Last night, a couple of my staff members were presenting at an anti-tax event in rural North Carolina (believe it or not, there are many important elections going on in our state right now than just the Obama-Clinton slugfest, including a host of local tax referenda). During open discussion later in the event, a young soldier stood up and told the audience that he had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He was proud of his service, and of his unit’s accomplishments.

“Then,” he said, “I came home and found out we were losing the war.”