This was a better post, but something went wrong when I tried to publish and I had to do the whole thing from scratch again. Sorry.
People seem to forget that if the bad guys take over, the good guys won't be in charge anymore. We watch bad guys do bad things all the time, but then we come out of the movie theatre and everything's the same as it was when we went in. The lessons of war -- that fighting is both costly and necessary -- are rarely enforced by the average summer blockbuster. We -- and by "we" I mean my generation -- have basked so long in ease and comfort that we forgot how we got there. I know I've said this time and again, but it really can't be said enough.
I recently observed to a relative (Lt. Col. USAF-ret) that I don't think mandatory military service (a la Israel) would be very effective in this country. The media would spend all their time focusing on the "sensitive" guys, the ones who stay in their bunks all day writing poetry about the tragedy of their tender souls being taught to kill, etc., etc. and no one would get any actual training done. Sure, they might learn to scale a wall in full gear, but I doubt they would learn the mental discipline to take a nasty job and see it through.
A nation of nothing but poets is doomed to extinction. The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword gave it that strength -- and the sword can take it away. We need to remember that. In any era, there's going to be some bright boy who gets what he wants by violence, and when he shows up there had better be someone willing to face him in combat. Be as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents, says the Master. In other words, as much as it lies with you, live in peace with your neighbors.
But don't kid yourself, either.
