Blessed are the peacemakers

At Christmas, our thoughts turn toward the Prince of Peace. Christ was born in the Middle East, a place that has known little peace. Today our brave men and women are working with our Allies to achieve real peace in the World, a peace that can only come with the defeat of evil people of bad will.

Achieving peace with one’s neighbor, when they are of good will, is one thing. Achieving peace with evil people is an entirely different situation. We should learn from the fact that Christ did not try to appease Satan nor waste time fretting about why Satan opposed Him. Victory over evil is the only option.

Freedom is on the march in the Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The liberal fantasy that people thrive under dictators and tyrants has been disproved. The liberals are perplexed that the Afghani and Iraqi people actually prefer freedom to being tortured and killed by terrorist butchers.

Our peacemakers come from our farms, villages, and cities. We know them and their families. We hear of their successes and their pride. We sob with them in their loses.

We did not anticipate that the liberal media and liberal political elite would endanger our troops by giving the terrorists high levels of support and comfort. We idealistically expected that even the left would want our country to win the War on Terror and that this War was off the political table. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since Vietnam.

We look the other way when the liberal news media concentrates on our casualties rather than the progress our troops are making in Iraq and Afghanistan and the freedom they are securing for the people. We give liberals a pass when they give aid and comfort to our terrorist enemies by claiming that our government and our Secretary of Defense should somehow be able to predict all the eventualities and needs of war.

Our warriors have suffered the insults of the liberals who have tried to create hatred for our troops just like they did in Vietnam. Our brave troops returned from Vietnam to be spat upon and called baby killers. They have tried to create the same despicable public opinions by concentrating on incidents such as the Abu Grahib prison scandal and when one of our brave warriors appropriately shot a terrorist who was pretending to be dead.

The terrorists are inspired by the deceptive religious rantings of their leaders and emboldened by our own liberal news media and liberal politicians. If we don’t call this treason, we must at least recognize it as an evil disservice to our nation.

The media needs to investigate those politicians who cut our military spending and our intelligence gathering capabilities, opposed numerous weapons systems, and voted against funding for armor and other necessary military expenses. These people are easy to find as they are trying to blame the President Bush’s Administration for their own sins. They and their predecessors cut our defense outlays from 14.1 percent of gross domestic product in 1953 to 3.0 percent in 1999. Defense spending has now increased to 3.4 percent, but our military remains dangerously underfunded and understaffed.

These liberal politicians are the heirs of those who allowed the Communists to take over Eastern Europe and China following World War II. They are the descendants of those whose lack of resolve opened the door for North Korea to invade South Korea and who emboldened Fidel Castro and the Vietcong.

The liberal news media are the descendents of those who, in the midst of our winning in Vietnam, informed us that the United States was losing the war. With this media support and using Watergate as cover, the liberal Congress defunded the Vietnam War and we lost.

We hope for good in all of mankind. To our continued detriment we dismiss the evil inherent in fascism, communism, terrorism, and liberalism. We tolerate the liberal news media and the liberal politicians who support our enemies.

The most effective way of preserving the peace is to present one’s enemies with the prospect of overwhelming firepower intended for use. This is the simple concept of “peace through strength” as concisely envisioned by President Ronald Reagan and implicit in the Bush Doctrine.

There are two views of peace. One follows military action and the defeat of the forces of evil. The other follows surrender and disarmament. The first results in freedom the second in slavery and serfdom. We must continue to choose the first.

As you count your blessings this Christmas Season, give thanks for our military. They defend us in a world filled with evil, bring hope to the persecuted, and have worked miracles in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are bringing peace to the Middle East that has known little peace. Their work is far from over.

Let us be ever vigilant to demand that our elected officials fully support and continuously strengthen our military. Let us remember to donate our time and money to the organizations that support our troops and our veterans. Let us take the time to visit and provide for a wounded warrior, a veteran, and their families.

Let us remember our peacemakers and their families in our thoughts and prayers throughout the year. May God richly bless and strengthen them.

Dr. May resides in Lubbock, Texas and is a retina surgeon; he lectures on economics, and he has been on the faculties of the University of Illinois, the University of Texas, the University of California, Tulane University, and Texas Tech Health Sciences University. He has lectured and taught surgery throughout the United States and in Canada, China, India, Japan, Great Britain, and Western Europe.

"We did not anticipate that the liberal media and liberal political elite would endanger our troops by giving the terrorists high levels of support and comfort. We idealistically expected that even the left would want our country to win the War on Terror and that this War was off the political table. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since Vietnam."

Yes, Dr. May, thank you for enlightening those who read these words of wisdom. And, thank you for your willingness to go through rigorous training that is outside the comprehension of most of our population, in order to minister and bring healing to those suffering from eye problems. Unfortunately, the editor of USAToday, Al Neuharth, is continuing these travesties against our nation in a time of war through an article he has just written, making the strong statement that the US should pull out of the Iraq war immediately. It is claimed that the "letters to the editor" are running about 50-50 in response to his article. I do not believe that for a minute. Most of the people out here who believe that we have to continue this war until the terrorists are stopped will never write a letter to the editor but their force will be felt if the handful of leftists get their way in any of this, thereby exposing this strong and good nation to disaster and destruction, not to mention the murdering and violence which would be the fate of the innocents in the Middle East. Mr. Neuharth is an elite who lives, no doubt, in a very secure home, located in a very secure community and his success as a journalist running a publication like USAToday has given him the illusion that he should make policy for the US and should be able to take away the power of the Presidency to make the determination about what is needed to secure the peace. Mr. Neuharth and his ilk hate George Bush and will do anything to see his policies fail. They do not get it! How very, very mislead the left is..They turn a blind eye to the evil which afflicts the world we live in as long as they are safe in their gated compounds. Neuharth fought in WWII? God help him!

Living by the teachings of Christ is extremely hard. It requires a fierce determination to view the world different than what feels good or easy. I have a hard time remembering that everyone is a child of God and my brother. I don't always love my enemy. And sometimes I find it impossible to turn the other cheek. But a part of me feels that the pacifist Christian traditions may be closer to following the true teachings of Christ than the author of this article.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.