I'm guessing that since this is a progressive/liberal site (and thank goodness for that) most of us are anti-war by nature. I am no exception to this generalization. I was and still am against both Iraq wars, I think Vietnam was a mistake of gigantic proportions, and nothing makes me more sad than reading about the Civil War. But there are times, and sad times they are, when war is necessary; WWII is the greatest example of such times. Without military intervention, we would all be speaking German or Russian or Japanese at this very moment, figuratively speaking. Action was required, and action helped make America safe from its enemies. I wonder, though, how things would have fared for us if WWII had happened on our watch.
Reading the blogs yesterday and today, I am struck by the notion that if many of us had been alive in the 1940s, we would not have supported FDR and the war against the Axis powers. After all, FDR ran for re-election in 1940 promising to keep us out of the war, and then he broke that promise on December 8th, 1941. I mean, even if we could justify war against the Japanese, why go to war with Hitler? He hasn't done anything to us.
I am also struck by the notion that many of us would have backed Neville Chamberlain's effort to appease Adolph Hitler; anything to avoid war. I can't help but feel that I probably would have been inclined to do so as well(you see, I'm not casting stones here). Would we have allowed Hitler to go unchecked? I'm guessing that we might have, until it was too late.
I am furthermore struck by the notion that many of us would have decided against going to the recruitment centers the day after Pearl Harbor, to offer our services in aid of defeating the Japanese aggressors and the Nazi threat. "It's someone else's problem; someone else's war; I have to support my family and my two cars and my flat-screen TVs and my vacation home on the islands and my cell-phone bill with texting charges and the private schools, etc.; my kid is not going to die in some foreign land. We can't afford a war, having just come out of a great depression. We can't beat the Japanese, it's a quagmire, a black hole. We can't do this; we can't do that; we just can't."
I am constantly struck by the notion that the 24-hour news cycle would have prevented unconditional victory in WWII, and probably would have prevented FDR from a fourth term, what with all the empty-headed drivel one hears on the airways 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Can you hear the news-heads questioning the tactics, wondering why it's taking so long to defeat the Axis powers, wondering why we haven't invaded Europe yet, wondering why we are losing so many men in the Pacific? Can you hear the callers to el Rushbo, complaining about the government rationing of food and gas, complaining about the taxes to support the war (I already heard such a complaint today), complaining about the constant pressure to buy war bonds?
We seem to have lost what once made this country great. Once we achieved all that we hoped to achieve as a nation, we grew fat (figuratively, that is -- I don't want to go down that road again today, lol) and lazy. We feasted on the fruits of our labor and basked in the glow of our well-earned prosperity. And now we're hanging on by a thread to what made us great, resting on our laurels, our muscles atrophied.
So tonight, our president, our country's greatest hope in a very long time, will come before us asking for our support in the war against the forces that helped to make the 9/11 terrorist attacks possible. He is not going to ask us to serve, or to give up meat for the duration of the war, or to drive less, or to save fat drippings or turn in rubber and scrap metal, or have the gals give up nylons, he'll only ask us for our support and our prayers for those who volunteer to help keep this country safe. Will we support our president? Based on many of the comments posted here today and yesterday, many will not. That's sad. Another generation, a better generation did so and achieved greatness.
What I think we have to realize is that our country is at a very important crossroads: if we cannot come together as a nation under this very impressive president, if we cannot do the things we know we ought to do, like health care reform, under this president and 60 Democrats and Independents in the Senate, we may never be able to do so ever again. We may have one, last, best chance to recapture what made America great and to be great again, but sadly we are squandering that chance.
Let's support our president. We voted for him because we trusted him to do what he thought was right and what was best for the country. Now act on that trust and support his decision on the war in Afghanistan. Support a compromise on health care reform because we need reform more than we need an un-passable, if better, bill that dies well short of enactment. Support this president through thick and thin; because we must realize that there is no one else out there who can do any better; there is no other beacon that will light the way. If Obama can't do it, we are sunk as a nation. We must succeed, or die trying.