This is the last generation that knew how to fight a war, and when we weren't afraid to invoke the Lord's name. Imagine if this were to happen today. Today's Democratic party and the ACLU would be up in arms. No, Hillary Clinton, Iraq is not Bush's war, it is an American war. The following is FDR's address to the nation at the commencement of D-day when Americans understood the difference between good and evil. Notice, Franklin Delano Roosevelt calls D-day a crusade - Wonder how that would go over today?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt June 6, 1944
My Fellow Americans:
Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
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Notice, Franklin Delano Roosevelt calls D-day a crusade - Wonder how that would go over today?
Bush: 9/16/01 - "This crusade, this war on terrorism is gonna take awhile."
My recollection is that it went over rather poorly.
And the assertion that politicians of all stripe no longer invoke God is ridiculous. Watching the debates, as I'm sure you have, there are portions that sound more like a twelve step program than political discourse.
Sandra Day O'Connor, appointed by the sainted Ronald Reagan, turned out to be one of the finest justices to serve in my lifetime. During one of these ridiculous Ten Commandments cases that crop up in even-numbered years, she wrote in the majority opinion:
"Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?"
From Czarist Russia, to the Spanish Inqusition, to monarchs who rule by the grace of God, to the mullah-run governments of the Middle East, why on Earth would we want our government invoking religion more often?
If American politicians reserve the right to profess their fealty to God (and it had better be the Judeo-Christian version), then I suppose there are worse things. I prefer my leaders to not engage in wish-thinking, but that's me.
And this will truly be an American war when it begins to have real consequences for those outside of the military and their families. Of all of Bush's failures, his unwillingness to engage the entire country in a shared sacrifice for a better world is the most egregious.
Wars can't be fought with a silver spoon in your mouth.
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