Maurice, I've tried a couple of time to put together some thoughts related to what you've written, but it seems to come up all muddled and incoherent. I'll have to give your post some more thought. I enjoy it when you stretch my thinking that way, but it hurts a bit! :0)
In the meantime, out of shear coincidence, I ran across this article on realclearpolitics.com and thought it fit nicely with our conversation.
Speakout: Remember, we're not the bad guys
By Baxter Black, Special to the News
May 31, 2004
rockymountainnews.com
I am a friend of a young soldier who recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq, lost a buddy, and has returned disillusioned. Under the barrage of the smothering, instantaneous news coverage and inflammatory dialogue that pervades our atmosphere daily, it is difficult for him, and all of us, to remember the reason he was sent and the value of his contribution. He needs to know that America is deeper than CNN News and partisan politics.
Citizens are free to protest - in France, in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Iraq. Those citizens owe their freedom to America's military might and the aid of our allies du jour. Without the sacrifice of Americans, our money and our lives, Europe would today be under a Hitlerian dictatorship. The Far East, including China, would be ruled by the empire of Japan. Without the pressure and resolve of America during the Cold War, Russia would still be the oppressive USSR. Without America and her friends, Yugoslav and Iraqi people would still be under the murderous thumb of evil tyrants.
When viewed over the long haul, America has given freedom to half the planet in the last 60 years. It seems to be a habit with us. We manage to elect leaders who can rise above politics long enough to do the greater good. It is easy, in hindsight, to find flaws in FDR's complicity with Churchill, to express doubt over JFK's bravado during the Cuban missile crisis, to question Truman's defense of South Korea in the face of a rabid Red China, to deride LBJ's attempt to stop the spread of communism in Vietnam, to criticize Ronald Reagan's arms buildup during the Cold War that broke the back of Russia's war machine, to diminish the impact of George H.W. Bush saving Kuwait, to cheapen President Clinton's motives for intervening in Yugoslavia, and to deliberately diminish the success our policies and soldiers have achieved in our first big retaliatory counterpunch in the battle against radical Islamic terrorism.
America is a world power, not just because of its wealth and weapons, but because it will stand up and be counted when the chips are down. Since America grew into its pants, world-class bullies have been put on notice that humanity is watching. And these despots have had reason to be nervous; from Hitler to Tojo, from Gadhafi to Milosevic, from Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden.
We do not, nor will we ever, I doubt, have the "European mentality" of endless vacillation, fiddling while Rome burns. They are hamstrung by having too many cooks in the kitchen to be decisive. Democracy gave us a presidency that can react quickly.
Our belief in God saddles us with the compassion and conscience to get involved. And our youth gives us the strength of a world champion who still has the muscle and heart to not back down from a righteous fight. We are what we are. We profess to believe that every man and woman has a right to be free and we put our money where our mouth is.
We are not the bad guys. Our record is a proud one. Remember that fact every time you hear of citizens protesting in Kosovo, Kabul, Krakow, Sarajevo, the Philippines, the Netherlands, in England, Berlin, Baghdad and every other place on Earth where we have won. It is ironic that in the one war we lost and the protesters won, citizens are not free to protest . . . in Ho Chi Minh City.
Baxter Black is a cowboy, poet, humorist and commentator on National Public Radio. He lives in Benson, Ariz. |
