Europeans often claim that Americans have a unique disposition that differentiates us from all the other people of the earth. This proclivity, it is said, so exudes from Americans that, when abroad, we are immediately identifiable. To a large number of Europeans, Americans are viewed as reckless myopic self-righteous cowboys. They call this perception the American swagger and Euro’s – like their liberal American pupils- are repulsed by it.
When one thinks of the American swagger traits like confidence, self assuredness, power, and perhaps even a degree of moral superiority come to mind. But one word that has never been associated with America, the US Armed forces, the American people, or its leadership is the word coward. This feeling was thrust into the American social consciousness in the 1960’s and has remained hidden in shame for nearly thirty years. Today those who disgraced both themselves and their nation out of fear in the 1960’s are the ‘establishment’. To quell the bottled demons of their youth Congress seeks to collectively validate their individual acts of cowardice by encouraging their children to commit an even more heinous crime.
The passage of the Iraq withdrawal bill by Congress would set a timetable represents just how little of the America spirit resides in the hearts of Congress. This Congressional act of cowardice, to gain power, tells our enemies that if they use the media properly they can manipulate the American public into forcing American government into withdrawing their military despite the monumental successes on the battlefield. Worse still, congresses ratification of the Iraq withdrawal bill sends a clear message to US allies that America lacks conviction and should never be trusted to do what’s right if it takes too long.
Recently an e-mail from one of my long time readers urged those of us on his list to contact their federal representatives to demand that legislation be crafted (and quickly ratified) that would prevent the President of the United States from initiating a nuclear war with Iran. My reader, a learn-ed gentle-man, heard that a Russian source was reporting that President Bush was very near to ordering a preemptive attack on Iran to prevent the nation from obtaining any real degree of nuclear power. Predictably, the day of the strike (April 6th) has come and gone, Iran is celebrating its ability to generate their own nuclear fuel, and the knee-jerk un-Constitutional un-American action of this well intentioned person is still resonating in the minds of a Democrat congress already hostile to fundamental American principals. Sadly, my reader has turned out to be just another frightened liberal dupe. But he is much more dangerous than the typical goose-stepping liberal for he has an education, an audience and a list server.
In much the same fashion of my reader, liberal Democrats have been tricking their regressive thinkers into action for quite some time. This strategy has been built out of necessity since there is nothing progressive about socialism that can be sold to the American people to garner votes. Recall the manufactured scares over the reinstatement of the military draft, overpopulation, global cooling, the hole in the ozone, heterosexual aids, or today’s global warming. In each of these overhyped sensationalized politicized ‘causes’ opinions are bountiful while substantiating facts are relatively few or distorted.
My reader, whose e-mail hails from a prominent American educational institution, used fear quite effectively in his dispatch. His intent was to frighten people to lobby their Congressmen to concoct and ratify legislation that would circumvent President Bush’s Executive authority to start a war without first obtaining Congressional approval. It was this citizen’s impassioned sense urgency to hastily bypass the Constitution’s Separation of Powers that compelled me to ask this learn-ed man if he understood how un-constitutional his petition was. Naturally he replied telling me that he would do anything in his power to avoid a nuclear war and reminded me that the constitution is “not set in stone.” At that moment I understood this person perhaps better than he does himself. This man, like many of this generation, has been saturated by the Left with defeatism, self doubt, chronic uncertainty and fear. This man, like Congress is willing to trade away a birthright of hope, overachievement, daring and courage for a life of fear, complacency, timidity and appeasement. This learn-ed educated man, who sees himself as a patriot, is a coward.
Once upon a time America had a very real enemy who was far more lethal and far more capable than any group of fanatical terrorist spewing Islamic nations. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was our Cold War nemesis whose leader once claimed that they would bury the West. The statement made by Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev, according to later statements, was intended to imply a philosophical conquest rather than a military one. But the gauntlet was thrown and our enemy was well armed and well prepared for our destruction.
The USSR, unlike any adversary today, actually had a massive nuclear stockpile, a large navy, and populace standing army. Their Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were trained on the United States 24/7/365 and their military was at the ready – and so were we. Instead of seeking to appease or cowering to change our way of life, Americans steeled their spines and stood unified defiantly against a formidable enemy. East coast cities and townships erected air raid towers and routinely conducted drills in preparation of a Soviet attack. Children were made to practice duck and cover procedures in school at the first sound of the air raid siren. Citizens constructed basement bomb shelters and stocked food, water and first aid supplies because (unlike today) the USSR was a legitimate and qualified threat.
If the USSR wanted a conflict then President John F Kennedy, the last American Democrat, was more than willing to give it to them and the overwhelming majority of the American people were behind him. When the USSR attempted to place nuclear missiles in communist Cuba, President Kennedy blockaded the island and prevented Soviet vessels from delivering their cargo. Khrushchev angrily threatened escalation as the Soviet Navy crept into position. The American Navy was in position and Florida was readying for an air and seal invasion of the island of Cuba. America was unified and unflinching. Unlike today, in 1962 the world was truly on the brink of nuclear destruction. In the end, the US Armed forces led by President Kennedy made the USSR stand down. The Soviets blinked because America did not cower.
America’s long term vision and understanding of the significance of the United States to the world led to the eventual demise of the Soviet Union. In 1989 President Ronald Reagan demanded that the Berlin Wall be torn down and the Soviets complied! After more than thirty years the “Anti-Fascist protective rampart” built by the Soviet Union to stop the exodus of Germans from communist East Germany was torn down. By 1991 the Soviet Union was no more. American Tenaciousness, the fruits of capitalism, and the glory of the American spirit won the Cold War. America did not appease, change, or alter it way of life for fear of confrontation.
Today’s Iranian threat is very real but it pales in comparison to danger the Soviet Union once presented. Had America taken action years ago, when Iran’s nuclear program was in its infancy, it could have neutralized the Iranian threat long before it presented any real danger to America or America’s allies. But the diplomacy, appeasement, and timidity of both political parties have allowed this volatile terrorist sponsoring Islamic nation to develop nuclear fuel. In time, unless something is done, Iran will have nuclear weapons. At that time the maniacal ravings of President Ahmadinejad will take on significance that even today’s frightened youth, their mentor Congress, or the appeasement oriented Europeans cannot hide from or ignore.
