Boone: Freedom Isn't Free - It's Costly

In his WorldNetDaily article, Freedom Isn't Free - It's Costly, Pat Boone makes some important observations about the fact that the freedoms we enjoy in this country aren't free...they are costly.

In a recent published interview, talking about the first movie produced by his new United Artists venture, starring himself, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise said, "I hate war; my personal opinion is that war never accomplished anything." I actually do think the world of Tom, and I share his hatred of war itself. But my immediate reaction was the desire to ask him, "What about our own Revolutionary War? There most likely would never have been an America – the country that has blessed us and the rest of the world for 250 years – without it. And what about our own Civil War, bloody and inexcusable as it seems, that kept our States United? And what about World Wars I and II? In both cases, weren't those wars forced upon us – to rescue all of Europe from Germanic subjugation in WWI, and all the world from a surging evil axis led by the insane regime of Adolf Hitler in WWII?"

In any of those cases, should a free and democratic people just have refused to take up arms and allowed itself to be taken over by a crazed dictator? What serious options did a free people have?

A statement by Thomas Jefferson rings in my ears: "From time to time, the soil of liberty must be stained with the blood of martyrs."

Isn't that a pitiful but undeniable truth? Can anybody read much history without having to acknowledge that there have always been small and large segments of humanity driven to impose their will on other segments? And, as admirable and well motivated as "peace movements" surely are, does any overview of human history give us any real hope that one will truly succeed?

I'm an incorrigible optimist, but I've finally had to give up on any such idea. I reluctantly have come to the conclusion, along with Thomas Jefferson and the Moral Rearmament kids, that there will always be plots and schemes against free and blessed people, for any number of selfish, jealous, or power-hungry reasons. And the free and the blessed will have to defend themselves and others – with military arms.

I think that the following paragraphs represent just some of the reasons that the liberal left mindset, unfortunately, is missing in terms of why we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus, he adds comments that reveal why illegal immigration is, and should be, foremost on the minds of Americans this election year.

Boone writes:

As tragic and painful a burden as the fatality numbers in our current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are – and however much we might hate being there, confronting at least two modern Hitlers and their expressed desire to destroy both the United States and Israel – the fact is America has suffered military fatalities every year since 1980, numbering from as few as 817 in 1997 to as many as 2,392 in 1980, the last year of President Jimmy (Nobel Peace Prize) Carter! And America suffered over 10,000 fatalities during the Clinton years!

And even more shocking to me is the comparison between our total military fatalities in Iraq (3,500 and counting) and the recorded murders in the United States (14,000) in a single year, an alarming percentage committed by persons in this country illegally.

Doesn't this tend to prove the apparent reality that there are everywhere destructive elements in our human makeup, and that diplomacy will not likely make the difference between war and peace? And that this may not be a good time to have best-selling books attempting to disprove the very existence of a Creator who has endowed all men with constructive attributes too – certain unalienable rights, among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Be sure to read the entire article. There are many additional insightful observations, including one example (of the many!!!) of how the MSM has distorted information throughout these conflicts. How shameful...

HT: WorldNetDaily