When I was a first time parent, honest to goodness, I didn\u2019t know what I was doing.\u00a0 When my second child was born, I was a little better, but truth be told, I was by no means improved in all areas.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to tell you that child number three resulted in perfection, but no, I humbly share that such a status does not exist.<\/p>\n
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One of the areas in which all parents must improve is discipline.\u00a0 In order for discipline to be effective, it needs to be 3 things:\u00a0 logical, consistent, and timely.<\/p>\n
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Today\u2019s post, friends, is actually not about parenting.\u00a0 In fact, for the 3rd post in a row, the Intramuralist focuses on Syria.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because world wars are started by singular acts.\u00a0 Because so many uncontrollable variables are involved here.\u00a0 Because like it or not, politics are in play on all sides of this equation.\u00a0 And because the wisdom and results of military action are ambiguous.<\/p>\n
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Tonight Pres. Obama will interrupt prime time television to address us on Syria.\u00a0 He proposes that the United States must take military action against Syria as a retaliatory response for their use of chemical weapons.\u00a0 Retaliatory means to return like for like… to reciprocate… sometimes, thus \u2014 like parenting \u2014 it means to discipline.<\/p>\n
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Is the proposed retaliation logical?\u00a0 Is bombing a logical response to the death of 1400 Syrian citizens at the hands of their own government?\u00a0 Does the so-called \u201cpunishment\u201d fit the crime?<\/p>\n
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Is the proposed retaliation consistent?\u00a0 Thousands have died in other nations in recent years, albeit not via chemical weapons.\u00a0 Are we being consistent when the means<\/em> of death \u2014 as opposed to the number<\/em> of deaths \u2014 serves as this metaphorical red line?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And timely.\u00a0 Geepers.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me started.\u00a0 Let me attempt to address this respectfully via an analogy from my youth…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I was a kid, we often played \u201cStratego,\u201d the military strategy game where all roles and options remain hidden from the enemy until the time of attack.\u00a0 While I, for one, think no president should be able to authorize military intervention without a clear majority of congressional support, I do not understand the lengthy delay of the decision.\u00a0 Hence, any American response no longer seems timely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A clear majority do not share the President\u2019s desire to attack.\u00a0 The most recent ABC News\/Washington Post poll shows 64% of the American public oppose<\/b> military intervention.\u00a0 Hence, tonight\u2019s goal is to persuade us that military intervention, regardless of logic, consistency, and timeliness is necessary.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps instead of any persuasive rhetoric, Obama could borrow from the unfiltered responses after yesterday\u2019s slate of initial NFL games.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019m thinking I\u2019d prefer all politicians were a little more unfiltered.\u00a0 Obama could indeed open with or include some of yesterday\u2019s actual quotes…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “First off, it wasn’t a very smart play.”<\/i><\/p>\n “There were a lot of question marks…\u00a0 are the plays going to work?\u201d \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cI’m disappointed in myself. This loss is on me.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n “This is just one step in the right direction.”<\/i><\/p>\n “It wasn’t the easiest, but I’m not a person to make excuses.”<\/i><\/p>\n “Obviously, it wasn’t perfect.\u00a0 And there’s a lot of things we can do better.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n “We’ve got a lot of work to do.\u00a0 We need to understand that.\u00a0 We need to stick together and persevere.”<\/i><\/p>\n “We’ve got to go back and look and see exactly what they did and how they took us out of what we wanted to do on offense.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n “It’s not the way we drew it up.\u00a0 We’re all going to learn from this.\u00a0 There’s no reason to point any fingers.”<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n From NFL to parenting to military intervention, we must embrace logic, consistency, and timeliness.\u00a0 Being unfiltered, also, often helps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Respectfully,<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n When I was a first time parent, honest to goodness, I didn\u2019t know what I was doing.\u00a0 When my second child was born, I was a little better, but truth be told, I was by no means improved in all areas.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to tell you that child number three resulted in perfection, but no, … <\/p>\n