A new Hundred Years’ War? Shades of John McCain.

Fox' Lump of Coal vs. Rachel's Righteous Rage

Rachel Maddow, as quoted.

When does this thing we are in now end?

And if it does not have an end — and I’m not speaking as a lawyer here, I am just speaking as a citizen who feels morally accountable for my country’s actions — if it does not have an end, then morally speaking it does not seem like it is a war....

And then, our country is killing people and locking them up outside the traditional judicial system in a way I think we maybe cannot be forgiven for.

Liberals use moral talk the way many conservatives use God talk.

Phooey.

Frontier wars pitting settlers against Indians began in earliest colonial times and lasted into the early 20th Century.

Basically, they went on until the Indians stopped attacking and the settlers had won.

And the global war on terror?

As is well known, Obama and other pro-warriors see it as a congressionally authorized war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, supporters, and allies, whether states or not.

It certainly appears the president does not plan to shut down this war at any point in the foreseeable future, though he intends to phase out or at least back-burner actual on the ground military struggles like those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The invasions of those two countries still appear to me to have been mistakes from the beginning.

But I think, given the realities of the continuing rise of Islamism and all associated violence, there is no reason to phase out actual struggle against Jihad short of the folly of invasion at this point, as may be needed to defend real US interests.

And given the fight will continue at a lower level of intensity it is as well the president have the authority to use a broader range of tools than shutting down the war from a legal point of view and moving ahead as though Jihad was only a law enforcement problem would conveniently allow.

It isn’t practical to regard the challenge of Jihad as no more than a law enforcement problem and it never was, I now think, though that has been the official liberal position since 9/11.