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It Is Time for America to Make a Stand
Townhall.com ^ | July 2, 2020 | William Marshall

Posted on 07/02/2020 9:56:47 AM PDT by Kaslin

We have had enough. American patriots have stood idly by while the International Left has swept through our culture like the Germans swept through France in 1914, burning and slaughtering in their relentless drive toward Paris. Passivity has been our most demonstrable quality as the icons of our history – Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant – have been attacked, small businesses destroyed, and innocent Americans assaulted and threatened. It is time to summon our manhood, just as the French did at the Battle of the Marne, finally saying, “Enough!” against an Imperial German army hell-bent on conquest.

History reminds us that antithetical forces vie in a never-ending human struggle for dominance. The forces of good advance and retreat. The forces of evil advance and retreat. We have been watching evil advance since May 25 under the guise of doing good. It is time for good to make a stand.

The study of history is so important. Sadly, from an early age, too many of us learned history in a mind-numbing way, without being told at the outset that we learn history because it serves a higher purpose - as a guide to human behavior now and in the future. Too often, children in history classes are simply taught to memorize by rote dates, names and places in a dry, detached way, without that history being applied as a tool to inform current events.

Many examples throughout history could be, and are, being employed by commentators to make sense of the insanity that is occurring across our country today, as the International Left sends its shock troops in a weird amalgam of Black Lives Matter activists and Antifa thugs to rampage, pillage, loot, vandalize, burn and murder. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of it all is the response, or lack of such, by appeasing corporations hoping to buy off the Mob, abetting Democratic municipal leaders offering little or no police response, flaccid “conservatives,” and a shocked and paralyzed populace of normal Americans who can’t comprehend what is happening to their beloved country.

An historical precedent I would like to throw out is the situation in Europe at the beginning of World War I. The month of August 1914, as recounted so ably in the classic historical treatise by Barbara Tuchman, Guns of August, could serve as a lesson in how to address the insanity we are witnessing today.

In 1914 tensions were rising between Imperial Germany and its ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the one hand, and an alliance (the Entante) between England, France and Russia on the other. France and Germany had a fairly significant “past” – most recently in the war they fought in 1870. There was no love lost between them. By 1914, the fairly paranoid Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, was certain that the Allies were trying to encircle Germany.

England was alarmed because land-locked Germany had set about building capital warships, directly threatening England’s unrivalled supremacy of the seas. By August 1914 everyone was on a hair trigger. Belgium, the hapless neighbor of France and Germany, was considered by international agreement to be a neutral country, whose borders were inviolable. But Germany had been strategizing for years how to go about conquering France and many of its top generals were itching to do so. Their strategy, known as the Schlieffen Plan, called for a massive drive south into France through Belgium in an encircling movement around the French armies.

On August 4, German forces crossed into Belgium, setting off a new form of mechanized warfare that would eventually engulf half the world and result in incomprehensible carnage. Belgian troops fought valiantly but were no match for the German juggernaut. With due respect to my German ancestors, the one thing above all that Germans are exceedingly good at is foreign conquest. It’s in our blood.

But it is the reaction of the French forces that I would like to highlight as analogous to what I see happening in America today. The French were aware of Germany’s militaristic inclinations and had planned meticulously for potential hostilities with Germany. And the French at that time were considered capable warriors in their own right (perhaps living off their salad days under Napoleon Bonaparte’s leadership). But as German forces crossed into France, the French armies fell back, and fell back, and fell back. There appeared to be little effective resistance, or leadership, on the part of the French military.

As German forces drove deeper into France, the very heart of France – and what many would consider the heart of the civilized world, Paris - was threatened. Such a state of affairs shocked the French people, not to mention the rest of Europe and the larger world. A paralysis seemed to have taken hold of the French people and their military.

As the French Fifth Army, which took the brunt of the German drive fell back on the Marne River, just fifty miles north of Paris, one man, General Joseph-Simon Gallieni, the Military Governor of Paris, said, “Enough!” The old, revered veteran who had been called out of retirement in his 60s to defend the French capital, saw an opportunity to make a stand against the German monolith and attack an exposed German Army on its flank.

In a remarkable turnabout, Gallieni rallied the French Fifth and Sixth Armies, convinced the British Expeditionary Force to fight alongside them, and infused his troops with the spirit – the elan - to give everything in the cause of saving Paris and defeating the Hun menace. They turned the Germans back in what came to be known as the “Miracle of the Marne.” The German forces retreated and the Allied and Axis powers settled into a bloody, four-year long stalemate which, with American help, would see the defeat of the German Empire and the salvation of Europe.

We need a General Gallieni in America today to say, “Enough!” America is a great and good country, with a proud and noble history. It is a history of tremendous sacrifice for peoples all over the world. It is time to stop apologizing for an institution in our culture that we fought a war costing over 600,000 American lives to end over 150 years ago.

Clearly most of those now engaged in the cultural assault, physical destruction, and intimidation in America today only care about one thing – the destruction of America, because they hate it. Pure and simple.

As we celebrate this Independence Day, it is time for all Americans of every stripe – black, white, Asian, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Democrat, Republican – to make a stand and say, “Enough!”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: americafirst; history; independenceday; patriotism
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1 posted on 07/02/2020 9:56:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The Germans were good at waging wars. Just not winning them. Certainly not against us.


2 posted on 07/02/2020 9:58:41 AM PDT by jmacusa (If we're all equal how is diversity our strength?)
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To: Kaslin

I think the author meant to say 1940, not 1914. The Germans never took Paris in WWI, but did so in 1940 during WWII.


3 posted on 07/02/2020 10:01:15 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
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To: Kaslin; Noumenon; Lurker; Lazamataz

Past time. I will not comply. I will not submit.

