These lines are being dictated on a Sunday, September 11, 2011.  This of course is the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon.  Further, it also marks the anniversary of American Flight 93 that was downed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in a heroic action by the passengers.  The tributes to the memory of the 2700 people who were lost that day were both sad and foreboding.  The Pentagon has long since been repaired, and American Airlines is still in business.  But here we are on the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center.  Construction of replacement buildings is far from complete.  The anniversary of events, marked by those of today, leaves me with a sense of introspection.  Inevitably, this sense of introspection takes me back to December 7, 1941.
You will recall that on that day the Japanese fleet sank the bulk of our battleships moored at Pearl Harbor.  The American response was immediate.  President Roosevelt declared war on the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan on the following day.  This country knew that there was a tremendous task in front of it.  And basically we went to work to try to win two wars, in Europe and in the Pacific.  My sense of introspection has to do with whether, in the same circumstances, we would do the same thing today.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on a Sunday.  Little did I know that that Sunday would change my life forever.  It would change the lives of perhaps millions of others who were sympathetic to our cause and those who were opposed.  On that Sunday, I had finished work at around noontime in a filling station in Clayton, Missouri.  It was owned by Harold Bauer.  Because the American system was so rigged in favor of taking draftees as opposed to  enlistments, I set about to try to figure out how I could enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  But that proved to be a formidable process and I waited until the summer of 1942 to enlist in the American Army.  Even at that late date, the American Army still imposed formidable obstacles.  I was required to produce three letters of recommendation and because of my age, I had to take my mother to the county seat where she could sign for my enlistment.
Americans were united in opposing the Axis powers and were willing to pay whatever price it took.  Remember, at this time there was no China or Japan or other power that would provide us with the funds to fight this war.  Clearly it was up to the Americans to carry the cause of democracy.  Europe was in shambles after having lost the continent to the hordes of Adolf Hitler.  In the Far East, the situation was no better in that the Japanese controlled just about everything.
But the American response was resolute.  There was no debate when Franklin Roosevelt said that we were going to war and that the war would be paid for from our own resources.  That is what we intended to do.
So that thought brings to mind my period of introspection.  If we were faced with a war or a cataclysmic event today such as World War II brought about, would the United States be as resolute as it was in 1941?  And if the president stated that the war would be paid for from our own resources, would we continue to be resolute in our determination?  Or would the President contend that the war be fought on credit cards using the Chinese and Japanese to buy our bonds and in effect subsidize the war?
But now my period of introspection takes me to the pledge of Grover Norquist.  Norquist has insisted that virtually every Republican sign a pledge that under no circumstances would he ever vote to raise taxes.  Mind you, there was no caveat in this pledge.  It did not state that wars would be exempt.  It stated flatly and boldly that under no circumstances would any of the Republicans vote to increase taxes to pay for our efforts in such a cataclysmic event.  So I am left with this thought about introspection.  Would the Republicans as well as the Tea Party keep their pledge that they would never vote to sign a tax increase of any kind?  If we were faced with a cataclysmic event such as World War II, would the pledge to Grover Norquist apply?  Would it supplant their oath of allegiance or their oath of office for Republican office holders to continue holding their office while voting for a tax increase?
So you see that my thoughts on this matter of introspection are well founded.  As World War II approached, the Republicans under Senator Bob Taft of Ohio were opposing every measure to increase American security.  They did not like the lend lease program whereby we furnished destroyers to the British Navy.  They were opposed to Franklin Roosevelt, opposed more than anything else because he represented the Democratic Party, and they thought that the engines of power belonged exclusively to the Republicans.
But as I listened to the tributes involving the World Trade Center, I was struck by the thought, “Would we be as resolute as a country as we were in 1941?”  This of course has led to my concern about introspection.  Naturally I hope that the President would be resolute and that he would declare that the war would be paid for from our own resources, and finally that the Republicans and the Tea Party, who are very much the same, would abandon their pledge to Grover Norquist and do what is right by this republic.
My concern about introspection still applies.   Introspection is a sense of foreboding.  In this case the foreboding might well have to do with whether the President would be resolute and whether the Republicans would abandon their pledge to Grover Norquist.  Putting the President and the Republicans on the same page may be a tall order but if we are to solve the problems of these days, there simply is no choice.  The President must be resolute in every case and the Republicans, who have made a virtue of saying no to everything that he proposes, might have to swallow a few of their “no” votes and do what is right by the republic.  And so, until one of these things happens, a sense of foreboding and gloom over this area of concern of introspection continues.  I wish it were not so but these are the cards we have been dealt.
 
E. E. CARR
September 11, 2011
Essay 581
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Kevin’s commentary: Well, I’d like to say that our borrowed money will wind up coming out of our pockets eventually, but this isn’t entirely the case. My international economics teacher left us with a quote at one point, which was simply: “If you owe the bank $10,000, you have a problem. If you owe the bank, $10,000,000, the bank does.” Right now in many ways China is our bank. So that situation is very delicate and is going to be a big function of inflation and trade patterns as China begins to move away from the heavy industrial stuff. Still though, at this point they sorta have to keep giving us money, so I figure that we would probably go to war on a combined Chinese+American dime. Which is basically what we’re doing in the middle east currently anyway.
I also wondered why Pop chose the Air Force over any other branch of the military, and certainly did not know that he tried to join up with Canada. Hopefully he can provide some answers here.