The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Newt Gingrich: How to Fight and Win the LONG War
As I have stated here many times, I think Fred Thompson would make an excellent President; his stands on the issues most important to me (the War, Homeland Security, Taxation, Guns, Capitalism...) are closer to my own beliefs than those of any other active candidate today. I've donated to Fred's campaign and fully expect to get even more involved as the primary gets closer.
With all that said, I would be dishonest if I did not make a confession here: I would charge into windmills to see Newt Gingrich inhabit the Oval Office... Quite frankly, the country and way of life that we know as "America" is probably under greater threat of extinction today than at any time since the Civil War--and if we don't do whatever is necessary now, whole American cities--along with the American economy--could well become the next casualties of the Islamist Fascists' long war of attrition against Western Civilization.
For me, the most alarming reality of all is that many of my friends--and many other Americans--don't even bother to consider such things; otherwise intelligent and responsible people simply cannot bring themselves to consider that all we have taken for granted for so long really is threatened. But ignorance of reality does not make it any less real.
I was arguing one night with my best friend from college; the subject was why I had become so single-minded and "negative" when it came to the War and politics in general. His statement was that he is an "optimist" and just did not like such negativity dragging him down (I guess he must not watch the news or read newspapers anymore, if that is indeed the case....)
Anyway, I've been giving this a lot of thought, because alienating one's friends is not something one sets out to do. And for me it comes down to one overriding, hard truth: there are unfortunately people in the Islamic world--many with a lot of money, power, or influence--who quite simply do not hold or adhere to a "do unto others" libertarian-like mindset. These are nihilist religious zealots. Some of them have access to dangerous WMD's or are seeking such access. Some of them are content with more conventional murder such as car bombs, passenger planes, IEDs or backpacks for discos. What all these people have in common is that they are openly willing to give their own lives in order to kill as many non-Muslims as possible--especially the "decadent Americans"--all because of a twisted, 9th century conception of a vengeful, angry, unforgiving God. And many of them have Imams who preach that these things will get them to paradise. These people are terrified of women--especially powerful ones whose face and/or body parts they can see. In their own cultures they keep women virtual prisoners, and their culture celebrates the killing of women who do not adhere to being veiled or being sexually chaste. (Yet strangely enough you don't hear a peep about the Islamists from the feminist left in this country...)
If it weren't enough that there are so many people out there who want us dead and who do not share the West's egalitarian mindset; there are also people in our own country--who through their own ignorance or misunderstanding of the reality that there are millions of people like this out there, choose to treat our enemies as "misunderstood", and that America or Israel are somehow to blame for our enemies' zealotry and hate; even though political Islam has been around and killing millions of the kafir (infidels) and repressing and murdering their own women since antiquity.
The most common mistake that many Westerners make when it comes to their own live and let live world view is that they believe that it is somehow inherent in human nature to hold that view, all present and historical evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. The view of "if we just leave them alone, they will leave us alone" derives from Judeo-Christian "Do unto others" roots--but even in the Bible this is the ideal to be strived for, not the harsh reality of the "real world". And so the mistaken conclusion--that people from other cultures have the same egalitarian view of life and tolerance of 'the other' as does the secular West--is a fatal flaw that prevents many Westerners who are not well-read on the subject from understanding the Islamist mindset, the twisted view of the world the Islamists have, and how cheap life--especially infidel lives--are to the people with this mindset...
Barbarism, beheading--and "religious conversion" via conquest, subjugation, and killing of non-believers--have been an integral part of Islam since its inception over a thousand years ago. Israel has been around for about 50 years. Yet the mythology the left would have you believe is that all these Islamists killing each other and others in the name of their God is because of Israel... or because of America. Even in places like Bali, Kashmir, India, Indonesia and Somalia... and places like Russia, Chechnya, Bosnia, Darfur, Madrid, Amsterdam, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the Phillipines, Thailand.... and the list goes on. So--let me make sure I've got this straight--when Muslims blow up a Christian church in the Phillipines, or when a man stones his daughter to death in Tehran--all this killing is because of Israel and America, have I got that right?
Long before Israel or America came along, Islamists have been killing "infidels": the Barbary pirates, the conquest of Spain and Turkey and Egypt and Iraq and Persia, the invasion of Eastern Europe which was halted at the Gates of Vienna, the subjugation of southern Asia and Northern Africa, the conquest (twice) of the Holy Land. Even the barbarism of the Christian Crusades were defensive wars designed to free peoples which had already been conquered by invading, head-chopping Islamist hordes. Yet we are supposed to believe that the sole motivation of our Islamist enemies is America or Israel? Tell me another one...
Yet how many people in America and Europe actually believe that garbage (no thanks to a cooperative leftist media and educational institutions which no longer stress the teaching of military history)? Answer: too damn many. Propaganda works insidiously, over time--until one day no one is around who even remembers the truth or groks the lies which are paraded before them every single day by a sickly partisan news media.
And so--even though for the most part we are talking about good, kind people--these Western "optimists" can be as dangerous to our own way of life as our enemies; perhaps even more dangerous, because they can use their influence and a common belief that any human being is by definition "decent"--to prevent those of us who do give a damn from taking the important steps that must be taken to protect our civilization and way of life.
