Politicians and Reason

Last week, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid stated that the war in Iraq "is lost." The backlash began immediately, with calls for Reid's resignation interspersed with depictions of Reid as a "propaganda minister for our enemies" and accusations of treason. The vitriol behind these statements makes one wonder what the role of reason is in political discourse. Do we as a nation believe that it is impossible for the United States to lose a war? If the answer to that question is yes, we must ask ourselves on what basis we have reached such an absurd conclusion. Given the fact that our leaders are not infallible and that we as a nation are not perfect, it is eminently reasonable to believe that there are going to be cases and situations in which the United States does not emerge victorious. We may debate whether Iraq is such a situation, but surely it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the United States could indeed lose a war. To believe otherwise consigns the U.S. to the nightmare of perpetual war at the hands of our commanders in chief; once the president commits us to war, the very idea that we could lose becomes a treasonous offense. Would the troops in the field truly sacrifice their lives for such a proposition?