hate.

They say that we can’t afford to elect Obama. We can’t risk having Obama as president.

What are they afraid he’s going to do?

Are they scared he’s going to invade two Arab nations so we’ll have to referee their civil wars? Are they worried we won’t be able to clean up after a hurricane? Are they afraid he’s going to ignore regulation of financial markets and destroy our economy?

Are they terrified that he’s going to do any of the things that our Republican-controlled government has already done?

So to be safe, we should keep the same party in power? They have dominated Congress for 12 of the past 14 years and won seven of the past ten presidential elections. And our next generation will pay the price of our decisions.

Watch a Democratic rally on TV. You’ll see a patchwork of every demographic found in America.

Then watch a Republican rally. It’s a vast sea of smug, comfortable-looking white people. Moral outrage seems to be their only emotion. (But when you use religion as a political billy club, it’s easy to pass judgment and condemnation on anyone deemed “elite” or “unAmerican.”) The GOP often sounds like the “How Dare You” political party. How dare you question our president? How dare you oppose perpetual warfare? How dare you?

Americans should now rise to that dare and challenge our candidates to focus on crises that will define our future and the 21st century. Because Sarah Palin is right about one thing.

Americans have a right to know.

© 2008, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.