The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thad thinks trade sanctions might be less than totally successful

Having met Thad Wasson and his family, and having immediately liked them all, it's been fun watching Thad devote quite a little energy and time to developing a public persona. His blog is beginning to provide a picture of the man. His website adds some information.

What I see is an unusual sampling of various philosophies tending toward libertarianism in a young man who, with his family, is the center of the demographic which both earns and spends the $700 a week paychecks issued around here and most other places. (I don't know what Thad earns. I don't know if $700 a week is within $632 of it. I know that $700 a week is sparse-but-maybe-adequate money to have a house, a wife, three kids, a dog and a horse.) Whatever. Unless it's ten times that, it's all spent before it's made.

Thad will be a factor in the Republican nominating process to serve up a target for Stephanie Herseth Sandlin to try to ignore until about a week before the 2010 election.

While Thad's a little cryptic--to my comprehensive capacity, anyway--he's made some provocative remarks. You can find them on his blog and website. One I saw today intrigued me more than most have. It's short, so I'm just going to quote the whole thing here.

Since economic sanctions have shown little fruit for the labor, its time to do what works. We need to abandon our love affair with U.N. sanctions and be the best friend Iran has ever seen.

America is getting blamed for all the woes in Iran when the Mullahs can't even keep the natural gas flowing. Lets not lose this Nation to our 'friends' Russia and China. If we offer expertise on natural gas exploration and agricultural commodities, we can win over the 66 million Iranians.

Personally, I can see some value in at least exploring the route Thad suggests. Comment, if you would, either here or there.

2 comments:

caheidelberger said...

I agree, Bob. I won't vote for Wasson, but he promises to bring up more interesting conversations than any of the canned talking-point candidates we usually get. Wasson isn't managed, messaged, or spun; he's his own man with his own thoughts. And you are absolutely right that he represents the common man better than anyone on the ballot yet.

Bob Newland said...

Who ya gonna vote for, Cory? Stephanie? Whyyyyy?