Monday, March 10, 2008

America and war

Bob Dole reminds us in his book Great Political Wit of some of the attitudes Americans have had about war. In January 1966, Republican senator George Aiken of Vermont, discussing the war in Vietnam, said, "I'm not very keen for doves or hawks. I think we need more owls." I couldn't agree more George.

Huey Long never fought in Europe and he gave a very "American" response to war. "I did not go," he said, "because I was not mad at anyone over there." In my mind it was Will Rogers who became the seer and sage of future wars we could be involved in. In fact, he was downright clairvoyant. Regarding future wars he said, "If you want to know when a war might be coming," he said, "you just watch the United States and see when it starts cutting down on its defenses. It's the surest barometer in the world."

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