War Games

.....While being bored, I remembered that on Nov.18—coming shortly—I joined the US Navy in 1942.  That was 68 years ago.  So that fact is sort of freaking me out. There are children today, who could care less about it, whose living grandfathers served in WWII .  In 1980 there were veterans still living who served in WWI.  Now, this is getting interesting. In 1930, when I was six years old, there were veterans still living who served in the Civil War! That is, considering my math is correct; if they were 18 in 1865, then in 1900 they were 53 and in 1930 they were 83. They lived when Lincoln was President!  Just think about it; I knew grandfathers who voted for Abraham Lincoln!! (A Republican). And the topper is that in 1845 there were veterans living who served with George Washington in the Revolutionary War!  So, now maybe, since I'm sending you this piece of useless information, you might believe that I am losing my mind???  Well, I'm really sorry that I never thought of asking one of the vets who voted for Abe for an autograph.  Actually at six years old, I never heard of autographs; but I could have shook hands with one of them, so that I could now look at and show off the hand that shook the hand of someone who voted for Abraham Lincoln! Also, I could have asked a vet how Lincoln was doing in the polls; probably lousy because half the country was in rebellion.  You couldn't call the rebels the Tea Party; more like the Hemlock or Cyanide Party.  Well, they lost. Too bad.

.....Nevertheless, in despite of my musings, one could draw a few parallels between Lincoln's day and our day.  The southern pols claimed that most Americans did not want abolition; that it was unconstitutional; that if they got into power they would repeal any abolitionist legislation.  Well, the northern guys claimed that all Americans should be free; that slavery was unconstitutional; that most Americans wanted abolition; and that they had the votes in Congress.  So the southern pols decided to elect their own president and establish their own country. Very clever.  So, since each party wanted their own way they decided that the best way to solve the impasse was to go to war.  And so they did; and so this solution produced 1,100,000 casualties and almost 62,000 deaths.  Consequently, America, land of the brave and the free, went on solving problems with World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Kuwaiti War, the Iraqi War, and the Afghanistan War--not to mention all the other battles by which we attempted to end disagreements.   Actually, many millions of lives could be saved if only the warring parties would have their National Basketball Teams play a seven game series, and the nation (or political party) whose team first won four games would then have their own way, and too bad for the losers.  (Under those circumstances we would have a good chance of having our own way)