First of all, the whole discussion of the legalization of marijuana is troubling. Why is it that there is such a voice on this topic? I really don’t get it. Don’t you think there are more important things facing our country, our families, our economy than the right to get high? President Obama does, and thankfully he did the right thing by passing up the “opportunity” to discuss legalization in his on-line town hall forum. Yes, yes, yes, there’s the argument about medical marijuana use, and I see that, however, that is a tiny minority case in the grand picture of reality and can not be used to justify an across the board legalization effort. Many argue that marijuana is exactly the same as drinking alcohol and the only reason why alcohol is legal is due to a huge lobbyist effort in Washington on behalf of the domestic beer, wine and whiskey industries. There is some credibility to this argument. However, consider this: I, and many people like me, drink a beer here and there, but drink it responsibly and because we enjoy the taste. People like myself don’t drink to get drunk. Smoking pot, on the other hand, is done for a singular purpose–to get high. I have never heard of a “social” pot smoker–a person who has a joint here or there just because they like to smoke or like the flavor of marijuana. No, they do it to get stupid and get high, just like alcoholics drink to excess and act irresponsibly. Legalize pot and you’ll see a lot more drunk driving occurring in this country.

Regarding General Patton–he was a great man for who and what he was, a warrior, through and through. He was a very controversial figure, even for his time. Many in his own ranks disliked him for being so over the top with his rhetoric, insistance on maintaining discipline in the highest degree, and flamboyant leadership style. Other generals (Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower particularly) had trouble dealing with him and curbing some of his lofty ideologies and tactical decisions. Now to my point: his famous speech on June 5th was seen as his “masterpiece” of rhetoric, but for good reason. Like a good football coach reving up his team before the big game, Patton was boosting the morale of his men for the upcoming battle that was to take place the following morning, June 6th, 1944, the most famous and important D-Day of all the D-Days that occurred during WWII–the invasion of Normandy, France. It was to be the “beginning of the end” of the war. Patton did what all military leaders do to win the hearts and minds of their troops and promote victory, and that’s to promote discipline on the battlefield, de-humanize the enemy, and inflate the egos of the troops who are about to go into combat. My point on all this is the entire argument you make about his speech is more of a psychological statement than a substantive (and political) one, and I believe you’re really stretching by suggesting that, “this type of patriotism is the norm among conservatives these days, and as hard as it is to swallow the blaring and dangerous political rhetoric coming from the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck.” Patton was not making a political statement. He knew what kind of hell all these men he was addressing were about to face the following morning and he wanted to pump them up for the fight so they would be a little less afraid. Nothing more, nothing less. Patton quote: “No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage.”

Finally, I consider myself a conservative, yet I have a profound respect for other cultures, peoples and ideologies. As far as Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck are concerned, they are a bunch of knuckle headed media stuffed shirts who are paid large salaries to incite, inflame and otherwise create the type of chaos and outlandish yellow journalism that keep the people who actually watch that crap talking about it. None of these men, or the media outlets they work for, represent my ideals and to lump conservativism as a whole into that trash heap of yellow journalists is as insulting as declaring that most liberals are lazy and want to hang around the house all day collecting unemployment while smoking pot.