🌊 The Next Middle East War

As a former journalist and lawyer, I am appalled that our President is calling the VOA the “The Voice of Radical America.”  The VOA was created decades ago to provide the outside world free access to fact-based news and analyses to counter often false, skewed propaganda coming from those who seek to portray Americans and our allies as the bad guys.  The propaganda has not stopped but has actually gotten louder from places like Russia and North Korea.  Why would we fold and walk away now?  Our nation is not without blemish on the world stage, but the U.S. Constitution remains a shining example of freedom and democracy.  Countries around the world have tried to copy what our Founding Fathers created, because it represents some of the very best and highest aspirations of human nature.  The loss of the Voice of America is another stain darkening the fabric of our beautiful nation.  I fear for the Rule of Law.  

Radical surgery is the only way to rid our country of deep-seated rot. We patriots want our America back!

VOA, by the examples you provide, has clearly lost its way from its original charter.  It has become an ideological mouthpiece for the fringe left.  As for its place in the U.S. system and Government, it does not and should not stand alone.  Like USAID, it has a mistaken concept of its own mission.  As a tool of foreign policy it must answer to the organization that administers and affects that policy, the State Department, and to the man who makes that policy, The President of the United States.  President Trumps is right to attack and excise this wayward group of ideologues from the body politic (vice the Executive Branch, VOA’s rightful parent organization), a place they inserted themselves and mistakenly made their home.

I visited the National VOA Museum in Ohio some years ago and a few times since then. The VOA's motto during WWII (when it was created) was to "Tell the Truth and Let the World Decide." I think this motto is something that is not only applicable to news agencies but also people as individuals. 

I do think the elimination of the modern VOA is quite devastating given its mission to deliver news to countries that would likely not be able to receive the "truth." These nations where speech is restricted are able to gain new perspectives they would not have had otherwise.

That's my rambling--maybe you got something out of it. Thank you for your time!

I have a couple of thoughts (unrelated to one specific article, but related to the rhetoric used in much of the current political climate).

I would consider myself incredibly progressive, but I have been deeply concerned by the overwhelming use of the words “nazism” and “fascism” being either hurled as insults or being used to describe current leaders. 

Firstly, this feels like a really effective way to outsource our own historical decisions and take no responsibility for our own country’s history. And secondly, it makes me wonder how much of our own history we even know. This is not the first time that much of these major events have happened. In 1919 Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman (along with a boatful of other comrades) were deported back to Russia after leading years of protests and bringing anarchist philosophy to America. Emma Goldman had a green card. 

Closely following this, McCarthyism sought to silence anyone with political ideologies they considered dangerous to democracy. 

On our country’s conscience should be the fact that our immigration policies made it incredibly difficult for any Jewish families trying to evacuate Europe in WW2. As well as the Japanese internment camps on our own soil.

There are so many examples that I don’t have time to list them all. But the rhetoric being thrown around and constant screaming of “nazi!” does nothing but disavow our past and make it clear that we’ve forgotten our history. By looking directly at these events maybe we can understand better how to combat them, maybe we can begin to break the cycle.

Thank you all for the work that you do, your explanation of certain systems and breakdown of policy has made me feel more informed and confident in conversations.