FeD UP!!!!@


4 posted on 07/02/2020 10:02:32 AM PDT by sauropod (Quarantine is when you restrict sick people, tyranny is when you restrict healthy people.)
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To: Dan in Wichita

After reading the entire article, I stand corrected.


5 posted on 07/02/2020 10:03:15 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
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To: Kaslin

The time to Stand UP was in 1965

or 1980

or 2008.

Now - too little, waaaay too late.


6 posted on 07/02/2020 10:05:59 AM PDT by ASOC (Having humility really means one is rarely humiliated)
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To: Kaslin

THIS IS OUR NEW INDEPENDENCE DAY!

We must take back the country from those who will destroy it!!


7 posted on 07/02/2020 10:11:04 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell..?)
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To: Kaslin; All
When I was a firearms instructor, I always mentioned that “Behind every bullet is a lawyer.” Because many of us know this instinctively, some may be less inclined to shoulder a firearm in defense of property.

We need the kind of “Wild West Justice” where you’d meet a rope and a tree as a result of horse stealing or cattle rustling. Today... long guns behind store windows and on roof tops.

8 posted on 07/02/2020 10:15:24 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isnÂ’t common anymore.)
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To: ASOC

“The time to Stand UP was in 1965”

Ted Kennedy should have been hung after torturing the information out of him pointing to the usual suspects.


9 posted on 07/02/2020 10:15:53 AM PDT by dljordan
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To: Kaslin

......”It is time for good to make a stand”.....

And do exactly what which will be effective on a national scale? Didn’t we elect State Represntatives to ‘stand for us’ on a state level????

I’ve contacted my local officials and also Police Officials .......they handled these protestors here quick and decisive and included our vets and store owners who stepped up to the plate. It did not take root here and was disbanned in one hour...... But I have no clout in other communities.....that’s up to the citizens there.


10 posted on 07/02/2020 10:16:32 AM PDT by caww
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To: Kaslin
America has been trained to be mesmerized and distracted by circuses - entertainment, celebrities, sports, and now social media - all to keep their eye away from the fact the foundations of their country are being wrested away into hostile hands.

The Sixties are back, and on steroids, controlling our institutions and the minds of so many who have been trained to emote and "feel", not to think.

11 posted on 07/02/2020 10:18:55 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: Kaslin

And how does the writer propose that we do that?


12 posted on 07/02/2020 10:18:58 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: Dan in Wichita

Correct. 1914 is when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.


13 posted on 07/02/2020 10:20:01 AM PDT by Cecily
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To: Cobra64

theres also a Soros DA as McCloskey is finding out...


14 posted on 07/02/2020 10:21:03 AM PDT by RitchieAprile (available monkeys looking for the change..)
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To: Kaslin

Germany is far from landlocked.

Can’t say this article does much for me.

JT


15 posted on 07/02/2020 10:21:56 AM PDT by JT Hatter (Who is Barack Obama? And What is He Really Up To?)
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To: Dan in Wichita

In 1914 the Germans could see Paris in the distance. For reasons I have not been able to deduce, the German army turned and exposed its flank to Paris. Had the Germans not made this blunder and continued on to Paris, history very well would have been quite different. Up to and including no Hitler.....

History is super interesting!


16 posted on 07/02/2020 10:27:31 AM PDT by walkingdead (By the time you realize this is not worth reading, it will be too late....)
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To: Daveinyork

Think global, act local. The communists co-opted our city councils, school boards, boy scouts, churches, etc. THAT is where to ruthlessly attack them.
It isn’t a fun answer, but it’s basic blocking and tackling at the very very local level that can save us.

That means right there at your dinner table. If your school kid brings home communist christian hating BS assignments, raise holy hell at the school.
If your college age kids start in t=with the assaholic lectures, tell them to reform or move out and pay for their own school and life.
A thousand small tiring fights... that is where the answer is.
Refuse to participate in lies. Don’t wear a mask. Etc.


17 posted on 07/02/2020 10:30:23 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: JT Hatter

Not really far. It’s a real stretch to think Germany could ever be a naval power. Their position is only marginally better than Russia’s.
The can get into the Baltic and North Sea. That is it unless they can beat the Royal Navy and force their way into the Atlantic, or down the Channel.

They can get out as some kind of stunt as they did once or twice, but they have no capability to come and go as they please, and to protect sea lanes.


18 posted on 07/02/2020 10:37:30 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: walkingdead

The Germans were stopped from Paris in WWI. Then they were pushed back into a band of land 50-75 miles wide and kept there in a stalemate for years until their defeat.


19 posted on 07/02/2020 10:39:25 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: DesertRhino

The only reason they were stopped was because they exposed their flank to Paris. The Germans were then in an unattainable position.

How did Churchill put it? I cannot remember exactly, but when the allies moved forward they “seridipudiously probed their way into the German liver”.

Read the histories of those there. The French commander (Joseph Jaques?) could hardly believe his luck when the Germans turned. Heck Jaques had already issued his stand and die command by this point.

This is also when the Jaques begged French (the English commander, I know confusing) that they had to strike now. French did not want to as his force was tiny, but he understood the opportunity at hand. Jaques then replied he was waiting to see if England still had any honor.

While we never know what might have been, the fact of the matter was, had the flank opportunity not presented itself, the French were in a very bad position. It is also important to note that each side was at the very end of endurance. When Jaques ordered the attack his subordinates were appalled. They had men sleeping on their feet they were so tired.

But they rallied and the rest is history.


20 posted on 07/02/2020 11:05:42 AM PDT by walkingdead (By the time you realize this is not worth reading, it will be too late....)
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