WHAT HAPPENDED TO AMERICAN POWER?

America used to be a power house with a can-do spirit and the guts to do the right thing. What would you call this spirit? I call it the power.

We had the power in the First World War. We had the power in the Second World War. Then the Korean war happened. In that war politics and fear took away the power. Our great military leader at the time, General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of duty by then President Truman because of the possibility of a general war with China and Russia. This was where I believe the virus of fear began to weaken us. What else did Truman do that added to our weakness? He allowed Saudi Arabia and the other Arab countries to nationalize our oil fields that we built and developed. These countries did not even pay for the work and equipment we put into developing the wells.

The Korean war turned into a stalemate and look at the mess we have now with a nuclear rouge state in North Korea.

The war in Vietnam was turned into a quagmire because of the political interference in military operations by President Johnson. Why? Fear again. Fear of China if we got too aggressive. Politics and fear again weakening American power with lasting undesirable effects on our country.

Next, Iran held our diplomats hostage while we did nothing. Carter made a weak rescue attempt that ended in disaster. Reagan's tough attitude got them back but there was no retribution. Another sign the fading power.

Reagan built our defenses back up after the Democrats had allowed them to delcine, but he pulled our forces out of Lebanon after our Marines were bombed. We turned tail and ran. Why? Politics and fear took hold.

President H.W. Bush invaded Somalia and then pulled out when things got rough. We turned tail again and ran. Again politics and fear.

Then we suffered the attack of 911. G.W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq but was roundly criticized by the politics of fear and weakness.

The Democrats have half finished the job in Iraq and are getting ready to pull out troops before they should be. Politics and fear hold sway again.

Afghanistan has turned into a quagmire just like Vietnam because of our timidity and the politics of fear. We are afraid to to burn the poppy fields because of local politics. So the terrorists still have plenty of money to support their war against us. We are on a direct path to losing this war also. The politics of fear and weakness are still following us and this will eventually lead to our downfall unless we change our ways and thinking soon.