An argument for total war or eventual surrender?
A dour assessment from Bill Buckley:
In South Vietnam there was an organized enemy. There is clearly organization in the strikes by the terrorists against our forces and against the civil government in Iraq, but whereas in Vietnam we had Hanoi as the operative headquarters of the enemy, we have no equivalent of that in Iraq, and that is a matter of paralyzing importance. All those bombings, explosions, assassinations: we are driven to believe that they are, so to speak, spontaneous.
When the Romans were challenged by Christianity, Rome fell. The generation of Christians moved by their faith overwhelmed the regimented reserves of the Roman state. It was four years ago that Mr. Cheney first observed that there was a real fear that each fallen terrorist leads to the materialization of another terrorist. What can a “surge,” of the kind we are now relying upon, do to cope with endemic disease? The parallel even comes to mind of the eventual collapse of Prohibition, because there wasn’t any way the government could neutralize the appetite for alcohol, or the resourcefulness of the freeman in acquiring it.
If Mr. Buckley’s argument is extended beyond the borders of Iraq, it would appear to imply outright defeat for the West eventually, by a disease that cannot be cured or a thirst that cannot be slaked — or perhaps something that might look like civil war (see here and here). In any event, quite a pessimistic assessment.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:21 pm
In any event, quite a pessimistic assessment.
Writing in Mr. Buckley’s magazine, Dr. Sowell also voices pessimism: When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
“Worsening degeneracy,” indeed. Neither party seems fit to govern. Each party spits venom at the other; each party nastily rejects constructive suggestions. And it’s wartime.
Of course, things looked even worse during the Carter administration. Then Reagan revitalized the country for a generation. However, the deep vein of American common sense that Reagan appealed to has been weakened by the nanny system (and by corrupt Congressional Republicans, and by incompetent ‘compassionate conservatives’ presiding over a ‘kinder gentler nation’). Just because we need another Reaganesque leader doesn’t mean we’ll have one.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:28 am
Dr. Sowell’s remark (see my previous comment) has created a minor stir in the blogosphere, and it led me to a piece by Orson Scott Card.
…Democrats and Republicans must renounce the screamers and haters from their own side instead of continuing to embrace them and denouncing only the screamers from the opposing camp. We must moderate ourselves instead of insisting on moderating the other guy while keeping our own fanaticism alive.