Let Me Entertain You!

We are all familiar with, “Let me Entertain You,” one of the marvelous standards from the 1959 Broadway hit, Gypsy by Julie Styne with lyrics by Steve Sondheim. The story, a loose depiction of the career of Gypsy Rose Lee, has her crooning, “Let me entertain you/Let me make you smile/Let me do a few tricks/Some old and some new tricks/I'm very versatile.” Well it might as well have been Gypsy here at The Citadel on July 23 for the Democratic Presidential Debate. In fact a little soft shoe would have added to its value.

All the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates were there, primped, or in Edwards’ case should I say “coifed?” They were all made up to the “nines” for the harsh lenses of high definition television. The press was also there in depth, and the badges for entrance to the various areas set aside gave one the feeling of a national nominating convention. There was even a badge for something called a “spin room,” and all this plastic hung from a lariat like necklace similar to that used by the National Conventions to signify the level of inner sanctum access possessed by the bearer.

Ok, we get it! The event, a digital extravaganza made to attract young audiences---no sin at all-- was designed to “Entertain.” Unfortunately it provided very little useful information for the public to use in deciding who, from amongst the herd, would make the best president.

These are strange times in the United States. Amidst record corporate profits and a public lost in its own gratification, we are fighting a war both at home and abroad to preserve our way of life and allow others to fashion theirs free of the dictates of bloodthirsty feudalists. You would think that the government would be cheered or at least grudgingly supported for managing this dismal task. Instead we get incessant demands for the return of our troops from Iraq, and pleas from some of the same people to send a “small” force to Darfur (don’t believe it) to stabilize and save those beleaguered there. If that isn’t enough to curl your hair, while many party ‘til dawn, many others are finishing a second shift so their children can attend a better school or even worse be kept from going hungry. Is there no Winston Churchill here to tell us that all he can offer is “blood, toil, tears and sweat?” We have real work here to better bestow the blessings of liberty!

We are fortunate to have enough patriotic young men and women who will volunteer to sustain the military force required to defend us from all but the largest conflagration, but a democracy cannot sustain itself in the long term without shared sacrifice. I am fond of saying that freedom isn’t free and a good way to lose it is to allow it to slip away in the disparity of allocation of its burden. One of the few differences I had with my mentor Cap Weinberger during his lifetime was over the draft. Cap was against it while I have favored mandatory national service of some sort. It wouldn’t have to be military but something post high school pre-college to introduce our new voting population to the burdens of a democracy.

Those attracted by the glitz of the campaign must be made to understand that payment in blood and lucre for their choices at the ballot box must be sustained, perhaps for a decade or more to earn any meaningful increase in security for us here at home. We can just as easily be overcome by decay from within as from outside force. And as for the candidates, where is the nuanced response by the candidates that suggests the candidates at least understand the limitations of the job for which they compete? I am afraid that a fully drawn out thought would go over the heads of the audience and bore them as being the opposite of what they want to hear, but it would be refreshing.

Contrary to the emotional cycle of many of our citizens, all of life’s problems cannot be solved by the close of the show. Whoever is elected president is going to be beset by our current challenges and ones yet undreamed. Our presidents may lead, but all of us must do and endure to prevail over all of life’s challenges from the petty to the profound.

My award for the “adult response” of the evening goes to Joe Biden who responded to a question on bringing home our troops by saying: “Anderson, you've been there. You know we can't just pull out now. Let's get something straight. It's time to start to tell the truth. The truth of the matter is: If we started today, it would take one year, one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically.” Biden went on to describe his proposed solution of a federated state separating the warring internal factions and brought back memories of Winston Churchill and the 1921 Cairo conference to at least a few of us.

As I write following the debate, Our Secretaries of State and Defense are leaving Jeddah after meeting with the King of Saudi Arabia to quiet a case of shaky Saudi nerves that the U.S. will de-stabilize the region by a hasty withdrawal from Iraq. Our assurances were accompanied by 20 billion dollars worth of military equipment to sustain our friends from what is certain to be at least a substantial drawdown of troops in the sector. The point is that while some assistance would have been forthcoming, the timing most certainly is caused by the exigencies of our foreign policy exposure caused by the campaign rhetoric of the Democratic Party contenders. Biden’s response is a welcome note of candor in an otherwise bleak landscape of costumed questioners and delusional candidates.

To my readers who are used to my normal optimism, I don’t want you to think that I believe the stream of history is running against us and our values. It is not. We must recognize, however, those values and we true believers are under assault, and you are herby drafted into the Corps of their defense. For me, like Churchill, I continue to be optimistic. He is often quoted as saying about us, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.”

Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of the Free Enterprise Foundation (www.Free-Enterprise-Foundation.org). He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and was selected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, Prof. Freer can be reached at Robert.freer@citadel.edu. Copies of his earlier columns can be found www.Free-Enterprise-Foundation.org. A new book from Professor Freer, Citadel Values, containing the wisdom of some of his most beloved columns is being given to The Corps of Cadets thanks to the generosity of the Krause Leadership Fund at The Citadel. The book will be available commercially in the fall.

Copyright © 2007 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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