[mick]

Very strong and excellent post. Of course, you are right. We are nowhere near the kind of mental focus to understand the dangers facing us, the moral clarity to know in our bones we are the superior culture, and the savage instinct for survival that must be present in the end if any culture is to survive.
But I know you know that in the 1930’s the left was also powerful in the nation and our country was confused as to our real national interest until Hitler started to play out his evil and even then it took Pearl Harbor. So I agree, not a comforting precedent.

[Defiant]

I didn't mention the left's impact in the 1930s, but one interesting aspect was that we fought as a unified nation in part because the fate of the Soviet Union hung in the balance. The left did an about face and supported all out war against the Nazis after they attacked the Soviets in June 1941. That was the last time we were able to fight as a unified country. Ever since, in every single conflict, the left tries to cause us to lose. They preach pacifism, or anti-imperialism, but it is in service to a defeat of the US in order to hasten the victory of the left in a new global order, and it is not pacifist or anti-imperial, it is just anti-American.

In WW2, we had a strong isolationist element on the right, too, but that is a different story with different, pro-American origins, and it is mostly out of the picture now, with the exception of the (fringe) Ron Paul types. The consensus on the right and in the center is that the US must be a global power--not for imperial gain, but to spread free market capitalism for our own security. Free nations do not attack each other; they make each other richer.

The consensus on the left is that the US should be a global power, too. Make no mistake, if an Obama won, he would, like Clinton, use American power, but he would use it in ways that HARM America's interests, like Clinton did in Serbia. Yeah, we need to creat more Muslim states in Europe. Good work. A socialist America would exert its power to bring rogue states like Australia, Taiwan, and Chile into line. Breakaway movements in Spain, the Balkans, Central America, Columbia, the Philippines, Thailand, North Africa, etc. would be supported by the US, so that more Anti-American regimes could emerge. Any Muslim grievances would be nursed, since Islam is profoundly anti-western civilization, and the left needs to destroy western civilization in order to create its utopia.

In any event, the left is pro-war, just not pro-America.

Thanks for your post. It is unfortunate that we are back to having to deal with the Russian bear again. We have too lazily defended the victory in the cold war, and now it turns out to be a lull, not a victory. Very sad.