Common Sense: 2001

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate September 2001

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About two hundred and twenty-five years ago, Thomas Paine wrote his pamphlet which he entitled "Common Sense." The central argument was that little island nations should not be ruling large continents at a great distance away. These arguments presented by Paine are by no means out-of-date or antiquated, however. If you switch around certain actors and particular situations, the outcome in the present is quite the same.

The point of this editorial article, however, is by no means to discuss Thomas Paine and his pamphlet. I have been hearing cries of non-aggression and pacifism in regards to the devastating attacks on America committed recently by Islamic extremists in alliance with the mythical Osama bin Ladin. I thought that a member of the majority of America, those who seek a military intervention, should speak up before the true cause becomes clouded and the six thousand innocent lives that have been wrongly taken become a negligible point of the past.

War is not a thing that any individual, any state, or any international system wants to have to face. However, certain instances require war, or at least a military intervention of some type to address significant threats. When an organization, whether governmental or nongovernmental (exampli gratia terrorist groups), threatens the well being of a state or a system, actions need to be taken. There is no other option. If the United States fails to take swift and significant action against these rogue groups, disastrous consequences can occur. First, it will put our nation in a vulnerable state. Terrorist groups and rogue nations will be more prompted to attack, knowing that we will not respond. Second, our position as the leader of Democracy will be obliterated; the faith of the rest of the world in our cause will decline.

I am not...