America the Vulnerable And speaking of the CFR, Stephen Flynn, the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, has written a new book. In "America the Vulnerable" Flynn says, "Three years after September 11, the United States is still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to another attack on its soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footing at home."

I contend that the majority of Americans, or at least the most vocal among us are not prepared to assume a wartime footing, and never will be. Too many of our citizens are spoiled, pampered, self-centered pantywaists who have neither the stomach nor the fortitude to accept or care about what is at stake. Rather than be prepared to sacrifice or fight to preserve liberty they are more likely to lie down and die, mourning nothing but their own lost comfort and affluence.

Flynn says "the measures cobbled together to protect these vital systems are hardly fit to deter amateur thieves, vandals, and smugglers, let alone determined terrorists. Worse still, small improvements are often oversold as giant steps forward, lowering the guard of the average citizen and building an unwarranted sense of confidence."

Many Americans suffer from the same short-sightedness and flaws of character that, in my opinion, have plagued the church for too long. We do not understand or care enough about what is at stake, what we are moving ever closer to losing, to stand up and do anything about it.  ¶ Monday, July 11, 2005