Longing for the Revolutionary Spirits

July 4th is a time think about our country. In 1776, on this date, the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. For the next 232 years, people celebrated this day as the birth day of this great nation. For me, I would rather trace the birth of this nation to a year earlier, to April 19th, 1775 when the first shot of military struggle was fired near Lexington, Massachusetts. Without a series of heroic military battles, the Declaration of Independence, no matter how eloquent it might be, would remain a piece of paper. The revolutionary war gave significance to the Declaration of Independence .

The glory of the United States reached its peak in 1945 after defeating Nazi Germany and Japan in World War II. Afterwards, the 2 non-victories, the Korean and Vietnam Wars served to bring this country downwards. With a great President Ronald Regan, the Unites States regained part of its lost glory by winning the Cold War. Through unrelenting courage and determination, we finally brought down the Soviet Union. Short of live firing of weapons, the Cold War matched a war in level of mobilizing the national resources.

Today, this country is at war again. Many citizens, some prominent political figures, harbor reservations on this War on Terror. For millions of others, especially those who have been to the ground zero, supporting their troops is never a moral hurdle. The War on Terror is a just war. The United States has the legitimate rights to defend itself after having been attached first.

President G.W. Bush has rightly called this war a ‘War on Terror.’ What puzzles me is that why he has not been fighting a war like a war. Those precision weapons are wonderful things. But if they become ineffective in dealing with terrorists hiding in mountain caves, we should use something else. The outcome of a war is measured in winning or losing, not on how. ‘War is hell,’ a great Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman once said. Because of his cruelty (or determination), Sherman won the fame as the ‘butcher.’ No matter how people later labeled him, General Sherman played a vital role in the North winning the Civil War. If President Lincoln had used General George McClellian for another year, the war would have been lost and we will not see our country as the United States of today.

As civilization evolves, majority of world has learned to resolve their differences through peaceful talks. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, military struggle through the hell is still necessary. With this on going War on Terror, what this country calls for is a commander in chief who can lead us to a complete victory. Only after and beyond, we will be able to devote our full time and energy to the cause of world peace.