But the worst of the worst is our openly partisan and seditious news media; their false "optimism" is to be feared every bit as much as is the evil and barbarism of our enemies. And so when it comes to those of us who do understand the high stakes in play, the so called "pessimists" (to use my friend's nomenclature)--it is we alone who stand between the millions of sociopathic Islamist monsters and their goal of annihallating us all. Sure, we are only talking about maybe 3-4% of Muslims here--but there are hundreds of millions of Muslims; 3-4% is a LOT of people. Many of these people have connections, money... and a burning desire to kill us for Allah. And Muslims are reproducing at a much faster rate than any other demographic in the World
The sad fact is that--even after the events of 9/11--a sadly large majority of the American people are in critical need of a leader capable of waking them up to the reality of the darkness which awaits our country if we do not act forcefully to stop our enemies now. We live in momentous, consequential times, and momentous times call for momentous leadership to snap America out of its ostrich-like dream world, before our enemies snap us out of it with an American holocaust.
On September 10, Newt Gingrich spoke to the American Enterprise Institute with a speech called "What If? An Alternative History of the War on Terror." This speech is rather long, and there is about a 30 minute Q and A afterwards. But the ideas in this speech--the brutal honesty and thought that went into it--are such a breath of fresh air compared to what I am used to from other politicians. Truth--when it is laid out logically and eloquently--is a powerful motivator. Gingrich is precisely the kind of leader America sorely needs at this stage of history.
Newt has said all along that he would decide at the end of September whether or not to enter the race. Is that too late to have a chance to win? Possibly. But a Gingrich candidacy would nevertheless be difficult for me personally to ignore.
If Gingrich does not get in, it is my great hope that he will throw his full weight and energy helping to get Fred Thompson and Republican Senators and Congressmen elected. Newt and Fred are an excellent ideological match; Gingrich is a brilliant communicator and would be a tremendous campaign asset; and--last but not least--because Gingrich would make a superb Secretary of War/State in a Thompson Administration. If there is anyone who could implement the kind of dramatic reforms at the State Department (which he touches on in the speech), it is Gingrich. Hell, with Newt wading into that bureaucracy, and kicking ass and taking names for 8 years over there, the War/State Department might actually become an asset to America instead of the liability it is today.
In any case, do not let the length of the speech deter you: bookmark this post for when you have an hour and a half to really sit back, relax, and ponder the future of your country. And prepare to be inspired. There are not a lot of cheap platitudes here; this is a serious discussion, chock full of substance. But if ever there was a time for us all to collectively get serious, now is that time. This is how we should be fighting this war--and the sooner the better. Joe Bob says "check it out."
With all that said, I would be dishonest if I did not make a confession here: I would charge into windmills to see Newt Gingrich inhabit the Oval Office... Quite frankly, the country and way of life that we know as "America" is probably under greater threat of extinction today than at any time since the Civil War--and if we don't do whatever is necessary now, whole American cities--along with the American economy--could well become the next casualties of the Islamist Fascists' long war of attrition against Western Civilization.
For me, the most alarming reality of all is that many of my friends--and many other Americans--don't even bother to consider such things; otherwise intelligent and responsible people simply cannot bring themselves to consider that all we have taken for granted for so long really is threatened. But ignorance of reality does not make it any less real.
I was arguing one night with my best friend from college; the subject was why I had become so single-minded and "negative" when it came to the War and politics in general. His statement was that he is an "optimist" and just did not like such negativity dragging him down (I guess he must not watch the news or read newspapers anymore, if that is indeed the case....)
Anyway, I've been giving this a lot of thought, because alienating one's friends is not something one sets out to do. And for me it comes down to one overriding, hard truth: there are unfortunately people in the Islamic world--many with a lot of money, power, or influence--who quite simply do not hold or adhere to a "do unto others" libertarian-like mindset. These are nihilist religious zealots. Some of them have access to dangerous WMD's or are seeking such access. Some of them are content with more conventional murder such as car bombs, passenger planes, IEDs or backpacks for discos. What all these people have in common is that they are openly willing to give their own lives in order to kill as many non-Muslims as possible--especially the "decadent Americans"--all because of a twisted, 9th century conception of a vengeful, angry, unforgiving God. And many of them have Imams who preach that these things will get them to paradise. These people are terrified of women--especially powerful ones whose face and/or body parts they can see. In their own cultures they keep women virtual prisoners, and their culture celebrates the killing of women who do not adhere to being veiled or being sexually chaste. (Yet strangely enough you don't hear a peep about the Islamists from the feminist left in this country...)
If it weren't enough that there are so many people out there who want us dead and who do not share the West's egalitarian mindset; there are also people in our own country--who through their own ignorance or misunderstanding of the reality that there are millions of people like this out there, choose to treat our enemies as "misunderstood", and that America or Israel are somehow to blame for our enemies' zealotry and hate; even though political Islam has been around and killing millions of the kafir (infidels) and repressing and murdering their own women since antiquity.
