Being a smarty-pants-know-it-all, I never pass up on an opportunity to pontifi-
cate on any subject.  Much to the chagrin of my co-workers, I often avail to
this end while they are attempting to relax in the company break room.  This
past Thursday was a case in point.  We had settled down to some lunch and
the TV was tuned to MSNBC.  Normally, I prefer Fox News, but at that hour,
Dayside with Linda Vester was on and I'm not crazy about her or her show,
though she does have some nice legs.

The news of the moment was concerning the increasing prices of gasoline.
This spurred a comment from one of my co-workers that the government
ought to do something about.  I quipped back that the last time the Federal
government stepped and enacted price controls, the end result was even
higher prices on top of shortages.  The policy of wage and price controls by
Nixon may have helped get him re-elected, because the public perceived
that he cared and was trying to do something about the problem, but it only
made the problem worse. 

My attempts to engage those around with my beliefs isn't just to impress
them with my knowledge.  I truly want to enlighten them!  I want to win them
over to my way of thinking.  At least to understand that life is a never ending
battle of ideas.  To learn that each century or era of history is centered upon
competing ways of thinking, and that the consequences of which way that
dominates are of crucial importance. 

My most recent experiences in this theater began during the 2000 Presiden-
tial election.  I was essentially the lone wolf who supported Bush.  Every day
was one argument after another with a number of co-workers.  Each time I
had to qualify my position that while I don't think GW is the best man for the
job, he was a damn-sight better than Algore.  During the whole recount fiasco
I again had to intellectually duke it out with several people on a daily basis.
Some just couldn't grasp the concept that ours is a republic, which uses an
electoral college to determine a winner.  Or that if anyone is trying to commit
vote fraud, it's Gore, not Bush.

Then came 9/11.  I can remember that day clearly as we all watched events
unfold.  They all turned to me and asked who is doing this.  I was the only
one who was aware of Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  When the worst
Liberal in the company asked me what I thought the impact of this attack was
going to be, my answer shocked him.  I thought it was a great thing!  This
event would wake us up and forever change the world.  9/11 was clear evi-
dence that there existed out there a force which was out to destroy us, and
that we had better get activated to meet this threat.

My glee from this tragedy stems from my optimism that in this next struggle,
the cause I hold dear, the expansion of individual liberty, will triumph, and
the end result will be a freer world.  Without the threat from competition, we
simply had no interest in dragging the rest of the planet into democratic
capitalism.  Most Americans did not see any need for us to shoulder the bur-
dens of spreading freedom to the four corners of the globe.  Now, it is abun-
dantly clear, that we have no choice.  For as long as there are those who
are oppressed, and feel hopelessness, terrorism on the scale of 9/11 will
always be a threat to our civilization. 

Civilization is a fragile thing, and it wouldn't take much to smash it all to
pieces.  And that's exactly what Al Qaeda wants to do to ours.  They see us
as the personification of the Dajal, the Evil One, their version of the Anti-
Christ.  In the last couple of decades, there has been a growing trend in Is-
lam to shift away from the traditional teachings that Dajal is literally a single, real man, towards an allegorical view that the Western world, particularly
America, is the face of Dajal.  Oddly enough, this radicalism in Islam was
inspired by author Hal Lindsey's popular book, The Late, Great Planet Earth.
A few Islamic clerics ceased upon this and wrote their own versions.  These
books became very popular, especially since it blames the average person's
problems and ills on us.  As long as we're around, practicing our way of life,
they will suffer.

Make no mistake, Al Quada and the rest of radical Islam are on a very spe-
cific time table.  They believe the world will come to an end in 2076.  So we
had better get used to the idea that this is struggle will last for much of the
century, and it could get much, much worse.  Our only option for long term
peace and prosperity is to go on the offensive, and fight the battle of ideas
everywhere.  Most people in the world, and for that matter, a good too many
Americans, do not understand what liberty is.  We MUST educate them!
Even if it means dragging them as a truant officer does a child, kicking and
screaming into a classroom.  We MUST liberate them!  Even if it means fight-
ing new wars on a continuous basis. 

The 20th Century was one of struggles between Capitalism and Socialism. 
It cost over 200,000,000 deaths and misery to another few billion.  The cost
in treasure is in the tens of trillions of dollars.  I happen to believe that liberty
and Capitalism is well worth fighting for.  This next struggle will be no less of
a challenge, the stakes are just as important.  Victory demands that we have
a clear concept of what it is we hope to achieve.  A roadmap of how to win.
But first, we must know why we must win.  This is the first step, the battle of
ideas. 

I understand this, which is why I love break room politics.  It is our duty to be
advocates and spread the good word, like evangelicals.  To convince others
that there is only one, rational course of action.  History has shown us what
that course is.  And history also shows, that any movement, any revolution,
begins with one person talking with another.