Politics & Power Quote by Jim Bunning

Bunning’s line is a classic post-9/11 move: borrow the moral architecture of America’s most mythologized conflicts and paste it onto a newer, messier one. World War II and the Cold War function here less as history than as branding. Mention “fascism” and “Communism” and you don’t have to litigate policy details; you get instant clarity, instant righteousness, instant unity. The sentence is doing political work, not analytical work.

The intent is escalation. “Every bit as important” is a demand for parity in sacrifice, patience, and funding. It preemptively frames dissent as naivete at best and disloyalty at worst, because the audience is meant to hear the comparison and feel a civic obligation kick in. If you questioned the Iraq War or domestic surveillance, you’re positioned as someone who’d have questioned defeating Hitler or containing the Soviets.

The subtext is where the slippage shows. Fascism and Soviet communism were state-based systems with definable borders and surrender terms. “Terror” is a tactic, not a regime, and a “war” against it risks becoming permanent by design. That’s not an accidental flaw; it’s politically useful. A conflict without a clear endpoint can justify open-ended authorities, expanded security budgets, and a constant posture of emergency.

Context matters: Bunning, a Republican senator in the era when “with us or against us” politics rewarded absolutist framing, is signaling resolve to constituents and colleagues. The quote sells reassurance through analogy, even as it quietly normalizes an indefinite fight.