Give Peace A Chance

As Vietnam protest songs go, this one is obvious. Former Beatle, John Lennon, wrote this song and was joined by a host of musicians from 1969. The song repeats the phrase, “All we are saying, is give peace a chance” followed by a kind of chant rap stream of conscious string of cool, hip words. You could almost credit John Lennon for one of the first rap songs. He was a great artist and song writer and his murder was a tragedy to the music world. His politics were horribly naïve but it was the era and the anti-war movement that clouded his post Beatle creativity. But it is the phrase that they keep singing that needs to be looked at. “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

So, here we are in 2006, 37 years after the song was released. The Vietnam War ended in a disgraced US effort. The Soviet Union is no more. The Cold War is over. The US has been in a few skirmishes since Vietnam; Grenada, Panama, the first Gulf War, and bombing Libya but nothing more that stopping petty dictators from killing innocent people. We have given peace a chance. How long must you wait for peace to grab a hold and become the norm? Do you stand around and continue to let terrorists kill American citizens and still expect peace? America gave peace more than 30 years to take hold before (as Rush calls them) Islamifacists attacked us at home. We tried to give peace a chance but were provoked to take action to prevent further attacks. We went after the source in Afghanistan first and then went after the major sponsor of terrorism, Iraq. Unfortunately, there was more than one instigator.

We still have two of the three Axis of Evil parading around like proud peacocks, causing trouble. When you have petty dictators holding their nation’s population under tyrannical rule, it creates pockets of hatred. Hitler was a master at turning the Germans into Jew haters. It is easy when you control the media and schools to teach any poison you want. The only cure is freedom. It is what America is good at. It is the source of peace. So if you truly want to give peace a chance, let freedom ring. It is only after a nation is free to choose their destiny will John Lennon’s wish become a reality. All we are saying is give freedom a chance.

Icool

Cobb