We're at War, You Say?

The American Enterprise Online ^ | May 17, 2006 | Joseph Knippenberg

[leadpenny]

I think that is the crux of it. Should it have been to the country, "We're coming to get you, now those of you not involved, go shopping and carry on" or "We're at War and everyone will be asked to do something." ??

I don't have the answer, but the divided country we have now is not good.

Don't get me wrong, I am not an FDR fan, but on his approach to Pearl Harbor, I agree. The country mobilized and Americans were generally behind the war effort.

[metesky]

If we had reinstituted the draft, we'd have a real anti-war movement on our hands.

[leadpenny]

It's too late to know for sure on that too, but it takes leadership.

It's fairly obvious to most that if W believes something, he can sell it. If he doesn't, even his supporters see through him. What if, before he stood on the mound of rubble and before he addressed a joint session of congress, he had been made to believe that my approach was the best approach?

[sinbad17]

While serving in the Navy, in 1944 I was able to go home to St. Louis on leave. As I looked around me at the various places I visited in and on my way there, I was astounded at the nonchalance attitude of the general population. They went about their way as though totally unaware there was a WAR being fought by millions of young American men. I heard their comments about gas rationing and meat rationing as though that was a terrible price they were paying for this war. They stilled filled the restaurants and movie theaters and took their cars out for Sunday drives, it was obvious they did not know there was a War being fought. Then I thought, hell that is great, isn't that what we were fighting for, so Americans could do their things, live normal lives. Everyone doesn't have to be totally immersed in the war effort to still be participating. I do very little today yet feel I am a very patriotic American and while rarely seeing any DO SUPPORT those in the military 100 percent.

[darth]

The article asks what we can do here on the home front. Hell, THE WAR WILL BE WON OR LOST RIGHT HERE AT HOME! My volunteering will be for electoral campaigns and on election day. I have served as a Poll Watcher and Election Judge running the polls. Many democrats pine for the good old days when our loss in Viet Nam propelled them to a generation of political dominance. We need a paradigm shift where anti-war democrats LOSE ELECTIONS for a generation. Some of you old warriors want to show your cool under fire? We need Poll Watchers in Philadelphia this year!

[MNJohnnie]

ou can be fiscally conservative by increasing taxes or decreasing spending. You can't be fiscally conservative by increasing debt and deficit spending

Sorry that is utter nonsense. No one lives on a balanced budget. You yourself deficit spend via mortgages, car loans and credit cards. You cannot pay cash for a house so you deficit spend. Govt does the same thing in times of war and recession. Fiscal Conservatives, like all good credit analyists, look at the debt to income ration, NOT total debt. $500,000 in debt for most people would the end of the world, it is insignificant to someone like Bill Gates.

Perhaps the Fiscal Reactionaries might explain to us how Great Britain has managed a National Debt for about 400 years if this is such a looming crises?

It always is amusing when people lecture about "Economic Common Sense" when they clearly do not know basic Economics themselves.

[metesky]

I believe that the WH has an incompetent PR machine and that the president does not make full use of his bully pulpit as he should.

I take that back - he does not use the bully pulpit on issues he should be banging away at and does use it on issues that he appears just plain stubborn about, like illegal immigration.

He should be more outspoken about our defense efforts and STFU about illegals, 'cause he isn't moving anybody on an issue that red hot.

[MNJohnnie]

Nonsense. You hope they will lose a House because that would validate your emotion based anger because your narrow world view is not being imposed on everyone around you by people you think owe you something. We are a Constitutional Republic, not a Presidential Dictatorship. Adults understand they have to make the best they can with what they can not expect 100% of only what they want done today. The problem has been the Perpetually Pissed think they are entitled to things from this Govt. because "They made it". No you did not and no you are not.

We are a Govt OF the people. All the people. Not just the Buchanan Hate everyone crowd. The votes simply do not exist to impose the Perpetually Pissed dogma on everyone. Rather then bitching about it, Adults would realize that means they have more to do to educate people while their view is best.

But as usual, the Perpetual Whiners will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because they are lazy. Yes, Conservatives are lazy. Same thing that happened in 1995 is happening now. You think because you won a couple of elections that you can just sit on your butts and whine about everything. NO, you have to keep fighting every day for what you believe. NO ONE is going to do it FOR you.

[leadpenny]

You say you're an Army Infantryman. Where you serve, punk!

