The beauty of a website is you don't force yourself on others. I got an email today from TL - and he graciously gave me the email addresses of dozens of people. And he gave them to many others. All of us will end up on another spam list. And he jammed a long email of blather on me that he thinks I need.

Here is my reply.

In the spring of 1942, it looked like the Axis were unstoppable. They were bringing a new order to the world. They did not shrink from challenges. Hitler believed that a strong will, determination and steadfastness would win in the end. Sound familiar? To hell with the facts. We don't plan based on reality, we will our desired reality into existence. Hitler decided Russia was weak and ripe for conquest. Today, we have decided the Mideast is weak and ripe for us to bring democracy to it.

History is replete with crusades. And Empires. And huge failures and defeats. And all crusades were justified to the home country as needed to advance civilization, save the country, spread religion, bring freedom to others - or whatever would sell at home. The Spanish were bringing Christianity to America, not looting it for gold and conquest. Ya, sure.

And we are bringing democracy to Iraq, not looting it for oil. Give me a break.

If Bush wins and we go down the path of perdition, it will be too late when you say 'Who could have known'. Strange, but a lot of us knew two years ago that Saddam didn't have WMD and was not a threat to the US.

The mantra that we are bringing democracy anywhere is internally contradictory. If we force it down their throats then it is not democracy. We Western powers - England and the US - have been screwing Iraq since 1918. It is time we stopped.

We, the US, gave Saddam power and bombs and whatever he wanted. We forced Saddam on the Iraqi people. We destroyed what democracy there was in Iraq. It was part of the Cold War and also to punish Iran for their hostage-taking of US citizens.

We are not bringing democracy anywhere. We are building an empire. Vote for Bush if you want to risk all - our very country - on world conquest. Every time in the history of the world that a country or ruler thought they could conquer the world, they tried. All were ruined in the end. We now think that we could if we tried. We are being tempted.

If we say no, then we might save our country and enjoy freedom, a robust economy, good relations with the rest of the world, and actually build a nice society where all can enjoy the benefits of the good life.

I'm voting for John Kerry for President of the United States. Let's get back to being America, not the bully of the world. I don't want empire and the ruin that follows.