Lex and FBL uncovered this gem. Fair warning: if you tend to lean left and wonder what we’re fighting for then keep surfing because Cassandra will only confuse you further.
About a year ago I was sitting at the dinner table with friends, Democrats, which is not uncommon since many of our closest friends are Democrats. We like to argue with them as a spur to the digestion. It was just before I wrote that piece and largely inspired it. The subject of American exceptionalism and the war came up. The conversation grew somewhat heated, and I tried to explain why I think it so vitally important the United States not do as so many of the Jeffersonian stripe would have us do: firmly push our heads into the sand as though we lived in some 18th Century isolationist utopia that no longer exists. In truth, I am not sure it ever did exist. It was just easier to blind ourselves to the evil that men do, back then. To isolate ourselves, to live in our own little worlds and say “this doesn’t touch me”.
The truth is I’ve had it about up to here with words and the criticisms of those who are only satisfied with perfectly fought wars and governments who never make mistakes, though those two commodities don’t seem to exist in any history book I’ve ever read. Words don’t win wars. Two things win wars.
Faith. And commitment.
There are those that no amount of reason or logic will convince that we are doing what needs to be done. They would have us ignore what is happening outside of our borders until it comes crashing down upon us and we are defending our own cities and neighborhoods. They are “too busy” or “it’s not my problem.” Isolationism is not a viable course of action when the enemy has already infiltrated your camp. I’m reminded of the old joke involving two hikers and a bear: one of the men changes into running shoes and the other says, “Fool, you can’t out-run a bear.” The runner replies, “I only have to out-run you.” That’s the very attitude that I see too often these days, the one that implies: “As long as my life is not directly affected, I don’t care.”
Go read the rest of “Faith and Commitment.”
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