by Yesterday I wrote an Urban Semiotic article called — Abandoning Kitchen Door Values — and after our fine discussion about how the decay of duty and the ravages of modern architecture have helped change community morality in the United States, I began to wonder back to Nebraska from New Jersey.
I realized there is one man who can restore our now unfamiliar Kitchen Door Values as our next president and that person is current Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel.
I attended his Senate website yesterday and sent him the following note. For publication of that note here, I added the image of Senator Hagel and I made true hotlinks out of the raw HTML:
Dear Senator Hagel —
I am a Nebraska boy living in New Jersey and I am inspired by the possibility of your run for the presidency of the United States. You and I are on opposite sides of the social issues provoking the current political debate, but on the matter of the War you are on the side of the Right and the Righteous and it is my belief you are the only presidential hopeful who has the authenticity and the experience to put an end to a jiggered up warpath that is dissolving this country’s values from the inside out.
I write a blog called “Urban Semiotic” and today I wrote a piece that reminded me of what matters most in America today, but is missing. The title of the piece is “Abandoning Kitchen Door Values.” As a fellow Nebraskan, I’m sure you understand the architectural morality I describe in my article when I think back to the prairie days on the plains. If you run for president, I hope you run on the idea of a Return to Kitchen Door Values. Here’s another reminder of Nebraska you might appreciate called “Monarch of the Plains” celebrating our tethering to the sky and the then land. My biography is here.
I wish you all the best and I hope Monday will bring the world the great good news that you plan to be our next president. If you run, you will have my full and unbridled support — whether you wish for it or not!
Best,
David W. Boles
http://boles.com
If Senator Hagel’s office responds, I’ll be sure to let you know. If you’d like to send Chuck Hagel an email, I encourage you to visit his Senate Website Contact Form.
Chuck Hagel would be an interesting candidate. He’s a truer conservative than Rudy.
Hey Anne!
Yes, Chuck is very tough on social issues, but he’s right on the war, and he sees the deception and he has already stood up to stop the death and killing. It will take someone like Chuck to muster the muscle of others to say “enough.”
He’ll have his hands full with people like Lindsay Graham. Did you see him last Sunday on the shows? He was actually frothing at the mouth for more and more war in the mideast.
Graham has always been a warmonger. He seems to find his life in the blood of others. I did see him interviewed on “Meet the Press” last Sunday and he was red-faced and screeching for more bloodshed without a way out. He seems obsessed in a really bad way with propagating a losing effort in Iraq in the name of some sort of indecipherable notion of “national pride.” He is the epitome of “the politics of fear.” I thought he embarrassed himself by going much too far into the radical right.
I wonder if Joe Lieberman flips over to Republican if Chuck would flip over to Democrat to even out the betrayal?
Now that I would love, Anne! I don’t think Chuck has any chance of flipping if he’s running for president — though I think Democrats like Jim Webb would welcome him with ecstatic arms.
David,
We are kindred spirits. I live in Iowa, but have said that I would swim across the Missouri River to vote for Chuck Hagel if they would let me even though I am on the other end of the spectrum on social issues.
I have watched Senator Hagel’s campaigns as an interested bystander. He really connects with people. I too would support him because I honestly believe that this the man for this time in our history. He could help to put the country back on it’s moorings, and restore our reputation in the world. He puts country above party, and seems to have his priorities in order. I would gladly support him, and have been hoping for quite some time that I would get the chance.
Hi Mary and welcome to Urban Semiotic! My wife was born in Council Bluffs!
Let’s hold thumbs for Monday and that it brings us great good news! Be sure to send Chuck a note through his Senate website that you want him to run.
I agree Chuck puts morality above politics and the war in Iraq is a fraud and he knows it now and he’s taking the lead in standing up to the ongoing lies of the Bush administration.
Chuck is Old World Midwestern. He’s loyal. He’s tough. He’s hardworking. He’ll tell you the blunt, unvarnished truth if you try to play around with emotion or manipulate the facts. He has ice in his veins and he isn’t afraid to use it to stiffen his spine in the firestorm of attacks he’ll take from his Right Wing.
Chuck is what we need right now. A fixer. A Truth Teller. A Facts Only sort of leader who can stand up to the selfish interests and say, “We aren’t doing that anymore.” He can reform the Republican party back into something kinder, more forward-thinking and considerate of world interests by leading by example.
