In 1933, debates at Brown and Oxford University’s yielded surprising opinions and polls for the time. With Hitler making waves in Europe, more than half of those queried identified themselves as pacifists, with less than a third declaring they would fight a war if necessary. Truth be told, I was not surprised to read the numbers. If history tells us anything, it’s that many folks are inclined to ignore that history until it comes knocking at their door. Well, we all know how things turned out in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Tyrants were appeased, a continent nearly destroyed, and over 80 million lay dead before all was said and done.
Throughout WWII, and frankly the annals of history, there have been those who’ve embraced reality, and those who chose to ignore it. The cost of the latter, in terms of blood and treasure, has been egregious. Unfortunately, it appears we may be setting up to relive yet another period when reality rears its ugly head and slaps “We the People” square in our collective faces.
When Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, many, including myself, raised an eyebrow at the thought of this inexperienced community organizer about to enter onto the world stage. It wasn’t because of any party affiliation, or as “some” have suggested, “his skin color”. No, it was because the world is a very dangerous place, and growing more so by the hour. Moreover, it was because we understood that fancy academic language read from a teleprompter, was no substitute for a U.S. President’s resolute and steadfast support of liberty anywhere in the world.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and subsequent annexation of Crimea, was clearly the strategic and well thought out plan of a KGB tyrant/Cold War era Communist with visions of a new and more powerful Soviet style empire. And our president’s response is as much a futile exercise as anything he’s done thus far, in terms of overall foreign policy since being elected to the Oval Office. Mind you, this is not a political post intended to generate debate or discussion between opposing viewpoints, but rather a warning to “We the People”. Disengage from reality TV and put down your smart phone for just a moment. Stop scouring the empty Indian Ocean on your laptop, for remnants of Flight 370, (RIP), and take those damn ear buds out of your ears. This is very serious stuff folks. And if our leaders don’t get off their collective behinds and acknowledge the truth of the matter post-haste, your children may yet fight and die in a war unlike the world has ever known…
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