“All Governments, including the worst on earth and the most tyrannical on earth, are free Governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them.” – Lysander Spooner

Common sense apparently isn’t all that common. It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but we’ve returned from our Thanksgivings and we’re back in action. It’s amazing how so much can change in a week and yet, strangely, things seem to remain the same. To keep things short and sweet today, I’d like to ask a couple quick questions.

Firstly, we are undoubtedly experiencing very tough economic times. The dollar’s value has plunged. Unemployment has skyrocketed. Little credit is available. Businesses and individuals are bracing for upcoming tax hikes. And somewhere in the middle of this mess, our government is trying to pass a health care bill that starts collecting money now but doesn’t start to take effect for another four years. What kind of malicious person siphons billions of dollars out of a struggling economy and then waits four years to use it?

Secondly, right now, 106,000 International Security Assistance Forces are stationed in Afghanistan [1]. In a speech in West Point, New York on Tuesday night, President Obama told the nation that he would be sending an additional 30,000 troops to fight the war. Additionally, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the European nations would be adding at least 5,000 more soldiers to the conflict [2].

We applaud the President’s decision to strengthen our presence in Afghanistan. The troop surge in Iraq came late but ultimately paved the way for the transition of power to the Iraqi people. Undoubtedly, if we are to participate in any armed conflict, we must be prepared to throw everything we have into it. Fighting a war without full commitment is like trying to eat a steak without a knife; you’ll most likely get the job done, but it will take forever and you’ll end up with it all over your face.

What concerns us, as it does many congresspersons and other Americans, is the incredibly short timetable for withdrawal of the surge forces. President Obama, trying to rally support from his antiwar loyalists, declared that the United States would begin to draw down the surge forces beginning in July 2011 [1]. Believing you can get in and get out quickly, though, is a fallacy. We’re still in Germany and Japan after 64 years. If we’ve concluded that 106,000 troops are losing control of Afghanistan, how can we expect that 140,000 troops can take control of some 251,770 square miles of extremely rugged terrain in just 18 months?

I think we all know that these two questions are unanswerable. No person who honestly cares about the American people tries to bankrupt them at the bottom of an economic downturn. No person who honestly cares about the safety of our American troops and the Afghani people sets such a short timetable. The only explanation is political gain. Bankrupting the very people who provide jobs panders to the lower class who more often than not vote for progressives. Setting ridiculous withdrawal timetables panders to the antiwar populace who more often than not vote for progressives.

There’s an agenda here, and it’s not the satisfaction of the needs of the American people.

1. “Lawmakers Challenge Gates,” The Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2009.
2. “Time Limit on Surge Draws Fire,” The Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2009.