[MNJohnnie]

You would not of gotten a draft thur the Democrat Senate. How that right, how quickly you all forget, the Democrats controlled the Senate from May 2001 to Jan 2003. They hemmed and hawed and stalled about even giving the President a Use of Force authorization. People like Hillary had to go out and promise the Lunatic Democrats that they were "not giving the President a blank check".

Not only that, the Military neither wants nor NEEDS a draft. Our people are the best because they volunteer. We do NOT want a bunch of conscripts to fight a Counter Insurgency.

This is the "Conservative" side of the Liberal Social Engineering coin. "Conservatives" think they can use the military to impose their values and opinions on the draftees

I got a better idea. Quit trying to use the Military as a laboratory for Social Engineering. That not their job. Their job is to kill people and wreck stuff, not impose fanatics Political visions of how society should run

[leadpenny]

You're too stupid and angry to post to. Get lost.

[taxed2death]

"I'm so sick of this site becoming the "You'd better watch it or I won't vote Republican in November!" site."

Me too. The funny part is the big guy is more than likely gonna sign a bill into law that will open the floodgates for 12,000,000 x 16 Dum-a-crats to waddle over here. Worrying about who sits out elections really becomes pointless after that fact.

[Miss Marple]

The only difference in life-style was the huge number of college students demonstrating. People went about their daily lives pretty much the same. I graduated in 1966 so I have very clear memories of what was happening.

The last war which required national mobilization was WWII.

The president said he expected people to eventually get back to their normal lives after 9/11, even though he would not forget. He was pretty much spot on.

Perhaps if the media had kept up a sustained, positive view of the war, people would be more engaged.

[Trailerpark Badass]

The whole point of fighting them over there is so that we don't have to face the pain and disruption of having a war over here.

Even a casual study of history will convince anyone that war on your own soil is worth avoiding at all costs, even if it means that some people sit in restaraunts, fat dumb and happy. That's kind of the point of it all, isn't it?

[xrp]

See post #31.

[roaddog727]

"Which is really sort of extraordinary, he said. The country is at war. People are fighting at this very moment. Don’t these people know what’s going on? Don’t they care?"

It's our job to keep the populace safe and at arm's length from the horrors of war.

[nevergore]

Allegra,

I'm looking for a recent vet's perspective from an old vet....

The primary concept and view of the professor was that we are behaving as if there is no war going on......

Isn't one of the fundamental reasons you go to war as a soldier is to protect and preserve your country's social and economic well being.

The good professor is expecting all of us to be miserable while we as a nation are at war. In his opinion that is the only way to properly respect your sacrifice.

Balderdash! Let's go eat at Chili's, watch movies, buy cars and refrigerators. Let's continue to build this country into the most powerful economic nation the world has ever seen.

The second premise is the deficit. Let's add a war tax....Of course the professor who has sucked off the public teat for years now would never consider reducing spending to make the difference.

The deficit is falling at a remarkable clip due to the strong economy....we are quickly reversing the economic hit we took at 9/11.....

Your views?

[Jim Noble]

Very good answers.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries".

The time to go to war was September 16-October 31, 2001.

It's much too late now.

Until next time.

[OldFriend]

I'd rather some of these malcontents would threaten to leave FR, and give us some breathing space.

Sick to the death of the same ugly rhetoric that comes from the left when a republican might become President.

It's stupid when done by the Streisand types and it's double stupid when it comes from those supposedly on our side.

[George W. Bush]

No, he decided. They have no appreciation for their easy, gluttonous lives and don't deserve the freedom, prosperity and contentment he was fighting to protect.

Given that the country expected to be attacked by Saddam when we invaded, some letdown is inevitable when it became clear that Saddam could barely menace his neighbors. I think there is a lot of ambivalence about the mission, far less than about supporting the troops themselves.

Actually, other than some video coming over the news channels which most people don't watch, it's very difficult to tell we're at war. Even here in rural America where we have a higher number of soldiers, there really are very few serving. And many of those are Guard units in support roles whose extended deployment overseas hasn't been very popular. Still, you have volunteers collecting stuff and shipping to the troops. So they're not forgotten but that doesn't mean people are gung-ho either.

The reaction seems mostly that something will happen or you'll see uniforms and then people are like "Oh, yeah, we've still got troops in the Mideast." For the vast majority of us, there is nothing in our lives to remind us of the Mideast except if we turn on the news or read a newspaper. And often the small-town papers have little coverage of the Mideast.