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We can’t afford pessimism.

If we were that way after Pearl Harbor, we’d be a Japanese colony right now.

The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II. Four months later, on 18 April 1942, came the American answer: The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, a, aircraft carrier based attack by Army Air Corps B-25 bombers on the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

Not quite four years later, came the American air attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Come the XXI Century and we saw a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks said to have been committed by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, then headquartered in Afghanistan, on New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

By 7 October 2001 President George Bush's Operation Enduring Freedom was initiated, and on 19 October, Operational Detachment Alpha 555, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was the first of several 5th Group teams to infiltrate into Afghanistan, and work with the Northern Alliance to bring down the Taliban government, along with forces from the United Kingdom. The two were later joined by other forces, including the Northern Alliance and some NATO nations. ODA 555 was the first U.S. military unit to enter the city of Kabul after a short battle on Nov. 13 and 14; cleared the U.S. embassy complex of any booby traps and unexploded ordnance, and set up the first American mission in Kabul since the Soviet invasion 22 years earlier. Along with the other ODAs, ODBs, and SOF units from other services and allied countries, ODA 555 had just helped win a great battle, all in just 25 days since landing in Afghanistan. The U.S. and its allies drove the Taliban from power and built military bases near major cities across the country.

Oh yes, we can still do it. All we need now is the leadership, and a little stiffening of the national will.

It wouldn't hurt a bit to hang a few traitors and Quislings as well.

Yeah, I know it is hard at times and I understand the pessimistic side too. I think at some point things will settle out but I think as time goes on, we all will have to pay a price. Some of us might have to put it all on line, others less so, but stand to lose a lot, but I see troubled times ahead if we do not change course. The current system cannot stand. I don't know how it will fall but it will. It could whimper out when the money stops flowing or maybe something happens where part or all the power grid goes down, There could be an internal civil war or an atomic war. I admit I'm a libertarian for the most part but if there is a collapse, it will bring back personal responsibility and accountability, there will be no more "Uncle Sugar" to pick you up and take over the results of the bad deeds. It's like the "free love" movement, there is no such thing as free love and no one is really forced to be accountable and responsible for their deeds. Same with other things too. Example, when I key up the transmitter on my amateur radio, I'm responsible for that signal. The same is true is if I have sex that results in bringing a life into the world, I am responsible for that child along with the mother. That's a good example but responsibility has gone out the window and that is a huge part of things.

However, I have another thought. I get into it on Civil War debate of the the cause of the war about slavery. I was thinking one day about slavery in general and there are sometimes I wonder if there are some people who would be content to be a slave. Maybe not in the old sense where you have a master like in old Rome or the antebellum South but they want to be told what to do and/or cared for in exchange for security such as a place to live, "three hots and a cot," cable TV, a car, medical care and so forth. That's what the welfare system creates in a defacto sense. They get their goodies for their votes in exchange. Then you can add into the mix where they pop out the next generation left and right to continue the cycle. To them, this is job security but no upward mobility.