Hard Things
I think this election comes down to this: are we interested in doing the hard things now or do we think we can put them off for at least four years?
Fighting a war is not about killing the enemy. It is about destroying the enemy's will to fight. It doesn't have to happen on the battlefield. By all accounts, we were winning the war in Viet Nam but we surrendered our will to fight and then it was lost in spite of battlefield victories.
Winning is hard. More correctly, winning a competition is difficult. The level of effort in preparation and execution between mediocre teams/athletes and champions is significant. Winners work harder, study their game more often and in more detail. They understand that winning the game starts with beating the opposition in their minds first, breaking their will to win. Champions beat the competition mentally first, then on the field of play. They do the hard things when the other guy goes home or stays out late at the party.
Today we have people in this country who have already lost that will (if they ever had it) because beating the enemy is hard. Forty years of avoiding hard things is a tough habit to break. Thankfully, we have people who train for these hard things and are willing to do them. All they ask is the chance.
The enemy cannot defeat us but we can allow ourselves to be defeated. The election is between those who will fight and those who will surrender because winning is hard and inconvenient and sometimes ugly. Which team are you on?