Let the Strength of Peace Run Through This Land

I know I can never return
To the time of hope when I was born
Let the strength of peace run through my hand

When we walk away from the stone’s roar
Then I will be afraid no more
And now I’m sure of where I stand
Let the strength of peace run through this land

– The Storm, Big Country

Peace through strength is a maxim that is true, but which seems weak platitude since American forces seem so strong at this point. We just defeated two countries, and are well on our way towards defeating four separate armies of insurgency. We did that without interupting little league, football, or weekend shopping.

Our prowess in technology makes us second to none in our ability to deal swift, decisive and horrible damage to any opponent… however that window of superiority is closing.

With the upcoming elections it’s very important to choose the right candidate, not only at the national level, but also at the local. I give you the Berkeley City Council as one example of why defense is important even in local politics.

In the upcoming wind-down to the war there will be many calls once again to cut back on the military, but right now it’s in need of bolstering. American history is full of instances where we were ready to fight the past war, but not the one rearing in our face in the present.

Strength in defense comes from three very simple things –

  1. you have be be able to deflect any decisive blows,
  2. you must be able to hurt your opponent decisively and with ease,
  3. and you must be able to easily recover any damage dealt by attacks from opponents.

While simple on the surface, it takes a great deal to stay pre-eminent in defense. We must keep our technological lead, we must keep a strong economy, and we must keep a strong military.

This means electing people who are smart enough to do that, and who won’t opportunistically sell our children’s futures for “peace dividends”.

The Democrats are hell-bent on destroying our capability to defend our selves. They think the world will be a better place if we are not so strong.

They will do this by stopping the economy, particularly the energy sector, by cutting the military, and by cutting research on critical technologies like Missile Defense.

We can’t let them  do that, and that’s why no matter what stripe of conservative you are this is not the election stay home for. We can not let the Democrat majorities in Congress grow, and we can’t allow them to hold all three branches of government. If we do the entire world, not just us, will suffer.

More at The Washington Times:

While the nation should be proud of its military for its professionalism, dedication and sacrifice, we must fully understand that the threat to America remains strong and should refrain from repeating the mistakes of the 1990s when a substantial “peace dividend” was levied on the Department of Defense (DoD).

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many experts expected a significant decrease in military deployments and armed conflicts. Few could imagine the number of contingency operations our forces would conduct during the next 10 years.

Despite this incredible demand, defense cuts were frequent and extreme. The Army was reduced from 18 divisions during Desert Storm to 10, the Air Force from 37 tactical air wings to 20, and the Navy from 568 ships in the late 1980s to a fleet of only 276 today.

In March 2003, the military was tasked to open a second front on the global war on terrorism. As progress in Iraq developed slower than planned, the DoD became strained. The reserve component was forced to transition from a strategic reserve to an operational force despite a long history of underfunding and lack of capital investment and modernization.

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Over the next few months I will be running a series of articles on the challenges our Military must counter in this century. It’s much worse than what you might think.