The Senescent Man

Prior to World War II there was a huge resistance by Americans to getting into the war.  So much so that when England had gone through sustained attack and asked for our help, Americans were marching in the streets protesting involvement.

The only way to help our ally was the "lend-lease" policy initiated by Roosevelt.  The rationale for the policy was "if your neighbor's house was on fire, and threatened your own property, wouldn't you lend him a hose?"

It wasn't until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor that we entered the world war.

Tens of thousands of brave American soldiers died in that war, and there were many days where the number eclipsed the entire sum of those brave Americans who have given their lives in the current conflict.

My point here is that though war always has a sting, we are really better off today than in world wars past.  We cannot yield to the enemy because he has greater endurance.

Tony Blair recently reminded us that we cannot let "terrorism defeat democracy."

Americans have a proper distaste for war, and rightfully so.  But sometimes, as bad as war is, and it is hell, there are things worse than war.  William Buckley once remarked, "there is only one thing worse than war, and that is the acquiescence in slavery."  Will we yield only to become appeasers of wild eyed religious zealots who would kill us for our couch-potato culture?  Or will we, as has been done in the free world in history before, painfully put an end to such genocidally insane movements?

// posted by The Senescent Man @ 8:06 AM