I’m frustrated. And sad. About a lot of things. But mostly, I’m frustrated because I feel like I’m living through the demise of the United States of America, and it didn’t have to be this way.

My parents – or maybe your grandparents, since I’m old – were part of what has been called “The Greatest Generation.” They were called that for a reason. World War II demanded the backing of the entire country, and this country rose to the challenge; “They also serve who only stand and wait” is a truism for times like those.

And while there were missteps and reversals, deprivations and hardships, that generation fought a war on two fronts – and won. With our allies, we won in Europe, and we beat the Japanese in the Pacific. We won World War II.

It was to be our last victory. We have not won a conflict since. We didn’t win in Korea (technically, that war is still going on), we flat-out lost in Vietnam, you can call the Gulf War a draw if you’re being overly generous, and now, Afghanistan, where in mere days the Taliban has retaken control of the country 20 years after we and our allies drove them out. Officials we supported, who worked to bring Afghanistan into the 20^th Century, were being summarily executed as the terrorist Taliban took city after city…

And I fear that, despite the words currently being spoken by the Taliban, the executions have only just begun. Unless they have learned something in that 20 years of semi-exile, I fully expect there will be thousands of deaths in the days and weeks ahead; the very “Fall of Saigon” scene at the Kabul airport in the past few days is proof that there are thousands of Afghani who fear for their lives, who do not trust the Taliban to live up to their words.

And if they have no intention of keeping their promise of amnesty? If they ultimately renege on their promise that women and girls can work and be educated? Anyone the Taliban think might have shown sympathy for the outgoing regime or their foreign supporters will be killed. Educated women and girls will be killed or maimed. Ethnic Afghans will be killed. Afghanistan will be plunged into another Dark Ages, its rich history erased, its people oppressed and enslaved.

While we can and must honor the sacrifice every American and allied soldier made in the past 20 years in that conflict, I can’t fault people for feeling that every drop of American blood spent in Afghanistan, every Allied life lost in the last 20 years was in vain; I recognize and acknowledge the validity of that feeling – and if I’m being brutally honest, I share it, even as I struggle to see other possibilities. They died, and more were scarred for life, for nothing – unless the Taliban proves us wrong and lives up to their promises. Miracles happen…

But, frankly, for us it’s Vietnam all over again. Scenes from the Kabul airport over the past few days bring stark parallels to Saigon in April of 1975. Not that the mainstream media, the propaganda machine for the current White House, will make that connection – not until their noses get rubbed in it, anyway. But having lived through that era, too, I can, and I will – at the top of my lungs.

Most of us are wrong, casting blame the way we are, there’s plenty of it to go around. GW sent us in there, yes – but for the right reasons. The Taliban were harboring Al Qaida and Osama Bin Laden, and we had a narrow mission – clean house, so the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11 could never launch another attack on us from within those borders. And when that mission was accomplished – that’s when we started down a path that led us to the past few weeks.

Those who cast blame solely on Donald Trump are wrong, too – but he (and Biden, too) campaigned on getting us out of Afghanistan, so it should have been expected that he would take steps in that direction. When he negotiated the American withdrawal directly with the Taliban and cut the Afghan government we were supposed to be supporting out of those negotiations, he made a mistake; it was clear from the agreements made that his administration had basically sold out that government, that we were giving Afghanistan back to the Taliban.

And then we come to the Biden Administration, who had choices to make – and they made horrible choices by accelerating the timetable, throwing the entire process into confusion, and making it possible for the Taliban to take over far more quickly that anyone was willing to admit.

So, yeah, there’s plenty of blame for what’s happening today to go around. And all of which – every bit of it, every shot, every execution, every step – was foreseeable.

But then, since the 1950’s we’ve steadfastly refused to learn from history. Why should now be any different?

The Constitution is under attack, starting with the 2^nd Amendment. The current administration has nominated a rabidly anti-gun racist to head the ATF, and is trying to make tool manufacturers legally responsible for the actions of the end users. We don’t blame Ford for the people killed by drunk drivers in F250 pickups, we don’t sue Louisville Slugger when one of their bats is used to bludgeon someone to death. So by what possible logical or legal argument do we blame Smith & Wesson if a person is shot by someone using one of their firearms?

Frankly, if they succeed in holding firearm manufactures liable for the actions of the end user, I hope to see the courts flooded with class-action suits against car manufacturers, baseball bat manufacturers, and the manufacturers of hammers, screwdrivers, kitchen knives, and every other tool that has ever been used to take someone’s life.

Now, I hope and expect the courts will actually follow the law and ultimately find that the blame for violence rests solely on the person who commits the violent act – and award attorney fees to the defendants. But I can’t be sure…

Tell a lie often enough and it becomes truth. That’s what the Biden Administration is doing with their push to disarm the non-criminal population with their claims that the proliferation and ease of obtaining firearms is the cause of the spike in so-called “gun violence.” This is why the very public attempts to shut down gun manufacturers through spurious lawsuits, and the continual barrage of media stories that emphasize the “gun” violence.

It’s all bullshit, propaganda designed to obscure the truth, that it is a violence problem – and violence is a much harder problem to solve. So blame the tool, make a lot of noise to misdirect the audience, and ignore the facts. Gun control is about control, and does nothing except make violent criminals just a little bit safer.

And make the non-criminal public significantly less so.

To be brutally honest, I suspect they actually want another Civil War, and they want us (the people who actually support the Constitution) to shoot first. Because the person who fires the first shot loses the war. Period. If an otherwise legal and law-abiding citizen takes up arms, this Administration can point in alarm and say “See? What did we tell you! We were right! These are dangerous people and they should be disarmed!” And then starts a whole lot of you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet…

The Covid restrictions are coming back, too. And, again, this is another place where things could have been so different, had we only paid attention to history. We could have nipped this in the bud, virtually wiped out the virus long before “Delta” changed the ball game. But, no, it had to be political, with haphazard measures that changed every time you crossed county lines – as if the virus could read road signs and stop when one says “Now Entering…”. My God – the monumental stupidity of government! AND WE ELECTED THESE CLOWNS!! AND WE KEEP ELECTING THEM!!!

Of course, they’ve rigged that game, too. We haven’t had an actually free election in a generation… Maybe two…

By all evidence, the “Greatest Generation” was the last great generation of Americans. And that’s just sad.