I agree Chuck’s social agenda is much too conservative for my taste, but as a Good American, sometimes you have to take a bullet to avoid a death and there’s nothing more deadly to our nation’s best interests than getting the heck out of Iraq.
Chuck knows from his military experience that Iraq must and shall implode — and our being there only delays the inevitable and costs our young more arms, legs and lives.
A lot of moderates like myself would love to see Hagel in the White House. Too bad it’ll never happen.
Welcome to Urban Semiotic, Kurt!
I appreciate your thoughts on Chuck. I agree Chuck’s honesty and personal integrity go a long way to soothing the seething moderates who are sickened by the current temperature of our international reputation but don’t know how to help us get out of it. A vote for Chuck might just be the remedy they are desperately seeking.
Why don’t you think Hagel can get elected?
Hagel scares me. I’m always afraid he’s going to blow up.
Why do you think Hagel is about to blow, arin?
Umm… arin… that’s sort of how all Midwesterners look. 😀
I’d vote for Hagel if he gets the nomination.
Hi Chris!
Why would you vote for Chuck?
Hi David,
Hagel stands true to his core values, even while running for the presidency. I took a look at his history, and Hagel was complaining about the way the war was being run at a time when most Republicans were still in favor. I’m wary of bailing out of Iraq, but I also accept we can’t go on doing what we have been doing there. Maybe Hagel can be the leader who figures out a solution.
I also know that Hagel isn’t being anti-war just to pander to liberal voters who probably won’t give him any consideration because of his pro-life votes. It takes courage to stand true to core convictions and know they will alienate some voters.
People like leaders who aren’t afraid to be leaders.
Most regular people are tired of political leaders who “triangulate” their positions so much that nobody knows what they really stand for. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Hagel changing his positions just to try to win some votes or fundraising money.
Hi Chris!
I agree Chuck stands for what he knows. He’s a millionaire businessman — and that bothers many Democrats — but he knows what works and what doesn’t and if something isn’t working he isn’t fearful of changing course midstream.
I understand the fear concerning our getting out of Iraq. It does seem that it will take an Iraqi Civil War to determine the winner of a war we started.
The sooner we let them hack each other to bits, the better we can get on with soothing the North Koreans and the Soviets for our better end.
We also need to repair relations with Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Turkey. Lebanon must not be left to chance in the balance. We must be a positive influence there as well.
I agree Chuck was against the war long before it was popular to be against the war. Unlike Obama, who was against the war in theory only, Chuck has the hardened experience of Vietnam to back up his claims the war is a loser. He’s been there. He’s earned the wounds. He knows firsthand the wages of sin is death.
Chuck is definitely fearless. Those outside the Midwest will wonder why he doesn’t pander and why he doesn’t kowtow. He doesn’t because he doesn’t need to. His worldly experience defines him plenty enough.
Yes, Hillary is a triangulator — as is Newt Gingrich. We need someone who stands on the moral high ground and also has the ability to right our national bedrock. Chuck, above even Rudy and McCain, has already taken that higher road.
Who do you think should be his VP running mate?
Here’s a quote from a New York Times Magazine article about Hagel that sums up what is attractive about him as a candidate:
Chris —
I love that NYTimes quote! It is right on!
As a nation, we are in desperate need of a Truth Teller in the same vein as Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman and even Jimmy Carter.
The time for pretending and projecting is over.
We, as a nation, have dire consequences head that we must face — and the best way to start that dialogue is through apologies and asking for forgiveness.
Chuck is a smart guy — but his horse sense is what best serves him, and us.
Oh, and Chris —
After Cheney… we need a VP who is honorable and kind. Lugar is the right guy for the prime spot.
You’re right Stacy. Chuck is extremely socially conservative. My hope is that running for president will need to mellow some of his hardness and rigid edges. Governing from a kind center always finds the best success.
I agree the Democrats don’t have a real candidate yet. It’s going to be hard to find someone who can beat Hillary’s money — but you’re right we’re all tired of the Bush-Clinton chain and we need someone new to refresh us — and all those pointers seem to indicate a “Dark House Outsider” who will come in to rescue us from the hue and cry.
UPDATE:
The following email just arrived today from “U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel” and I guess they got my email address from the letter I sent Senator Hagel via his official Senate website last week.
That’s a pretty interesting email from a guy who just yesterday said he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life in a dud of a press conference!