And sadly, the odds are in their favor."
I'm not so sure. At the time of the founding the fathers debated the Rattlesnake as the national symbol (see for example the First Navy Ensign). The idea to be conveyed was "slow to get into a fight, slow to get out of a fight."
Just look at WWII. The US was strongly pacifist right up to Pearl Harbor. But in the end the American people cheered the bomber crews who systematically destroyed the population centers of Germany and Japan.
Don't count the American people out. Despite 9/11 the American people still do not fear or despise the Islamic Radicals. But once they do, their vengance will no no bound.
They did that. But things have changed since then. Individually, our men and women in uniform today match up equally with their predecessors. As a society and a nation, I'm not sure we're in the same league as the one that fought on with a determination and doggedness to beat the Nazis and militarists of Imperial Japan, in spite of year after year of slogging and four hundred thousand KIAs. The fifth column is getting all giddy at the prospect of passing the 3,000 KIA mark in Iraq. As tragic as that is, we lost that many on D-Day alone, over 5,000 in three days at Iwo Jima. But the press didn't fight us then, they were with us.
We're also as a nation still paying the price for the 1960s/Vietnam debacle. It was primarily during that era that we went from a people who viewed service and sacrifice as a national obligation to one where such was to be avoided. In WWII, we were a people united in purpose and focused on achieving a national goal. That has lapsed into an attitude of self-indulgence, decadence, and the perception that the country and our fellow citizens are there to serve us, rather than the other way around.
And no, I don't know what it will take to turn it around. I thought 9/11 might do it, but as we've seen the memory of that tragedy has been a fleeting one. We can't seem to get up the gumption to even rebuild what we lost. The place is still a hole in the ground. And any mention of that day is often greeted with derision and a sickly whining about your "exploiting" that day for political gain. This from a country that had "Remember Pearl Harbor" as a rallying cry. Very, very sad.
I think you're right on here.
What I can't seem to get a grip on is why 9/11 wasn't enough. What will it take.?
If the MSM had actually showed the films of Americans jumping to their deaths it could have been different, I don't know.
You do have a point. Hell hath no fury like pig-ignorant Democrats awoken from their slumber by attacks on THEMMMMM!!
Fine if US servicemen get slaughtered because of their 'Rat insular stupidity - but let these self-centered POS' get attacked on a REGULAR basis, 911 wasn't enough, and you will soon hear the petulant screams of these idiots demanding the Pentagon wipe out every last country in the middle east, friend and foe alike. Contradictory? Totally hypocritical? You bet. Doesnt't matter. When was the last time you observed a spoiled little five year old pay attention to principle or consistency?
Unfortunately for these little sacks of worthless excrement, when the Katrina-squared chaos comes to the US, caused directly by their appeasement and traitorous actions, those who will be prepared will not be so coddling of them when it comes to direct and brutal survival. They deserve no quarter.
That was a different country, only 3 generations removed from people who fought Indians, cleared farmland and built town in the middle of nowhere. A Christian nation that lived by the rule of law, loyal to family, community and country. That inheritance has been diluted since then. We are living off the interest of prior generations, but the principal is being dissipated.