Here are two recent quotes from vice president Mike Pence, and if they don’t scare the hell out of you they should: “the age of strategic patience is over.” And “the Shield stands guard and the sword stands ready.” Mike Pence usually comes across as a kind of pansy, but he is putting on the sternest face he can and spouting warnings designed to scare North Korea into abandoning its nuclear and missile development. (Mike would also like to buff up his own tough-guy image.) Such posturing may or may not scare the tubby little dictator with the funny hairdo, but it should really scare Americans who would just as soon not see us involved in another war of any kind. No one really wins a war. Everyone loses, not the least, all the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and bombings. Now is a time for more, not less, patience. We should back off and keep the ball in North Korea’s court, continuing to build our own defenses, but being careful not to provoke North Korea into making that first fatal mistake.