Definition of Insanity

Okay, so I'm turning into a letter to the editor whore but I really have no choice when people like the less than rational person below. He wrote into the local paper recently with his opinion on the sanity of President Bush. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of Bush but the author below takes it just a wee bit too far. And surprise, surprise the paper printed my response so we'll see if he takes the hint or not.

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In a speech Aug. 31, President Bush said it is not time to change our policies in Iraq, but instead to change our opinions.

For once, I agree with him. Therefore, I'm changing my opinion. I no longer think of him as incompetent and misguided, but insane.

One of the classic definitions of insanity is repeating the same ineffectual actions over and over, but expecting different results.

GLEN D. MONTGOMERY, Topeka

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Here's the response I sent into the paper:

According to Glen Montgomery insanity is the process of doing the same thing over and over again but expecting the results to be different. He applies this definition to President Bush and his Iraq policies. The problem with this is that Mr. Montgomery apparently doesn't realize that decades of talks and appeasement had been tried with no result. To insist that President Bush is insane is asinine. If five years is a long enough time to label his approach to terrorism insane then what should we call the people who maintain that negotiations are possible?

Take a look at who we'd have to negotiate with. Many believe terrorist claims of "convert or die" or "drive them into the sea" to be rhetoric despite the savage and bloody methods used by those same terrorists against Muslim and non-Muslim alike. How many different wars have to be fought before you realize that appeasement doesn't work? How many millions have to die before you realize that their words aren't merely for effect? Neville Chamberlain tried appeasement with Hitler and the world paid for it. Israel tried it with Palestine and faced more suicide bombs. They tried it with Hezbollah and Hezbollah raided Israel killing several soldiers and kidnapping two more. How many years of "negotiations" had been tried prior to that? Did those "negotiations" work? Obviously not. It is time to try something other than paying the Danegeld over and over and expecting different results. That's insanity Mr. Montgomery and it appears that you're certifiable.

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The sad thing about this is that Mr. Montgomery truly is insane by his own definition. He's viewing events through a narrow window that apparently only allows him to see a few years at a time because if he ever bothered to look at history he'd see that appeasement of aggressors has been tried time and time again and it has never worked. The most frustrating thing about people like Mr. Montgomery is that no matter how many times their approach has failed they always want to try it again. But the first time you run into an obstacle trying something different they expect you to admit defeat immediately. I'd be willing to bet that Mr. Montgomery is one of the people who feel that we need to throw more money at education despite decades of history and numerous studies that show more money doesn't mean better education. I'm as equally sure that Mr. Montgomery, and those like him, probably think that Social Security's future solvency don't require any changes other than taxing the most wealthy portions of society. In fact, they usually think the answer to most problems can be solved by higher taxes or some other form of Socialism.

Am I being unfair to Mr. Montgomery? Possibly. I don't know the man and I am extrapolating out quite a bit from a rather short letter. If I am misjudging Mr. Montgomery then I am truly sorry. Somehow I doubt I'm far off the mark though. Anyone who would see fighting back against the bin Laden's and Ahmadinejad's of the world as insane has got to be mental or very, very stupid. Anyone who is incapable of learning from the mistakes of the likes of Chamberlain has got to be either mental or very, very stupid. And, God help us, there are far too many crazy and stupid people in the world today.