(439) AYN RAND SPEAKS

I would appreciate it if you would commit to memory the philosophic notion that I am going to express. Actually, Ayn Rand expressed it years ago, and I have adopted it. The problem with fighting a war to install a democracy in another country is that no one knows what they are fighting for until the war is over and an election is held. In the Philippines, we engineered the removal of Marcos, but he could win reelection today if he was alive. We engineered a democracy Iraq and we are fixing to have Shia law. We are trying to engineer a democracy in Afghanistan, and no one knows how that is going to turn out. It is patently absurd to fight a war then wait until the country has an election to determine whether the cost of war was appropriate.

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I believe that I have visited with the World-War-II Air Force, but it is worth remembering. 35,933 planes were lost in world War II. I wonder how many survived, and I wonder how on Earth we built all of those planes. The building of the aircraft was a miracle.

Respectfully submitted,
Donald M. Heavrin,
A seeker of truth