John Stuart Mill wrote that “War is an ugly thing…” and went on to clearly state that despite the ugliness it was much more degrading and pitiable to go through life with nothing you value greater than your own comfort and safety. But, the ugliness is the predominant feature that makes it so readily embraceable as a cause for the Democrats. Mustering a majority to elect you when you promise to not fight for anything so venal as base patriotism isn’t difficult. It gets tougher when the nation has recently suffered a day that will also “live in infamy”, but time heals all wounds and memory is so very fleeting that in short order you’ve got the bleating libs of academia, the media and the metroplexes all donning pink ribbons and once again spitting on recruiters.
It got pretty blatant over the last two years as the resurgent Democrat majority in Congress mounted the podia of the capitol to incessantly chant that the war was lost. The surge was a failure before it was launched, and the general and ambassador who were saying differently in their reports from the scene were liars. They were heavily invested in anti-war sentiment. They would not be deterred by fact.
Last week, the man who would be emperor went traveling. It was about time, since it was becoming very apparent that any exposure he had to actual conditions in the war zone came from inhaling dust off the boots of returning military folks that he might have inadvertently walked past in the airport. He went to Iraq and Afghanistan. He smiled. He waved. He was photographed and he made a three-pointer live and on camera.
What he didn’t do and what he couldn’t do was admit the obvious. The surge has worked. The situation has improved. He was wrong in the first place and other folks were right. He reasserted his position despite all evidence to the contrary. And then, most confusingly, he suggested that we surge more forces into Afghanistan. But, your supreme eminence, how could a surge work there if surges don’t work? Never mind, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. We must believe in defeat, if we are to have change.
Now, we’ve got the economy. Listen closely to the voices of the left. They absolutely are jubilant at rising oil costs. They won’t allow drilling or exploitation of our resources to assuage the shortage. They love failure.
There is a recession. But, we’ve had growth for the last two quarters. Slow growth admittedly, but still growth in GDP. To be a recession there must be two consecutive quarters of contraction. Hasn’t happened, but they still scream recession. Gotta have failure to succeed as a Democrat.
Job losses, markets down, inflation up, foreclosures rising, any bad news is good news in their view.
Why then has no one pointed out that gas prices which were at $4.20 per gallon three weeks ago have dropped in my area to $3.59. That’s 15% in three weeks. Oil is down $25 a barrel from the record highs. The Dow has bounced back a couple of hundred points and mortgage rates are still around 6% for qualified buyers.
We don’t have a recession and we don’t need more government hand-out stimulus packages. And, we sure don’t want to hire a CEO and management team for our country that regales in failure.
I want someone who is willing to admit when they are wrong, who is proud of his country, who doesn’t think government is the answer to all problems, who believes in free markets, and who hates failure as much as he loves victory.
Can we find someone like that?
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