Joe Is Right
19/10/23 20:48
October 19, 2023 (Vol. 17 No. 43) - For anyone willing to listen, President Joe Biden tonight made a persuasive case for providing $100 billion dollars in military aid to American allies under threat. There is broad consensus - although not unanimous - for providing assistance to Israel, which is still reeling from the October 7 attack by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. There is less consensus about continued aid to Ukraine, which has been under attack by the equally barbarous Vladimir Putin for more than 600 days. And yet, Biden's essential argument for continuing support in both struggles is essentialy the same: Pay now or pay a much steeper price later. Anyone who has paid attention to American history knows that appeasement of dictators and murderous thugs has never been a successful strategy. Unfortunately, for too many Americans, knowledge of American history and American values go no farther back than last night's Sean Hannity diatribe. Biden is correct, our nation is at a point of inflection. There are too many storm flags flying for America to crawl back into an isolationist cocoon. The more we retreat from our responsibility as the world's greatest defender of liberty and freedom, the more vulnerable we become. Unfortunately, in a democracy built upon a system of a diffused balance of power between three branches of government, the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are letting us down. Tomorrow will be the 17th straight day that the House will be paralyzed because Representative Matt Gaetz had a burr up his butt and decapitated Kevin McCarthy's speakership. As I write this on Thursday night, the latest news is that the thuggish and morally bankrupt Jim Jordan will try for a third on Friday to win the Speaker's post - and (hopefully) will lose for a third time. (If Jordan does prevail, Vladimir Putin will be dancing shirtless in the street.) Until adults prevail in the House, the United States is entering the most dangerous period since the Americans and Soviets engaged nuclear saber rattling during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Joe Biden is right: We must make the hard choices now or we will face less viable options in the future. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.