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thedrifter
02-03-06, 07:41 AM
Left Vs. Right: War Mongers Or Guardians Of Peace?
By Barbara J. Stock
February 3, 2006

Humans love labels. These days, anyone on the right is being called a fascist or a Nazi and those on the left are being labeled weak appeasers. The divide between left and right has been very vocal of late.

The hatred for the president has reached such a fever-pitch that it's easy to conjure a mental picture of naked leftists dancing around a raging fire at midnight under a blood-red full moon, chanting to whatever god or gods they believe in as they implore, "Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush!" One can only hope there is no human sacrifice involved, but if the leftists thought it would help, they might consider it.

All of the accusations of "Bush lied," and "Bush is turning America into a fascist state," have forced some serious thought about the inherent differences between those of us on the "right" and those of us on the "left."

Throughout history there have been those who wanted to believe that all people can be reasoned with, given the time and effort. Those people who tried that tactic with Genghis Khan probably had little success and short lives, but still those people with pacifist tendencies have persisted. Apparently, the few who survived the tragic aftermath of their extended peace efforts managed to pass on to their children the slogan, "Give peace a chance."

Now giving peace a chance is a noble endeavor but at some point that endeavor turns into nothing more than an opportunity for evil people to grow into uncontrollable monsters. After the leftists have failed in their attempt to reason with the unreasonable, they grudgingly turn to those of us on the right to put the evil genie back in the bottle because that is all one can do with evil. Then, evil bides its time until it can be unleashed on the world again and the cycle begins anew.

These thoughts from an avowed liberal shed some light on the inner-workings of the pacifist mind: "And finally, you {people on the right} just don't think peace can exist. You say you live in reality, but you accept the evils of the world all too easily. You become part of that evil, because you see no other way. You see, we who live in "the fantasy world of the left" recognize the universal fact that peace can exist, maybe not now, but at some point, and the first step is for each and every one of us to stop creating wars and fire up unnecessary conflicts."

Throughout recorded history there has been no time when man was at peace with himself. Wars and human conquest have raged across the known world ever since man could draw pictures on the walls of caves. In North America the Indian tribes waged war against each other. The African continent has been at war with itself for centuries. There have been religious wars, wars fought over a woman, wars fought over land and sea rights, wars fought over water, and wars fought just because there was nothing else to do. It seems fighting is in our nature. Fighting is a part of the human animal. It has been necessary to survive.

We on the right don't "accept the evils of the world all too easily." To the contrary, we seem to be the ones forced to clean up the mess after the pacifists have failed, once again, to talk evil people into becoming model citizens of the world.

The question is: Can this flaw in our nature be overcome? Certainly it could if not for one small problem. This problem is where the liberal thoughts go astray. "...the first step is for each and every one of us to stop creating wars and fire up unnecessary conflicts." Most humans would be more than happy to live in peace or at least not be at war with some outside force bent on destroying their homes and families. The fly in the ointment is the reality of men like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hussein, Ahmadinejad, bin Laden, Kim Jong il, and Mohammed. There has always been someone who wanted to rule over the rest of us and that someone will use any means necessary to achieve that goal, no matter how brutal.

Man is capable of great kindness and love, but man is also capable of unspeakable cruelty that is usually directed at their fellow man. Is it we on the right that are "creating wars and firing up unnecessary conflicts" or are we the only protection that those who can't recognize the evil in the world have?

This liberal went on to say, "We recognize that peace is only impossible when people think it is impossible. We have imagination to spot other means than violence to solve conflicts. Faith that peace is possible is all it takes, because we are masters of our own actions. It starts at the personal level and becomes a global movement."

Those are such lovely words. If only they were true. "Faith that peace is possible is all it takes..." is a foolhardy if not suicidal idea. It is akin to believing that if you stand on a train track with a train coming at you at 80 mph your faith will keep it from turning your body into something that will need to be picked up with a blotter. Is there still anyone foolish enough to believe that had the United States destroyed all the nukes in its possession as a "goodwill gesture," the Soviet Union would not have taken over the world?

Man has had a very long time to establish peace on this Earth and though we have strived and even longed for peace it has eluded us. Peace has eluded mankind not because the majority does not want peace but because there will always be a minority whose vision of peace is different from everyone else's vision. There will always be a Hitler, somewhere, plotting and scheming. The name will be different, but the end result will be same: At some point the people of the world will collectively have to rise up and stop him. Will it be done before he has the power to destroy millions of lives or has mankind learned from the past to destroy the threat before it reaches that point?

The reality is this: It is the people who are willing to fight and die for peace that are the true believers in peace. Man will never have peace until we all recognize the evil that wants to destroy peace. History has shown us that there will always be good and evil in this world and one thing we on the right have learned is that no amount of "faith" or talking can persuade evil to convert to good. What we have finally learned is to stop the evil early, before the monster roars. This doesn't make the right lovers of war; it makes us the guardians of peace.