Half of that half has no idea what's at stake; which brings us to an eighth

If only half of America thinks we are at war and only half of those who do have any idea of what will be required to win the war, only half of that number perceives what is at stake in the war on terror. During WWII America knew exactly what was at stake. Americans could read the news as Axis powers gobbled up nation after nation, territory after territory and after occupation, the misery followed. Americans could read the reports of brutality and repression. The leaders of the Axis didn’t hide their desires to repress and rule the world. Americans understood that our very way of life was at stake. During WWII had some opposition politician, media hack or know nothing celebrity advocated “pulling out of Europe” or conducting hearings on “why they hate us”, they’d have rightly been run out of town on a rail.

Plainly, what is at stake today in the war on terror is the survival of the United States and Western Civilization. This isn’t Lex talking. It’s the Islamo-Terror-Fascists (ITF). We’re the ones who have sat back fat, dumb and happy since 1803 and tolerated a low level ITF war on civilization. They’re the ones willing to blow us up. We’ve been willing to accept a low level of casualties - only occasionally bringing the ITF to heel – Tripoli twice (Once under Jefferson once under Reagan), Afghanistan and now in Iraq.

For the most part we’ve been willing to tolerate a low level of casualties, 5 in Kuwait - no big deal; 24 in Lebanon - not worth disrupting the markets l; the Achille Lauro – sad, but come on one American and a crippled Jew at that, really; 259 soles on a Pan Am flight - what to do?; blow up the World Trade Center the first time – hey only 6 people were killed what’s the big deal?; blow up our embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – OK 224 people were killed but, they weren’t even Americans; 17 sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen – hey they are sailors and get paid for the risk; 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 – damn, I guess we’d better do something about this.

Idiots, if they’d have killed the exact same 3,000 people over ten years, we’d have put up with it. Bin Laden would still be living large in Afghanistan. Saddam would still be sending $25,000 to Palestinian parents of suicide murderers. John Kerry would probably be President of the United States.

Today, because we see no appreciable change in our way of life, most Americans don’t feel that our nation is at risk to a bunch of terrorists in turbans trapped in the 12th century. If we knew what was at stake, we’d act as if we were at war and pursue this war with more of a national fervor. If we had a full appreciation of what was at stake, things would be much different. If politicians understood that the ITFs would not hesitate to gas one of our elementary schools (Beslan), they wouldn’t use the war for political gain. If Dick Durbin had a clue that, given the chance, the ITFs would not hesitate to blindfold him, tie his hands behind his back and pitch him off a three story building, there’d be no hand wringing about the conditions under which terrorists are living at Gitmo. If the good citizens of Illinois had any idea that, given the opportunity, ITFs would set off a dirty nuke in Chicago, any politician who dare compare American troops with Nazis, Khmer Rouge, and Soviet thugs would be looking for a new career – before any scheduled election. If Hollywood elites understood that they’d be the first ones beheaded as unclean infidels by ITFs, they’d be directing their disdain toward the ITFs instead of America’s elected officials. If the MSM knew that, if they failed to convert, they’d be the first to be jailed by the ITFs, they’d cover both sides of the current conflict in Iraq. If a majority of Americans understood that they would receive no mercy from an ITF living next door or anywhere, they’d not tolerate the PC BS now engaged in by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA aka Thugs/Thousands Standing Around) and other law enforcement agencies.

The only reasonable explanation that these things are occurring under today’s circumstances is that precious few Americas really know what is at stake or the vast majority believes that we’re not vulnerable (Hey! 9-11) or they think that short term political gain is more important than winning the war. What else can explain the politics and mood of the country today?