What The Numbers Say About Progress In Afghanistan

by Adam Levine - October 15th, 2010 - CNN News

... for all the investment of lives and money, the war is not registering with Americans. At least not while the numbers in everyone's bank accounts are a preoccupation. In a September poll by CNN and Opinion Research, only 9% of respondents thought the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were the most important problem facing the country, 49% thought the economy mattered most.

It is curious that the Tea Party movement has not taken any serious stand on the war against the Islamo-fascists. I don't dispute that the greatest threat at this time is the threat of socialist takeover of our government and the consequent destruction of free enterprise. That threat is very real thanks to 52% of the voters in our last national election. Obama has proved to be a radical left wing extremist. At least one interesting foot note to that reality is the extremists of the Democrat Party are angry with him because he has not been as radical as they wanted! Wow.

If you doubt that the Democrat Party has become the socialist party (or progressive if you prefer that term) the polling that indicates frustration with Obama not being sufficiently radical should erase that doubt.

However I am concerned about what happens to the Tea Party movement because of the reality that things always move forward. Nothing ever stands still. The elections in November will start the process of fixing our economy. That will mean a new focus of politics will come about as we get that disaster behind us. That new focus could be the war with the Islamo-fascists. Conversely the inability for a large number of Americans to see the battlefield in Afghanistan as a part of that critical war could likely mean another retreat that emboldens these enemies. Iran is still going to get nuclear bombs. Iran is still going to fund the Islamo-fascists to be top dog in the world of Islam. At some point, we are going to face the consequences of not defeating these people more decisively. That will likely be nuclear bombs going off in American cities.

I was always ambivalent about Bush and the neo-conservative strategy of "democratizing" the middle east. I philosophically concur that it could be a brilliant coup if we could do it. I supported (and still support) much of the neo-conservative philosophy. However I am not sure we have accomplished a free democracy in Iraq though we spent billions trying. I believe it is unlikely we can ever do it in Afghanistan even though we have spent billions there and in Pakistan with the same goal. So one question becomes, "what remains of the neo-conservative idea?"

That question leads us to another question, "where does the Tea Party movement go after November?" It will still require a generation to take our country back. Does America have the kind of stubborn persistence to retake our nation that we displayed in the war against the Soviet Union? That means we have to be more honest about all of the threats we face, and yet I can't get many in the Tea Party movement to be concerned. I guess we will find out if the Tea Party movement is a single issue passion of the moment or whether it really does want to take our country back.