After I leave work every Friday...a few blocks from my building are a random assortment of 3-7 people holding up "BRING THEM HOME NOW" and "DECLARE PEACE" and "WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER" posters. Of course...I don't say anything negative/positive to them...I just let them protest...that is their right as an American. Whether it's a huge waste of time...well that's another topic altogether.
But it did get me thinking...do these people believe that war is NEVER the answer? I would be curious to find out if they thought that the Revolutionary War (which gave them the right to protest because of our independence from England) was a major mistake. I would be curious to know if they thought the Civil War (which paved the way for civil rights in America) was a necessity or if honest Abe could've negotiated with the Southern United States. I would be curious if they thought WWII when tyrants like Hitler was coming close to victory in Europe until America came in and whooped some ass...was that a mistake?! Should we have stayed home and let Hitler grab a potential victory!? Luckily, FDR didn't think so...Churchill didn't think so and Hitler cowardly took his own life.
My college roommate has a "War is NOT the Answer" bumper sticker on the back of his car (he is one of my best friends but we don't agree on anything politically) and he honestly believes there should not be war.
Was the Iraq War a war of necessity? We've been debating that since 2003 and will debate that until we go into our graves. Is the War on Terror a necessity? If you don't think so... I am ready for some solutions on how to deal with them? While it took a while... Iraq sure has made some progress here in the last 5 years haven't they?
Our current President talks a big game about military force (much like BJC did) but I will be curious to see if/when he actually uses it. Kim Jong Il is being a bitch over in North Korea and who knows what will happen once he comes to the end of his reign of terror. If a terrorist group from another country comes over here and blows up a few thousand innocent people... what do the "war is not the answer" group want us to do? Go have a beer and bratwurst with Bin Laden? Have some tea and krumpets with KJI?
I don't believe we should throw our weight around like a WWE wrestler here...but I think we have every right to say "mess with us and you'll regret it" and not go around the world declaring us "arrogant" for thinking this way. We do this with our families. We do this with our jobs. We do this with our personal belongings. If anyone messed with my family, job or personal belonging...I wouldn't just sit by and say "I'm sorry I brought this upon myself somehow didn't I"...HELL NO...I would be out kicking some ass. Why should we not do this for our country?
In the end...if "War is not the Answer"...what is? Democrats label Republicans as the party of no ideas... I still haven't heard from the Democrats how they would deal with evil (sorry Obama... I will use the word to call evil what it is) because "talking tough" works with some (Reagan v. Gorbachev) but it doesn't work with nutjobs like Bin Laden.
11 July 2009
DECLARE PEACE
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