Scared Shitless
This article makes clear for me what I dislike so much about Republicans at present, and that is that almost uniformly they are scared shitless.
But more importantly the op-ed also points out the other thing I dislike about them so much, they are impeding victory.
Scared defeatists, thats today's Republican Party.
America has routinely had this illness, but never before can it be said that America has had such a paralyzing amount of the illness. That is because, unlike McCarthyism, this current infection runs deep inside all the major institutions which govern power in the country. We are totally ineffective at waging the war on terror because our leaders are so afraid of the future that they forget where they came from.
On September 12, 2001, every single white man, black man, and any other man or woman in any real type of power all across the USA woke up completely, utterly, and so desperately scared shitless. The collective gasp: "what next?"
It will take a real man, or perhaps a real woman, to treat this illness. It will require not just one, or two, or even a handful of really good "take your skirts off and fight like men you pansies" type locker room conversations with the American power structure. Nay, it will require a prolonged course of stoic and spartan minded reform and practice. We've become so depressed by this daily and irrational fear that we no longer can lay claim to anything good or wholesome. We can only lay claim to gluttony, greed, and avarice.
We need a Winston Churchill right now, and instead all we have are some Rudy's and Obama's running around trying to be the next Prince.
We have served in combat; we understand the reality of fear and the havoc it can wreak if left unchecked or fostered. Fear breeds panic, and it can lead people and nations to act in ways inconsistent with their character.
The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp.
But more importantly the op-ed also points out the other thing I dislike about them so much, they are impeding victory.
Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld once wondered aloud whether we were creating more terrorists than we were killing. In counterinsurgency doctrine, that is precisely the right question. Victory in this kind of war comes when the enemy loses legitimacy in the society from which it seeks recruits and thus loses its "recuperative power."
Scared defeatists, thats today's Republican Party.
America has routinely had this illness, but never before can it be said that America has had such a paralyzing amount of the illness. That is because, unlike McCarthyism, this current infection runs deep inside all the major institutions which govern power in the country. We are totally ineffective at waging the war on terror because our leaders are so afraid of the future that they forget where they came from.
On September 12, 2001, every single white man, black man, and any other man or woman in any real type of power all across the USA woke up completely, utterly, and so desperately scared shitless. The collective gasp: "what next?"
It will take a real man, or perhaps a real woman, to treat this illness. It will require not just one, or two, or even a handful of really good "take your skirts off and fight like men you pansies" type locker room conversations with the American power structure. Nay, it will require a prolonged course of stoic and spartan minded reform and practice. We've become so depressed by this daily and irrational fear that we no longer can lay claim to anything good or wholesome. We can only lay claim to gluttony, greed, and avarice.
We need a Winston Churchill right now, and instead all we have are some Rudy's and Obama's running around trying to be the next Prince.
posted by J Smith at 8:28 PM
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