As much as it disgusts me, I have to admit the history of Man is war.
Hardly a day has elapsed in thousands of years of history without human blood being spilt in some godforsaken war. Ancient civilizations each had their own god of war who commanded “holy war” – usually in order to spread that god’s religion. As the embodiment of masculine aggression, the Roman god Mars was the force which drove their wars – though Mars (who paradoxically was also their god of agriculture) sanctioned wars that ideally delivered a secure peace. But even if war ends in “secure peace,” knowing Man’s history, how lasting can this security possibly be?
Alas, judging by the pages of history, ancient up to recent, there is certain inevitability to war.
Large wars, world wars, begin slowly, with antagonisms and outrages heaped one upon another, ill winds blow both ways across the deserts of negotiation, insults irritating egos over long periods of time. Eventually nationalism grows, and Thor’s hammer is raised in anger. But extended periods of relatively comfortable life, such as most Americans experience today, lead to increasingly trivial liberalism and soft bellies. People get more upset about their favorite team’s mascot, or the convolutions of laws about free birth control for women, than they get about the scandals surrounding their leaders or the dehumanizing treatment of their sisters and brothers around the world.
Eventually it sinks in to the general population. Something starts to feel very wrong, patience wears thin, and the people grow restive. For Mars regularly awakens from his agrarian slumber, the Valkyries decide who will die in battle while the charge building in Thor’s hammer begins to crackle, and Chi You’s six arms begin wielding his terrible sharp weapons.
Today, antagonists poke sticks in the eyes of what is derisively called “The Free World” or “The West,” and slowly the drums beat and many of us can feel the leashes of the dogs of war fraying from the strain.
If war is inevitable, its masters tell us there is only one way to wage it. Fast, and with finality. History’s warrior princes; the Caesars, Attila, Richard the Lionheart, Napoleon and all the rest taught us important lessons. When war is inevitable, the longer the more powerful faction waits, the more advantage is given to the enemy. While the stronger stalls, debating endlessly, hoping against hope that the enemy will magically turn into Boy Scouts, the enemy builds its army, its funding, its public relations and its strategy. We also know that the side inspiring fear has that additional advantage. Weakness of will, on the other hand, is a distinct disadvantage to be exploited by the other side.
And so here we are. With enemies our leadership cannot even bring themselves to call enemies. Enemies who have made it clear, by attacking us in our homeland, that we are their ultimate target. The Caesars would not have tolerated this without a devastating response. But our enemies now acquire territory, resources, cash and expertise, as they attempt to devour freedom as they did periodically over the last couple of millennia, turned back only by the blood of the bravest of men. This enemy has infiltrated our nation, institutions, media, religion, fund-raising groups, culture, while being celebrated, if not outright supported, by our leader’s inscrutable foreign policies, and the lapdog media.
Put yourself in the place of the enemy. Is it any wonder he sees a giant soft belly in America? He sees world leaders unwilling to stop him. Our enemies are emboldened, quite logically, by America’s inaction. But they, too, misread history. Compared to the unleashing of America’s secret war dogs, hell will seem like a cool day on the Riviera.
So our next president will be stuck with a terrible problem. Leading a population of soft, dependent voters, unaccustomed to hard choices, showing by their insatiable appetite for government benefits that they are unwilling to make sacrifices, unable to handle hard life on their own. Oh, not that there aren’t many ready, willing and able American patriots. You are the ones who will actually fight for everyone else’s freedom. As it has always been. Soldiers, according to Napoleon, are born to die.
The next president will have few allies who still have faith in America, and enemies who do not fear us. Halfway through his or her first term, the new president – because of our current president’s inaction – be forced to use weapons more devastating than any employed before. But the enemy could have been dealt a devastating blow just days ago in its new homeland, using conventional weapons, discouraging it and any other aggressors from heeding the call of Mars. But we are living with an administration unable or unwilling to understand the world and history, one which seems unable to grasp the realities of aggression. Worse, this incomprehensible inaction fuels the fires of suspicion; suspicion shared by many that the administration and its allies on the Left and in the Media are on the wrong side of this war.
Mark my words, because we have done so little to stop it, the next president will be forced – let me repeat that – forced to use terrible weapons to perform a president’s primary duty – to protect America. How will the next major conflict begin? Who will be the next Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Where will the next 9/11 happen? Or will it be a catastrophic blow to that tiny island of freedom and righteousness in a sea of turmoil, Israel? A belligerent attack on another nation’s airliner or naval vessel? An EMP attack taking out a good part of America’s grid and defensive systems? Cyber sabotage collapsing the internet and all attendant commerce? Or simply more violent chaos in the Levant which escalates and drags in nuclear nations?
WWIII may not last very long, but the blow to civilization and its economies will last far longer than anything we have experienced. Things will get rough here at home, and abroad. The longer we wait, the worse the disaster will be. The longer we wait, the worse the slaughter will be.
Like you, I hope there is a hero on the horizon... I don’t care where he or she is from... just someone with a foot big enough to tamp down the fuse before something wicked explodes. But it seems heros don’t come along to stop wars from starting, they usually emerge because of war.
Do you hear that sparking sound around the world? It may be Thor’s Hammer charging up. But the creaking sound is coming from the dry bones of Julius Caesar, George Washington and all the rest, shaking their heads slowly.
