I remember a nuclear ‘near miss’ in 1962, and I believe a war is more likely now in part because people no longer believe it’s possible. We dwell in a total fantasy world where there’s always food, water, entertainment and security. People are incapable of understanding a true peril and are inviting catastrophe. And maybe we have earned it.
Most of us are living a sheltered life, and it is getting worse.
People are going to be in for a rude awakening in the next three years. Shortages and inflation are going to be brutal. Won’t be anything at like after nuclear exchange, but it will bring the crybabies out and breed a whole new level of criminals.
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Love him or hate him, John Kennedy was born for such a time as the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can feel the anguish of those who are patriotic Americans. We have been saddled with the shame and sorrow of a "weak tyrant."
I turned 12 on October 26,1962. This country had one voice, one belief in Judeo Christian ideals and we could trust in a president who worked to fulfill the mandate to defend and preserve this land. I'm so glad I was blessed to have known such a time.
In 1962, every living American had either been to war, and likely saw combat, or had a close family member who did.
It's not like this today. War, for most living Americans, is something they've never had to experience. A miniscule percentage of the population, mostly volunteers for the past 50 years, has gone off to some faraway country to do the fighting while the rest of America stayed comfortable at home, fat and happy.
This one might be different. There's a very real potential that Americans might not escape unscathed. There's a very real potential that we could see U.S. cities obliterated.
I don't think a lot of people are really thinking about this.
I am. That's why I kinda get pissed when some Twitter bluecheck starts harping about "Why can't we enforce no-fly zones?" We're used to treating our enemies as someone who couldn't possibly touch us. We're treating Putin on the same level as Saddam, Gaddafi or Bashar al-Assad, some 3rd rate ruler with a 3rd rate military who we can wage war against while the rest of the country watches football and goes shopping with not a worry in the world that violence will reach our shores.
A good quote I found on Twitter that really hit home with me:
"There is a grotesqueness about so many soft-handed grown men, who've never been punched in the face, have no decent scars, and haven't done a day of hard labor in their lives, Twitter-howling for blood in Ukraine like the most effete Roman spectators at a gladiator match."