I'm Making a Note Here

I often overstate my case:
How dire things are, and have been
So that I can in time efface
The ease with which we seem to win.
If paths are hard that victors tread
Respect comes easily to them;
When all their foes just fall down dead
The multitude will oft condemn
That way as far too easy, and
Not really worth the end result:
There is a challenge they demand
Before a victor can exult.
And so I claim the way was hard
When it was not, as a canard.