Dear Editor:

Our young men and women born after Oct. 7, 2001 have known 188 days of peace. Our flawed and disastrous exit from Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, ended that 19.9-year war and set the stage for a very short peace. Hostile nations were emboldened by a United States that appeared weak, in disarray, and confused. North Korea and China probed our resolve and found it to be soft. Russia tested our strength by telegraphing a larger second invasion of Ukraine. A previous invasion had been a success for them under the Obama administration. After an uncertain and timid U.S. response they invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. Soon the U.S. sent economic aid and on March 5, 2022 Biden authorized sending 500 of our soldiers to NATO starting the clock on our next war.

The Ukrainian war has spread into Russia, the Black Sea, and the Baltic with the U.S. once again waging a proxy war with Communism. In Palestine, the decision to release sanctions and a massive transfer of money provide the wherewithal and means to revitalize and arm Hamas leading to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. That war has spread into several other Arab countries and shipping attacks in the Red Sea. We are now hearing of the first “official” casualties in our newest war and are considering a response that could escalate the conflict into a regional war.

Many in the world are paying the ultimate price for a world without U.S. leadership. We are stumbling and bumbling our way into World War 3. We are a shell of the power we once were. We need to stabilize the conflicts and to pull back and get our house in order, to restore the freedom, hope, and values this country was built upon.

Lincoln said it well, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Now is the time for change.

Joe Grant

Wiscasset