America’s founding values and ideals represent the pinnacle of Western philosophy in my mind. But in case you haven’t noticed, America is no longer united behind them. The country has fractured and its founding values have been under siege. Freedoms and liberties are being diminished.
America’s Founders warned of what would be required of the people to keep their hard won freedoms and liberties.
‘Frihetskampen’ is never won. It is an eternal battle to keep the darker attributes of human nature in check. And we are seeing were and fewer people up to the task, for reasons another very astute and prescient man, Alexis De Tocqueville identified nearly 175 years ago.
Now is a very, very bad time to be complacent and ‘whistle past the graveyard’.
How do people and nations survive?
300 years ago, Poland, Russia and Denmark together declared war on my nation.
We decided to respond by giving them hell.
First we took Copenhagen, then we took Warsaw.
Then we attacked Russia.
Perhaps, that strategy was nothing like a masterly, well thought out plan, but for some reason it worked..
Sweden was defeated at Poltava in 1709, but at that point of time “mighty” Russia was exhausted.
Russia begged for peace and the Swedish troops marched home.
But admittedly, Russia was later succesful in a later military conflict and won certain parts of the Baltics.