Losing Causes
originally published January 10, 2007
Gettysburg was the Super Bowl of the Civil War. The South could have won it, might even have fought to a draw on the third day if the cannon fire had been on target, but by the time Pickett’s men stepped out for their mile march into overwhelmingly withering fire, the game was over. Vicksburg fell the next day, July 4, 1863. The war had been decided, though it lasted almost two more years with thousands and thousands of casualties.
There was no way Southern leaders, even those who realized it, could say, “Okay, we gave it our best shot, but we have lost this war. Let’s make peace.” But hell no! So they fought on through Chickamauga, Chattanooga, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Atlanta and on, finally, to Appomattox.
Once a course it set, it becomes impossible for those who set it to acknowledge their failure. The Germans refused to admit defeat in the Second World War, as did the Japanese. American couldn’t face the inevitable in Vietnam, and here we are in Iraq, still trying to devise a winning American strategy in another country’s civil war, still sacrificing the lives of our soldiers rather than admit that this “war” cannot be won.
New generals, a token increase in troops, and the war goes on. Even with the majority of our citizens knowing it’s a lost cause, nobody can just step up and say, “It’s over.” Hell no, so we fight on.
The Democrats have silenced Congressman Murtha, and nobody else is willing to stand up and say, simply, “It’s over. We cannot win the Iraqi civil war.” Even the chief critics of the President’s dogged blundering “forward” can’t say the words “Out now.”
It’s the same way with the War On Drugs. If there ever was a lost war, it’s that one. None of our leaders can admit defeat, though, so we fight on, imprisoning thousands—many of them for marijuana, while the rest of the civilized world has decriminalized that weed. Our war on drugs prevents our even asking the question why most of our citizenry want to get high or treating those whose lives are messed up by drugs.
Same with education. No Child Left Behind is a failure, just like Gov. Perdue’s “65 Percent Solution.” Neither slogan addresses the main problem with education: we don’t want to pay for it. So, all our politicians talk about education, but nobody does anything about it. That’s because nobody in the Georgia legislature or Governor’s office wants to stand up and say what we really need to do: spend the money necessary to make our schools capable of teaching students who are way behind by the time they start school.
Immigration is another lost war, and we keep on losing because our leaders can’t acknowledge the obvious: millions of Mexicans have illegally entered our country and made themselves part of our economy. They can’t be sent back, and we still can’t stop the flow. Nobody can say, “legalize the ones who are here, however they got here, and then we can identify those still arriving illegally.”
Is this the downside of democracy, that we can’t act until our leaders are convinced that a vast majority will approve their actions? Does this explain why the Democrats have been so tentative in their solutions for Iraq? Is this why we continue worrying the splinter instead of plucking it out?
As the candidates—Democrat and Republican—begin their calculated stagger toward 2008, all of them are terrified of getting too far out in front of the obvious. Nobody can say, as Dwight Eisenhower did about Korea: “Bring The Troops Home.”
Would it strengthen the insurgents in Iraq and terrorists elsewhere if our government were able to face the reality that it has failed? Would it give solace to our enemies if our nation could acknowledge that our attack on Iraq was a mistake and that we have the strength to change course based on reality rather than staying a wrongful course in spite of the evidence that it leads only to more futility and waste of life?
Even the slowly moving body of American opinion states clearly that our country should face the facts and get out of Iraq. Why can’t we find a leader who will speak up for the people as democracy demands?
The Beltway Democrats and the “liberal” media have frozen out Howard Dean, but he’s the only one with the guts to cut through the calculations and call it like it is. They laughed him off the stage for screaming exuberantly, but he’s got the courage of the convictions he screams.
What does it take to learn from the lessons of history instead of being condemned to repeat them by throwing yet another Pickett’s Charge at Baghdad?
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