The most common mistake that many Westerners make when it comes to their own live and let live world view is that they believe that it is somehow inherent in human nature to hold that view, all present and historical evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. The view of "if we just leave them alone, they will leave us alone" derives from Judeo-Christian "Do unto others" roots--but even in the Bible this is the ideal to be strived for, not the harsh reality of the "real world". And so the mistaken conclusion--that people from other cultures have the same egalitarian view of life and tolerance of 'the other' as does the secular West--is a fatal flaw that prevents many Westerners who are not well-read on the subject from understanding the Islamist mindset, the twisted view of the world the Islamists have, and how cheap life--especially infidel lives--are to the people with this mindset...
Barbarism, beheading--and "religious conversion" via conquest, subjugation, and killing of non-believers--have been an integral part of Islam since its inception over a thousand years ago. Israel has been around for about 50 years. Yet the mythology the left would have you believe is that all these Islamists killing each other and others in the name of their God is because of Israel... or because of America. Even in places like Bali, Kashmir, India, Indonesia and Somalia... and places like Russia, Chechnya, Bosnia, Darfur, Madrid, Amsterdam, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the Phillipines, Thailand.... and the list goes on. So--let me make sure I've got this straight--when Muslims blow up a Christian church in the Phillipines, or when a man stones his daughter to death in Tehran--all this killing is because of Israel and America, have I got that right?
Long before Israel or America came along, Islamists have been killing "infidels": the Barbary pirates, the conquest of Spain and Turkey and Egypt and Iraq and Persia, the invasion of Eastern Europe which was halted at the Gates of Vienna, the subjugation of southern Asia and Northern Africa, the conquest (twice) of the Holy Land. Even the barbarism of the Christian Crusades were defensive wars designed to free peoples which had already been conquered by invading, head-chopping Islamist hordes. Yet we are supposed to believe that the sole motivation of our Islamist enemies is America or Israel? Tell me another one...
Yet how many people in America and Europe actually believe that garbage (no thanks to a cooperative leftist media and educational institutions which no longer stress the teaching of military history)? Answer: too damn many. Propaganda works insidiously, over time--until one day no one is around who even remembers the truth or groks the lies which are paraded before them every single day by a sickly partisan news media.
And so--even though for the most part we are talking about good, kind people--these Western "optimists" can be as dangerous to our own way of life as our enemies; perhaps even more dangerous, because they can use their influence and a common belief that any human being is by definition "decent"--to prevent those of us who do give a damn from taking the important steps that must be taken to protect our civilization and way of life.
But the worst of the worst is our openly partisan and seditious news media; their false "optimism" is to be feared every bit as much as is the evil and barbarism of our enemies. And so when it comes to those of us who do understand the high stakes in play, the so called "pessimists" (to use my friend's nomenclature)--it is we alone who stand between the millions of sociopathic Islamist monsters and their goal of annihallating us all. Sure, we are only talking about maybe 3-4% of Muslims here--but there are hundreds of millions of Muslims; 3-4% is a LOT of people. Many of these people have connections, money... and a burning desire to kill us for Allah. And Muslims are reproducing at a much faster rate than any other demographic in the World
The sad fact is that--even after the events of 9/11--a sadly large majority of the American people are in critical need of a leader capable of waking them up to the reality of the darkness which awaits our country if we do not act forcefully to stop our enemies now. We live in momentous, consequential times, and momentous times call for momentous leadership to snap America out of its ostrich-like dream world, before our enemies snap us out of it with an American holocaust.
On September 10, Newt Gingrich spoke to the American Enterprise Institute with a speech called "What If? An Alternative History of the War on Terror." This speech is rather long, and there is about a 30 minute Q and A afterwards. But the ideas in this speech--the brutal honesty and thought that went into it--are such a breath of fresh air compared to what I am used to from other politicians. Truth--when it is laid out logically and eloquently--is a powerful motivator. Gingrich is precisely the kind of leader America sorely needs at this stage of history.
Newt has said all along that he would decide at the end of September whether or not to enter the race. Is that too late to have a chance to win? Possibly. But a Gingrich candidacy would nevertheless be difficult for me personally to ignore.
If Gingrich does not get in, it is my great hope that he will throw his full weight and energy helping to get Fred Thompson and Republican Senators and Congressmen elected. Newt and Fred are an excellent ideological match; Gingrich is a brilliant communicator and would be a tremendous campaign asset; and--last but not least--because Gingrich would make a superb Secretary of War/State in a Thompson Administration. If there is anyone who could implement the kind of dramatic reforms at the State Department (which he touches on in the speech), it is Gingrich. Hell, with Newt wading into that bureaucracy, and kicking ass and taking names for 8 years over there, the War/State Department might actually become an asset to America instead of the liability it is today.
In any case, do not let the length of the speech deter you: bookmark this post for when you have an hour and a half to really sit back, relax, and ponder the future of your country. And prepare to be inspired. There are not a lot of cheap platitudes here; this is a serious discussion, chock full of substance. But if ever there was a time for us all to collectively get serious, now is that time. This is how we should be fighting this war--and the sooner the better. Joe Bob says "check it out."
Labels: Government Bureaucrats, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism, Newt Gingrich, Republican, The Long War
