Today? I believe the acts of our own Congress show there are few left who will stand on principle, and instead we’ve become a nation of cowards and whores selling out to whomever offers the best price or the easiest path. At least, those who are covered by the media seem to be of this stripe.

Col. Cooper wrote a book once, “To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth.” It’s a fascinating read, one of the more treasured possessions in my library. I also have collections from Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. I find that reading their works, then contrasting with the words of modern political writers, is a breath-taking exercise in how far we have devolved in the past century. Not suprisingly our host comes fairly close to their level of ability, while the codswallop to be found at certain leftist blogs indicates their relative lack of merit.

I am of the firm belief that a well-stocked library is as necessary as a well-stocked larder, that to raise a child properly requires food for the mind as well as the body, and that independence of thought and of the need for others is the best gift one can bestow upon another or gain for oneself.

Start with the library, my friend. Better men than you and I have walked this earth and it’s only right and proper we should learn from them.

Until we can once again build men like these, I do so fear for our Republic.

– Max

There is a very long history of the US negotiating with tyrants, terrorists, and mega-criminals and organizations. To not acknowledge that is to not have been paying attention. And to remove the powerful weapon of negotiations from our quiver severely limits our ability to influence a favorable outcome to a bad situation. It may not always work, but it is a tool that should always be at the ready and used when applicable… which it most often is.

Pick a decade from this link to see how often we have attempted negotiations with some truly bad guys.

When one restricts the toolbox, one limits their own potential, and therefore one’s potential success.

Also we do not use in-kind, the methods and tactics of terrorists because we (I hope) are far better than terrorists. We believe in, and are to be held to much higher standards. To abandon that is to abandon who we are as a civilized and respected nation and a beacon to the world.

I’ll save my related comments about US not only negotiating with the Iranian Revolutionaries, but also actually supporting them in the Iran-Contra debacle; supporting our ‘buddy’ Sadam Hussein with weapons and intelligence against Iran, or our support of the Taliban and Bin Laden against the Russians. Were they any less ‘terrorististic’ years ago as our ‘freinds’ and US ‘allies’ then, as they were later as our enemies?

All wars are dirty. But reciprocal and extreme dirty fighting beyond certrain conventional – even if distasteful for some – limits will never absolve our repeated major flaws of intelligence and foreign policy, nor failures of our national morality

Negotiating with terrorists is dealing with the devil, and we will never win anything.

To lie about doing so is intended only to fool Americans, as the enemy clearly knows exactly what was done, by whom, and the cost-benefit analysis of the operation. This foolish trade just endangered the lives of more westerners and gave a propaganda boost to the jihadists.

Nice work, Obama, Ms. Clinton, et al.

Hope I’d be brave enough to follow through.