In December of 1966, the rock group Buffalo Springfield recorded a song by Stephen Stills called, “For What it’s Worth.” The song was written in response to what were called curfew riots, which were happening on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Young people had been gathering on “The Strip,” and curfew and anti-loitering laws were passed to discourage it, resulting in demonstrations and riotous behavior. [1]
The song was often regarded as a protest anthem, especially by the growing anti-Vietnam war movement. I was a freshman in college at the time, and I was in R.O.T.C. I aspired to a military career after graduation. I took a lot of grief from my friends. The girls I dated just couldn’t let go of questions like, “How can you be a part of an unjust war?”
We had anti-war demonstrations in those days, which were composed for the most part of young people, and especially of college students. The anti-Israel demonstrations that are happening at many of our universities now remind me of the divisiveness and acrimony that we had in the ‘60s demonstrations.
The Tet offensive in 1968 was a military defeat for the Vietnamese communists.[2] The NVA and Viet Cong forces were decimated, and they fled into sanctuaries in Cambodia. Because of the widespread anti-war sentiment then, Congress would not approve pursuing the NVA and Viet Cong into Cambodia and the increased troop levels needed to do it. Instead, the Johnson Administration asked for peace talks, which was like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
After a peace agreement was reached in Paris, the United States withdrew the lion’s share of our troops from South Vietnam. Not long after that, the North Vietnamese communists violated the peace agreement and attacked. The South Vietnamese were holding up pretty well until Congress bowed to anti-war sentiment and refused to fund additional military aid to South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese lost because they lacked the war material they needed to continue to resist. Sound familiar? I am still ashamed of Congress for abandoning South Vietnam.
So, What’s the point? A useful idiot is defined as “a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.” [3] In former times, hard core communists, particularly in the USSR, used the term to describe Marxist and leftist sympathizers in the Western Democracies. THE POINT IS that the useful idiots who are demonstrating against Israel, and for the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, are playing into the hands of forces that want to destroy – not only Israel – but the United States as well. Further, the useful idiots would be among the first to get their throats cut if Iran and its proxies were ever to take control of the United States.
These kids have been indoctrinated and are being manipulated by people who want to take America down, destroy it, and remake our country into something our founding fathers wouldn’t even recognize. The demonstrators were wrong in the 1960’s, and they are wrong again now. Back then we gave up the fight when we almost had it won. Now, the Biden Administration is pressuring Israel to give up the fight when they almost have it won.
Fellow citizens, a (silent) majority of us support Israel. Please elect people to national office who share that support in November.
For What it’s Worth
By Stephen Stills
[Verse 2]
There's battle lines being drawn
And nobody's right if
everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are gettin' so much resistance from
behind
[Chorus]
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that
sound?
Everybody look what's
going down
[Verse 3]
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly say, "Hooray for our
side" [4]
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