Honolulu Lite
Honolulu Lite
Debating debating
gets people hotIt's funny how members of the so-called "anti-war" movement insist that any possible attack on Iraq be publicly debated and all the issues thrashed out in the open until you say something that they disagree with.
Then the spittle starts flying and you are called an ignorant, myopic idiot who has no right to express any views on the matter.
In a recent column, I didn't even take a position on whether the United States should overthrow Saddam Hussein. I simply said that the state Legislature is not a national policy-making body and shouldn't be wasting time passing resolutions purporting to tell President Bush how to handle an international conflict. The point was that we pay legislators to take care of local problems, and if they are interested in the health and welfare of innocent civilians, they should concentrate on the innocent civilians in Hawaii who need help, like our hundreds of homeless who are being rousted out of parks.
One reader was outraged I'd suggest that. I won't identify the gentleman because I think, on calm reflection, he might realize he overreacted just a tad when he called me myopic, ignorant, stupid and ridiculous. I may be all those things. But not because I want our legislators to do their jobs.
His claim was that the Legislature "speaks for the people of Hawaii" and therefore has a duty to instruct Washington on matters of international importance. Then he called me a bunch of names, which I guess is what passes for intellectual debate these days.
HE'S WRONG, by the way. The state Legislature does not speak for the people of Hawaii. If one branch of government did have that mandate, it would be the executive branch, since the governor is elected by all the people, while legislators represent smaller constituencies.
But even Gov. Linda Lingle, while in Washington, D.C., last week, understood her role was to counsel the White House to serve Hawaii-grown coffee and not to counsel the president on how to fight a war.
The only way the Legislature could presume to speak for all residents is if it passed a UNANIMOUS and nonpartisan resolution, and even then I think they'd be wasting our money and time. My angry letter-writer can't possibly believe that a partisan, political document signed by members of only one party represents anything other than the signers' egos.
For the record, I am anti-war. Anyone who bleeds is anti-war. I'm also anti-Saddam Hussein. I believe the world will be a better place as soon as that dude reaches room temperature. How he achieves that condition is something we all should be able to discuss without vicious personal attacks and insults. But our public servants, who work for us, should discuss it on their own time, not ours.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com