Times that Try Men’s Souls
"These are the times that try men's souls." This simple quotation came from one of our founding fathers, Thomas Paine, in his writing of The Crisis, which describes the beginnings of the American Revolution as well as his own personal feelings about what was happening at the time. I have also now entered into a time which tries my soul after the fifth deployment of my son to the desert lands of the Middle East. I have had, increasingly so, misgivings about the so-called War against Terrorism, begun with the audacious and brazen attack against us on our soil on 9/11/01.
I have, until now, maintained my support for our government in its efforts to force into the open these radical and fanatical elements which have caused so much death and misery to so many people of all races, mores, ethics, and religions for almost thirteen centuries. However, after these last years of watching it actively seeking to change a world steeped in tradition and resistant to change, I have begun to realize this futility and the seemingly careless wastefulness of a generation of our finest young men and women.
The President seems to believe he is acting upon a mandate from God and the people to bring about peace to the region, forcing it to become a democracy as did Japan and South Korea after our occupation of those lands in years past. As a veteran, I too freely see the problem with this attitude because, as everyone knows, we still maintain a large presence in Japan and an even larger one in South Korea even after more than fifty years! The war in Vietnam has recently been contrasted with the War on Terrorism, insisting our occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan will never be allowed to become another Southeast Asia. This was our government’s way of admitting the failure we endured in Vietnam and the waste of over fifty-four thousand lives and almost one-half million wounded. While these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not come close to the loss of life in previous wars, the lives we do lose remain a purposeless waste of our young men and women in a far-away land in which we have no other interest other than economics in the form of oil. Those forces in the Middle East pose no greater threat than those of Russia and/or China and to keep chanting the mantra that being there reduces the threat to our national security is becoming obscene and revolting. The threat to our way of life is relative to our willingness to develop more ways of becoming self-reliant and self-sustaining without the dependence upon foreign goods and services.
The President fails to recognize his power and that of Congress rests with the people and that those in public service are answerable to the people. We are the people and it is past time for us to make our will better understood. This is especially true with the upcoming election next year which will replace the lame-ducks (brains) now in power, giving the people a fresh opportunity to express their desires in how we should be governed by carefully electing those who have the courage to uphold our Constitution and retain the standards originally established by this great nation.