Those give-up artists

© 2007 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things… The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. – John Stuart Mill

Our nation is engaged in two great struggles in the War on Terror. One struggle is our military fighting for America’s long-term security; the other is politicians using this War on Terror to further their political fortunes. This is on both sides of the aisle, but I am especially disgusted with Democrats who pray for America’s defeat to further their political aspirations.

Our all-volunteer military is doing the fighting while many citizens do not appreciate the gift of freedom that only comes from actively resisting evil people. Then there are those give-up artists who want a military retreat from our enemies for their own political advantage. An example is Gov. Bill Richardson, who wrote an article for the Washington Post headlined, “Why we should exit Iraq now.”

In the article Richardson frames the Iraqi debate as the difference between him and other Democrat presidential contenders. As president he pledges he will “remove all the troops and launch energetic diplomatic efforts in Iraq and internationally to bring stability.”

He is mistaken. Everyone knows that negotiating with terrorists does not work because it signals weakness to them. His response invites the evil ones to come destroy our country. As Edmund Burke wrote, “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.”

This War on Terror only requires good people to fight one day longer than the evil ones, but they must fight one day longer. Einstein noted, “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

The choice is to fight or be conquered. Aristotle wrote, “We make war that we may live in peace.”

Too many Americans are insulated from the war

The danger today is so many in our society are completely insulated from this war against evil. They see no evil, hear no evil and believe, therefore, that there is no evil. Some say the attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001 changed us forever. Not so. For a while, the give-up artists were silenced, but they are back.

Helping the give-up artists are a population of leaders and media directors who never served in the military and do not understand the need to defeat evil anywhere it exists in the world. They think that if you just keep good thoughts in your head, nothing bad can happen.

In other wars, the population was more engaged. They saw the evil for what it was and understood that they could not avoid the battle forever. They were in the war much like the military. During World War II, there were victory gardens and rationing of meat, sugar, gasoline and tires. No family was untouched by the war.

I grew up in a military family where my ancestors fought in all the wars from the American Revolutionary War through Vietnam. I am free because of their actions. On my wall is my great grandfather’s civil war sword. Further, I have spent plenty of time studying military history. With all of the dangers we have faced, America has never been in more danger than it is now, since treason hangs on many American lips but suffers no consequence from our government.

America’s two big mistakes

America has done two things wrong. First, the war has been politicized so that political careers rest on our military being beaten by the enemy. Second, America announced to our enemies that we are especially sensitive to American casualties. This provided an incentive for them to concentrate on killing Americans. For a while they tried a number of tactics such as blowing up school children, but we did not flinch at Iraqi losses, even children. So our enemies now concentrate on killing Americans. We announced how to defeat us and the enemy is obliging those who have a political need for our defeat.

Our enemies are being bolstered by those of our leaders who see political advantage to a “peace” position. However, if the current administration were Democrat, the Democrats would circle the wagons while Republicans would call for a pull out. That is except for a few on both sides who hold their position for reason of thought rather than politics. Even in disagreement, I respect those few.

It is national suicide to talk about demanding short wars or to be sensitive nationally to casualties. If we do not have the will to fight and die, that is exactly what will happen on a grander scale. On as small a planet as modern-day Earth, there is no hiding from evil.

We can intimidate the evil ones and hold them in check, but we cannot surrender and still keep our country safe. You are free only because of the sacrifice that the military has made. The least we can do is not be give-up artists.

Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.