I bet this country couldn't care less about their "international image"

I love being an American. I love this country more than anything in the world. I love capitalism. I love our Republic. I love capital punishment following the conviction by a jury of your peers. I love our Constitution. I love freedom. I love being burdened with the responsibility of challenging and questioning our leaders and lawmakers. Out of all those things, nowhere did I mention the constant and incessant concern with being viewed favorably on the international stage. Nowhere in that lexicon of the American Republic did I profess my dedication to treating godless and savage enemies with respect, nor do I understand engaging the enemy only when enaged first. I wish this flag would go to vote. It's the flag of the Benin Empire, a pre-colonial African state situated in modern Nigeria that lasted from 1440 until 1897. I say we just get rid of the subtleties. If you want to fly planes into our buildings, kill thousands of our working people on a gorgeous Tuesday morning, decimate our economy, we'll do to you just as you do...cut your heads off and keep your severed heads in pig pens for seven days. I'm so completely sick of constantly being told how we need to be sensitive to our enemies and their way of life. I'm tired of sending our men and women to fight a faceless and godless enemy with their hands tied by a thousand rules of engagement. Do we need to be reminded who punched first? Do we need to be reminded of Vietnam and how war goes when our guns are taken out of our troop's hands? It's either time to fight or time to admit failure because cutting our losses is ignoring the thousands of dead young men and women fallen at the foot of our proud flag. We need a new mantra. We need new leadership. We need a renewed sense of America. We need to return to the 1985 swagger where there were no apologies for democracy and capitalism. We need to return to the time when opposing a smothering Communism wasn't merely tolerated, it was encouraged. I've had it with our out-of-touch members of Congress and President assuming we're too stupid to know the difference. I bet 2010 will prove otherwise. I think Americans have a lot to say and I for one, am licking my chops.