We are perhaps the most fortunate nation to have ever existed. We are a people who govern ourselves. The American experiment has been an enormous success.
Or has it?
I hear the constant drumbeat from the liberals that we are ‘empire builders’ and ‘warmongers’. I hear that we are living under tyranny and fascism.
The words are always inflamatory and dramatic. And always in direct opposition to America.
These words are spoken often and with conviction as though if it’s said often enough, if there are enough sound-bites, it will be true. Or at least, people will begin believing it.
A brief glance at our short history tells us this isn’t so.
We have never been a nation that has gone looking for war. We have no need for war. We are comfortable. We have enough land, enough resources and are for the most part content with our lives.
If we don’t like who is representing us, we can vote them out of office. We don’t have to have a coup or meet in dark back alley rooms for political meetings. We have no need for war. We don’t want war.
Throughout our history America has gone to war only when dragged into it kicking and screaming. The people of America have to be convinced there is no other choice. Once the people are convinced it is necessary, history tells us that Americans will fight and fight well.
The problem we are faced with now is different though.
In the past, the oceans around us protected us. The oceans don’t protect us anymore.
In the past, our enemy gathered armies and were identifiable by their nationality. They fought by a code of honor that we were able to recognize and identify with. That’s no longer true. Our enemy is not a nationality, not easily identifiable and if they fight by a code of honor, it is theirs alone and not one we comprehend.
Yet, it is perhaps (probably) the most dangerous enemy we have ever faced. They are not good warriors in the sense that we understand warriors.
They don’t fight our Soldiers. They attack civilians and sneak up on us unexpected. We view that as cowardice while they take pride in their ability to catch us unaware.
They are fighting their war over the airways, through propaganda and threats of a brutality at a level that is alien to our culture.
We refuse to see it. We refuse to understand that we are at war and our enemy is determined to destroy us.
I hate to even consider what it’s going to take to drag us into reality this time.
Charles Krauthammer’s article of a few days ago asks What’s at stake in the dispute over Iranian nukes? Ultimately, human survival.
Wake up America!
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April 1st, 2006 at 10:06 am
Excellent post Beth. Not that you need me to tell you that! LOL!
I could not of said it better and I hope everyone reads this post. You make very poignant points and they are true.
America needs to wake up and wake up now.
April 1st, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Yep. For the most part, real people with genuine American values recognize that we are at war, and most of those also recognize the nature of our enemy, for the most part.
It’s Mass Media Podpeople, Academia Nuts, Loony Left Moonbats and politicians of all stripes who want to live in reality-based fantasyland.
The issue of border security alone is enough to demonstrate that about 80% of politicians at the national level are not only out of touch with reality but thumbing their noses at their constituents. It’s an almost perfect mirror image. 70-80% of Americans (depending on which pollster you read) want our borders enforced. 75-80% of congresscritters want to give away the store.
And it is a security issue on many fronts. Arrrgggghhhhh!
Time for a tea party?
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:53 pm
I’ll bring some tea!
April 17th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
What happened to America’s Native population? Does the deaths of 3 thousand in NYC justify the deaths of some 30 thousand in Iraq under American Occupation?
In football terms, you won.
April 19th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Fabien … ask Saddam. Americans have not killed 30 thousand in Iraq. And this isn’t a football game, it’s about survival.
What about the Native population? I don’t know any Native’s who want to submit to Islam - do you?
April 27th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
We are part of the overarching Anglo Saxon culture. Our culture is innately isolationist, and derives its core values from the thinking Edmund Burke and the English Country Party upon which he rested his ideals. When Tolkein wrote Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits must have been based on us in some way (I realize that he said he did not overtly based his books on geopolitics, but let us face it, the Hobbits are our archetype - this is immediately recognizable.) Indeed, it was the island setting of Britain and the island-continent setting of the USA which led to our way of thinking. Now for the downsides. Even our greatest blunder, our utter failure to anticipate the inescapable reality of WW2, taught us very little. In characteristic fashion, we, in spite of our lack of preparation, pulled one out of the fire. Furthermore, FDR made a deal with the Devil (e.g. Stalin) in order to avoid having to do too much. This is was worst it has ever been for us clear up until 2001. Even after 9/11, we still failed to learn.
What is it that we ought to have learned? Simply put, we ought to have learned how to step outside our normal frame of reference and to put on the cynical, Clausewitzian, dark, pessimistic, hat, (but of course, without losing who we are) so that we might scare ourselves into actually doing what we have to do to win against the anti Western forces of desctruction. They are out to kill us all. They are out to conquer the world. And if anyone believes that winning against AQ, Iran, Hamas, et al is the completion of the job, I am sorry to say, it is only the first part of the job. For after wiping all of them out, there are the nation states of the Shanghai Cooperation Org waiting in line to destroy us.
If you think I am exagerating, I say think again. Take a close look at the megatrends in the geopolitical realm. We are in a fight for our lives. We may have to fight in our own towns. We may yet have to face the harsh reality of world war fought simultaneously on the terror front and on more traditional fronts. History would argue that we have thus far only been luck to not have experienced what many in the Old World have. Destruction, and, the raw battle for survival against all odds, is likely coming to our soil.
But do not despair. There are those of us who have looked the beast in the eye and are ready. We will never run. We will never hide. We will imbue the spirit of Men who faced similar odds multiple times in the past when it might have appeared that the West would be over run. We, as they, have grasped the secrets of existential war fare. Wish us luck and God Speed to all.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I wonder what it will take for American’s to wake up, truly. You have been bamboozled beyond belief. You are so mixed up and paranoid you don’t know what is right in front of your noses. I won’t convince you. When you are so sure that the world hates you because you are Americans, out of hate for your religion, your wealth, your way of life, freedom and so on, you are completely deluded. Are there people who do hate you for those things? Probably. Are they numerous. Where is the evidence. You have Al Queda and some extreme Islamists, Hamas and Hezbolla. but even they are more interested in their regional issues than in destroying America, despite all hoopla they make in the streets, which is amplified by the American media, even those groups only get traction by reference to the militarism of Israel and the US. It’s funny how the same information can yield such opposite views. You see the increase in “hate talk” and “militarism” on the part of Islam as an indication of their hatred while others, me included,see it as a desperate response. As desperate as the emotions in the last submission. That America is under threat. Well, those places have been bombed and threatened for the past 5 years. Do you really think they’re any different than you? YOu claim that you make your stand and fight to the end. Is there not even an ounce of understanding that that is what people are actually (not in some dreamt up future attack on American soil) suffering from. Your hearts are so full of American Idol worship you are incapable seeing others on the same level as yourselves. Your righteousness is nothing but a profound moral blindness. All things must be seen in terms of We/They Good/Evil Christian/Heathen. So you will continue to occupy the basement of the spiritual world even if and when you conquer all peoples, destroy the earth and everything in it. You’ll be able to stand on the blackened heap with your oxygen tanks and masks and say. “At least we never gave up our “freedom”. Will you come to your senses? Realize we share in mortality, the question of our existence, the need to love and be loved. All, without distinction of color or creed…the superficialities of life. Fight for the dispossessed and you will possess. Speak for the mute and you will be heard in the halls of heaven. Fight for your standard of living and your only reward will be what you can claw from rest of herd, and even that will turn to slime in your grip. What will it take to see that you are being led down the garden path. No, you lead! the rot has been completely absorbed. Why do I waste my time.