There is a lot of discussion about whether or not we can win the war if we send more troops. The war is already over. We lost. We are a defeated nation. No amount of troops can secure a victory now. In fact the more troops we send the more we lose. What was at stake in this war? Everything.
If you listen to the pundits and the news, it is all about the war in Iraq. They will even tell you that the last election was about the war. But the war I have been fighting has nothing to do with Iraq. The war I have been fighting has nothing to do with terrorists. But the war is about who will win: the people who continue to honor and hold sacred the Constitution and the rule of law or those who do not. Those who do not have won. At least as far as I can tell. I'm not surrendering. I'm not dead yet. I am only taking stock of the dead and the wounded; I am counting the hours before the sun sets, and seeing what is left of my candle.
Even if they kill every Al-Qaeda "terrorist," the war will still be lost. They are not the enemy. They never were. There never was an external enemy who could transform our government from a constitutional representative democracy into something else. I have no name for what it is, but what we have now is not that.
The only reason that it still might look like one is that many of our people believe and act as if there still is one. The only thing that will convince them that they are living an illusion is when the reality hits them where it hurts, as it did and continues to do for many of our citizens who used to live in New Orleans. They now know what they have lost is more than their homes, their jobs, their money, and their stuff.
To win back our constitution and reinstate the rule of law we will have to fight another war, a different war. To win that war will require a critical mass of citizens who have the vision to see, the heart to fight, and the will to win. Maybe that war will be fought by our great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren. I'm guessing it will take that long for our children and grandchildren to unlearn what we have been teaching them by our example. Maybe I'm being too optimistic.
About a hundred years ago there was famine in China. I predict that one day there will be famine right here in the United States. When they read what is happening to us, they will care as much about us as we cared about them when we read what was happening there. The bread that will be consumed in many nations will be baked with wheat that was grown here, even as America's children go hungry... it will be called the great hunger in the midst of plenty.
On Citizenship
On Work
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
If you listen to the pundits and the news, it is all about the war in Iraq. They will even tell you that the last election was about the war. But the war I have been fighting has nothing to do with Iraq. The war I have been fighting has nothing to do with terrorists. But the war is about who will win: the people who continue to honor and hold sacred the Constitution and the rule of law or those who do not. Those who do not have won. At least as far as I can tell. I'm not surrendering. I'm not dead yet. I am only taking stock of the dead and the wounded; I am counting the hours before the sun sets, and seeing what is left of my candle.
Even if they kill every Al-Qaeda "terrorist," the war will still be lost. They are not the enemy. They never were. There never was an external enemy who could transform our government from a constitutional representative democracy into something else. I have no name for what it is, but what we have now is not that.
The only reason that it still might look like one is that many of our people believe and act as if there still is one. The only thing that will convince them that they are living an illusion is when the reality hits them where it hurts, as it did and continues to do for many of our citizens who used to live in New Orleans. They now know what they have lost is more than their homes, their jobs, their money, and their stuff.
To win back our constitution and reinstate the rule of law we will have to fight another war, a different war. To win that war will require a critical mass of citizens who have the vision to see, the heart to fight, and the will to win. Maybe that war will be fought by our great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren. I'm guessing it will take that long for our children and grandchildren to unlearn what we have been teaching them by our example. Maybe I'm being too optimistic.
About a hundred years ago there was famine in China. I predict that one day there will be famine right here in the United States. When they read what is happening to us, they will care as much about us as we cared about them when we read what was happening there. The bread that will be consumed in many nations will be baked with wheat that was grown here, even as America's children go hungry... it will be called the great hunger in the midst of plenty.
On Citizenship
On Work
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
