For all the criticism about warlords, it is now likely that Afghanistan will never again be turned over to al Qaeda to train thousands to conduct the type of murder we saw on September 11. For all real problems with ambushes and sabotage, there will be no more gassings, mass murdering, invading neighbors, sending guided missiles across borders or no-fly zones in Iraq, but rather the hard work of consensual government - a difficult process easily caricatured, but when completed universally admired.

I'm kind of old-fashioned because I was born and live in the same house for six generations.

Stalin and Mao killed over 80 million and did not make omelets despite the broken eggs.

Victory may now require a level of force deemed objectionable by civilized peoples, meaning that some, for justifiable reasons, may be reluctant to pursue it. But victory has not become an ossified concept altogether.

War seems to come out of nowhere, like rust that suddenly pops up on iron after a storm.

Politicians in their hubris who believe they can ignore debt or wish it away are sorely disappointed - as we see now with the plummeting approval ratings of both the administration and Congress.

We have had raucous moments in our history. And I think we're in one now. But it's not going to endanger the future of democracy.