Letter to the editor: Hope springs eternal after election because of God's eternal truth

National Review had an article this week saying in essence, "it was the war, stupid." Not the price of gas. Not the price of cheese. Not the interest rates for homes. The war.

But there is no war, and there has been no war. If it were war, we would have won or lost or be in the process of doing so. We have not used a fraction of the force we could have used. The Islamists in charge of Iran are still in charge.

Police action? Making the world safe for democracy? The fact is that Iran has been our enemy since 1979. They have killed thousands through their roadside bombs and ordnance and wounded many more Americans. They have empowered their proxies to make living in Israel a nightmare more often than most of us would tolerate.

The issue then is whether our president lied to us about no more forever wars and whether Iran was a threat warranting our action. First, the idea that what we have done in Iran is a forever war is ridiculous. In a few years, if we have the force we presently have still steaming around the area, then one might call it stupid on steroids, but it would still be no forever war. Iran, if it survives as a terrorist state, will put its entire program back into place, unless it ceases to be a terrorist state, which seems off the table. If the current regime survives there is no possibility that Iran will not continue to threaten Israel, the Middle East and the world at large.

Second, the notion that Iran would not use a nuclear weapon does not fit its radical ideology. Our nation, not radical in the least, used two in 1945. The Shiite followers of the Twelver ideology would do anything at any time they could to bring in the Mahdi. This is known to anyone remotely familiar with that religious belief.

The reason for the so-called war, to stop Iran from bringing a nuclear weapon online, was correct. The method of going about it was correct. The pause in our bombing campaign, however, made no sense. At the time, we knew full well that they would not negotiate honestly. All of this could have been spelled out clearly at the outset, and during the so-called war. It was not. And that was the failure, and that was the election.

People in a democratic republic who have a brain do not blindly follow a party. They vote their mind and conscience based on the facts they have. If their facts are wrong or incomplete, they either stay home or vote based on emotion. Either way the republic, the nation, loses.

Now the other party will have a chance to deal with the border, deal with our out-of-control spending, deal with European nations wanting us to protect them at no cost to them, deal with Xi who wants to rule the world, deal with Putin who is a ruthless former KGB operative, deal with a ballooning debt that will sink our ship of state or deal with whatever you name as your own concern.

From what we are hearing out of it, and their new raft of winners, there isn't much to celebrate, and much more to fear. But, hope springs eternal, and for me that hope is hope because God is eternal and told us all the truth we will ever need long before any of us were born. And, that truth, and He alone, will set us free.

God bless America, please, even as we prove ourselves so unworthy of your blessing. And, by the way, thank you for voting, for if we don't vote, we have no voice and no opinion.

JAMES R. CHANDLER JR.

Sumter