A letter to Andrew Bachevich: I decided to test my new Kindle out as I bought my first online book entitled "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War." I am loving the book and decided to email the author, Professor Andrew Bachevich just that.

A little background on the author:

According to Wiki "Andrew Bachevich is the Director of Undergraduate Studies; Professor of International Relations and History. (BS, United States Military Academy; MA, PhD, Princeton) Specialization: American Diplomatic and Military History, U. S. Foreign Policy, Security Studies. He is a retired career officer in the United States Army. He is the author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010). His previous books include The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008); The Long War: A New History of US National Security Policy since World War II (2007) (editor); The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (2005); and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy (2002). His essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of scholarly and general interest publications including The Wilson Quarterly, The National Interest, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The New Republic. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Boston Globe, and Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers."

In addition to that his son was killed in 2007 in Iraq.

Dear Professor Bachevich. I was given a new Kindle for my birthday. I had to decide which book I would choose to break it in. Perhaps, you will be glad to know I chose one that you wrote "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War."

I am about, according to the Kindle, 10% through it but I could not wait to dash off an email to you and tell you how much I am enjoying it. It is wonderful. It reminds me of my days at BU during the turbulent late 1960's when I met Howard Zinn, Murray Levin and Edgar Bottome, three men who made an indelible imprint on my mind and my politics. I remember, too, reading J. William Fulbright's "The Arrogance of Power." It was written in 1966 and I read it in 1968. It was the first book on American foreign policy I had ever read which questioned America's position and empire building in the world. I never forgot it and remember thinking at that time I wished I could pass the book out on the street corner. Your book is bringing back those old feelings except I read it now with much more maturity and understanding of global politics. Still, as I read it I am thinking similar thoughts that I remember having oh so many years ago. How could THIS America be so different from the one I knew as a child?

I suppose, even though I am Jewish, some thoughts in the New Testament ring true. "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways." 1 Corinthians 13:11 is applicable to me.

I now return to my bookmarked place on the Kindle and continue to be unable to put your book down!

This is Why: I enclose an excellent article entitled "Tea Party Poised to Win Enough Races for Wide Influence" (link below) which appeared in the New York Times. It is an analysis of the midterms and makes a WONDERFUL case for WHY DEMOCRATS and DEMOCRAT LEANING INDEPENDENTS MUST GET OUT TO VOTE. While it says that Tea Party candidates are having the greatest impact on districts that ordinarily would remain Republican, the Tea Party WILL, IF ELECTED, gain an influential caucus.

Tea Party candidates are determined to undue not only the president's and Democratic agenda recently passed BUT ALSO tea baggers are determined to dismantle age old safety nets such as Social Security, Medicare and other programs begun in FDR's New Deal. Those nets have proven over time to have SAVED MILLIONS in this country from the whims of a laissez faire unregulated capitalist system which is subject to the unstable events of history and the unpredictable influences of the natural world. An unfettered, unregulated free market is UNRELIABLE to protect our country -- ALL in our country -- from the ravages of old age, illness, catastrophic climate events, educational breakdowns, infrastructure repair, economic downturns and much more. The stock market USED to be the exclusive domain of the few in the country who had the means to invest in it. Now Tea Baggers and their Republican Party minions would want to hold ALL of us hostage to the glories of this whimsical free market with its unreliable fluctuations, and sometimes all too often CRASHES and COLLAPSE so they, the few, can make BILLIONS. This Tea Bag movement is MONEY DRIVEN.

Tea Baggers, too, are for spending most especially within the military which WILL obviate other social programs. It is the little guy who is suffering most from this current all pervasive Great Recession. This recession could linger if remedial policies do not remain in place and enhanced. Our economic fledgling recovery could turn into another Great Depression. Worse it could even mean PERPETUAL UNRELENTING and UNREMITTING war ultimately EVEN, dare I say, NUCLEAR war as unregulated war profiteers stand to make trillions. Is THIS what you want for your progeny?

Tea baggers are angry yes and "tax cuts" sound oh so good but their policies are in reality about another kind of spending. Their policies are corporatist in nature, hostile, ruinous and warlike. For them to be a caucus which has overriding influence in the traditional Republican power structure is utterly CHILLING. It forces Republican moderates OUT of the party. This movement has the eventual potential to DESTROY this nation as we know it by destroying or eliminating those programs which historically have worked and will continue to save us from an uncontrollable free market RUN AMOK. The Tea Bag movement if it gains enough power will not only destroy THIS country but it COULD take the rest of the world with it by not addressing the HORRIFIC TRUTH of global warming something which an overwhelming majority of scientists world-wide agree is a man made reality. Is THIS what those of you who have children and grandchildren want for them?

Worse still is the fact that this movement is almost EXCLUSIVELY white and fanatically religious. It ignores the diversity of man and would love nothing more than to eliminate, in any way and by any means possible, minorities or the “other” as a political force.

Man does NOT stand still. He LEARNS new truths. These reactionary malcontents DUPE an unsuspecting and unknowledgeable myth-infused public like a virus that overtakes the cells of a functioning body and ultimately KILLS it. Evolutionary regression WILL kill its host. The only thing that defends man against a hostile environment is the knowledge his magnificently complex brain can understand and the skills which can be learned and created from it. KNOWLEDGE and TRUTH cannot be denied or they can to ALL of our peril.

For these and MANY other reasons the Tea Bag Party CANNOT and MUST NOT be allowed to gain so much power that would threaten the very existence of this body politic with ALL the progressive policies we have attained through the blood, sweat and tears of collective effort. The Chilean rescue of the miners is an example of the GOOD that can be achieved if we ALL work together.

If you do NOTHING else November 2, 2010 PLEASE PLEASE I urge you in the strongest possible way to VOTE and to VOTE exclusively for DEMOCRATS. Tell ALL those you know to VOTE DEMOCRATIC. MOST ESPECIALLY DO NOT FORGET BLACKS, HISPANICS, MEXICANS, BRAZILIANS and OTHER MINORITY GROUPS EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY. Organize and urge everyone to VOTE DEMOCRATIC. This election is ours to win IF we all stick together and get out the Democratic vote but it is the nation we lose if we do not!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39681415/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/