Even in victory, the American people can be so clueless

More from that Newsweek poll that Joe mentioned earlier:

While a bare majority of 51 percent called the Democrats' victory "a good thing," even more said they were concerned about some of the actions a Democratic Congress might take, including 78 percent who were somewhat or very concerned that it would seek too hasty a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Another 69 percent said they were concerned that the new Congress would keep the administration "from doing what is necessary to combat terrorism," and two-thirds said they were concerned it would spend too much time investigating the administration and Republican scandals.

At some the American people need to grow up. If they aren't ready for us to leave Iraq, then fine: stay in Iraq. More American soldiers will die for no reason, the civil war will get worse, we will be directly responsible for breeding even more terrorists, and we'll probably have a draft sometime over the next two years. But if that's what it will take for the American people to learn that history is not without consequences, then so be it. I see no reason that Democrats should fall on their swords so that the American people and the Republicans can avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

Oh yeah, and we'll also give police the right to take Americans away in the middle of the night without a warrant, and waterboard their husbands, wives and children - in the name of public safety, of course. Then after 20,000 or 30,000 Americans are missing, and probably dead (in Argentina, they used to drug political prisoners and drop them from helicopters into the sea - you see, the authorities simply had to keep the country safe), the American people can ask themselves what went wrong.

We are paying for our citizens' ignorance of history. Perhaps they need to learn the hard way, by giving them what they want and letting them suffer the consequences. At some point, it may be the only way to fix the problem. Otherwise, we fall on our sword for them, and they vote us out in two years and continue the carnage in Iraq and on our civil liberties.