John Kerry's Nomination Acceptance Speech

John Kerry gave a fine, carefully nuanced nomination acceptance speech last night that went a long way toward showing just who he is and what he wants to do as President. That said, though, I have a few misgivings about what he said.

For one thing, Kerry promised to acquire more international help in Iraq and strengthen the military. I agree that we just can't cut and run from Iraq now, but the idea of buttressing American military might at a time when we should understand the value of pacifism in an increasingly violent world doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't it be better to set an example for the rest of the world by not building up the military so much, and by not bombing another country to preserve our "interests," something we've been doing for the past fifty years?

Also, Kerry vowed to lessen our dependence on Middle Eastern oil - fine - by advocating reasearch into future fuels and energy sources - fine again - but also implying, like Bush, that we can run our automobiles and keep up our dependency on cars with new energy technologies - not fine. America should lessen its dependence on foreign oil by simply building and retrofitting towns and cities for pedestrians and mass transit and driving smaller cars. Unlike Albert Gore, Kerry has never spoken honestly about how much social and environmental damage our autocentric culture has caused. But then, I've seen John Kerry bumper stickers on SUVs, so maybe Kerry is right not to offend these supporters.

I've long since faced the the truth about America, and the truth is that no politician can really change who we are like you can change a policy. We Americans take pride in our military, and we love our gas-guzzling cars and our shopping malls. We're also optimistic people, and we're optimistic to a fault. Optimism is a shallow belief, mainly because it promotes the idea that any problem or crisis can be easily overcome by having a positive attitude and keeping your sunny side up. It fails to take into account the suffering and tragedy that has marked human history, as well as the capacity for evil in the world. (On September 10, 2001, one or more of the candidates for mayor of New York running in the next day's scheduled nominating primary must have surely been playing Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" at a primary-eve rally to inspire people to believe that tomorrow would be better. The following day, ten airplane hijackers violently laid that idea - and nearly three thousand people - to rest.)

In short, John Kerry's speech was a purely American political speech. It was, to be sure, purely American in positive ways, such as encouraging people to to do better and reach for a higher, nobler goal beyond one's self-interest, but it was also American in a negative way by suggesting that we can have things better tomorrow than today, a long belief in the American psyche. Too many nations have risen and fallen in history to suggest that everything will be infinitely better for us in the future.

Still, I'm going to vote for Kerry in November. After all, Bush will say the same things in his convention speech next month. But if Kerry wins, the country probably won't be worse off than it is now. If Bush wins, it definitely will be!