Saturday, September 6, 2008

Does peace beget peace?

Dang it Polly, you’ve got me laughing again. I tried to be serious and kind because of my supersensitive Marine Corps training, but you keep cracking me up. Think of it this way, we were trained to protect you so you can continue to do and think all the silly things you do and think. That’s Entertainment . . . er, I mean “Liberal Democracy.” We are free in this country to engage in all sorts of discussions even anti-American discussions because we have a fighting force capable of protecting those rights. Pious “peace begets peace” wishful thinking is nonsense as any student of history could tell you. It is too silly by far to even talk about. . .

Nevertheless, let’s do it just for fun. We elect, you, Polly, President of the United States on the new Peace at any Price ticket. Lefty is your Vice President. You abolish the position of Defense Secretary in your cabinet, because you won’t be needing that. In your acceptance speech you once again use those words that got you elected, “peace begets peace.” Peaceniks from Cambridge Massachusetts to San Francisco California shout their approval with tears running down their cheeks. In your first week in office you abolish the Marine Corps and Army. In the Second you abolish the Navy, and order all ships mothballed. In your third you abolish the Air Force and order that all military airplanes be flown to deserts in Nevada and Southern California and parked there. The unbelieving world realizes that you are serious. The military might of the U.S. is no more. The rest of the world is on its own.

Does that sound good to you Polly? Most strategic analysts would tell you (after they stopped laughing) that such a scenario, despite your sensitive tender feelings about matters of war, would produce more murder, mayhem and loss of life than if you had followed your predecessors in the White House and taken up the ongoing responsibility of protecting our borders and protecting weak nations against Rogue nations. They would tell you that there are several nations in the world that would love such a scenario. If they don’t have the U.S. to worry about (the military force of the U.S.) then they would as Hans Morgenthau persuasively argued, invade and conquer their neighbors. I can imagine a snappy title for a history of your four years in office, Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Lawrence Helm

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