An Act Of War

I was sitting with Uncle Bubba at the coffee shop this afternoon when the press conference regarding the attack on the Chattanooga recruitment center came on the TV in the corner. The chairman from the Homeland Security Committee was offering observations and fielding questions from McDill AFB in Tampa. However the observations and questions avoided or evaded what Bubbie thought were the most plain observations and the simplest solutions. There was talk of the possibility of terrorist connections and the difficulty of filtering, tracking, and heading off the communications of ISIS to the terrorists in hiding here in the United States. But as Uncle Bubba pointed out, there was no mention of how and why we have allowed these terrorists to exist and thrive in our country.
“We would not have to labor against the untenable task of stopping communications if there were no one here to communicate with!” exclaimed Bubbie. “We have mixed up the ideals of tolerance in the wake of gay marriage and the argument over who is, or who may not be a racist with the rightful, honorable defense of this country. We need to be able to take a stand in our defense of our homeland and identify the enemies without worrying about offending the progressive fringes of our society. My God, we are giving an award of courage to transgender, self-centered, greedy fool while our soldiers and our sons and daughters are giving their lives for the freedom to do so. We are fighting over the display of the confederate flag when in this country one has the right of free speech and the right to express it, no matter how offensive. And if others don’t like it, too bad because that’s freedom. If I’m offensive then I have to suffer the consequences but do not censor me! And how can we all be walking around with guns in our pockets and our service personnel are allowed to be carrying? Does that make any sense to you?”

I nodded knowingly as Bubbie fought to restrain his voice. I could see in his eyes that the pained passion of his heart was bubbling over and he couldn’t contain himself. Shortly there after there was another press conference in Chattanooga given buy the police and the FBI. They stated that they were investigating the killing of 4 Marines on US soil as possibly being an act of terror.
“Really?” asked Bubbie facetiously. “Did they really say that this may be an act of terror and are trying to determine that? That’s the problem with this entire situation, no one has enough balls to tell the truth. This is an act of war! Our military personnel were killed on our own soil. But they can’t say that because then they would have to back it up. They would have to act and act fast and they aren’t prepared; its obvious.” Bubbie slid down in his chair a bit and his voice quieted. He looked into the black surface of his coffee cup. “No sir, it’s better to avoid that. They’ll never get reelected if they take a hard stand on anything.” The sarcasm dripped from his lips, “Heaven forbid they offend someone.” In Bubbie’s view,  if we don’t stand up for our country then our government won’t stand up for us. We should let our outrage be heard in mass because the only way to make change happen is through a long and sustained noise.