It's probably no surprise to any reader that I'm more interested in funding public schools, paying down national debt and working toward income equality than spending money our government doesn't have waging another foreign war that we will lose. I don't fall in with the strategy of dropping fifty eight bombs each time an American is killed. I don't believe that ISIS/ISIL is endangering my freedom. They are barbarian warlords doing terrible things, not a nation-state government that is waging war on my right to buy citronella candles at 75% off to celebrate the end of summer. Maybe I'd be in favor of sending the Ferguson, MO police force, because they just want to kill stuff anyway. I can't say I really understand bloodlust. I know it's not exactly generational, but most of our leaders happen to be baby boomers, that same generation who "invented" the draft-dodger, but dang if they don't want to murder everybody now that they're at the helm. The worst mistake to be made would be thinking that more violence/bombs/intervention from America is going to fix Iraq's problems.
If one is tempted to complain that America looks weak because a desert wasn't obliterated before Labor Day, I would counter that we are weak, but not because we haven't killed or bombed enough. Weakness comes from the unwillingness to take care of one another, sniping at anybody who needs a little assistance to make ends meet and insisting they don't need or deserve any help in the form of food stamps, healthcare, or affordable housing. Our education system is faltering and we don't have the money to fix it, mostly because we spent trillions on war and what little is leftover has to pay for the care of some seriously damaged troops.
On the plus side, we're producing enough domestic oil to not have to steal it from the Middle East and install terrible leadership to keep it flowing to our Range Rovers. On the plus-er side, hybrid and electric vehicles are getting better and better every year, renewable energy technology is more common, and people are commuting on bicycles (Ok, like 3 people).
War should never be a knee-jerk reaction to any crazy shiz happening in the Middle East - or anywhere else, for that matter. A wise man once said that when people get afraid or things are happening that they don't agree with, they tend to cling to guns and religion. Whelp, that's ISIS. It's diplomatic coalition time. Long distance phone calls are cheaper than war.
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