Old Men and Young Men

Sometimes wartime presidents are portrayed by their opposition as old men who lightly send their young men into battle. The implication is that it's an easy thing for them to do because it doesn't place them personally in harm's way. I would wager that every president who has ever done so has grappled with his decision, especially as he immediately sees the consequences in the separation of families, the injuries large and small, and tragically, the premature deaths of young people who should have lived another fifty years.

I wonder if some of the old (and not-so-old) men who are now making plans to borrow from the future so that we can keep living it up today have given any thought to those future generations, some children of which are as yet unborn, who are going to have to pay for all of this. If so, they have apparently decided that since they won't personally be around to help pay the bill, it doesn't really matter.

I have more respect for the president who makes tough decisions that yield immediate consequences he will have to face and take responsibility for than the one who makes easy decisions with consequences that extend so far into the future that he may not even be around to help clean up the mess.