Thomas Sowell writes over at RealClearPolitics:Moral paralysis" is a term that has been used to describe the inaction of France, England and other European democracies in the 1930s, as they watched Hitler build up the military forces that he later used to attack them.
It is a term that may be painfully relevant to our own times.
Back in the 1930s, the governments of the democratic countries knew what Hitler was doing -- and they knew that they had enough military superiority at that point to stop his military buildup in its tracks. But they did nothing to stop him.
Instead, they turned to what is still the magic mantra today -- "negotiations."
And the sad fact is that we truly have reverted, have learned nothing from the past. When dealing with a fascist, nihilist enemy, we need to overwhelm it and eradicate it, not give in to its demands. Chamberlain made that mistake at the cost of a decade of war in Europe, four in the US, and millions of lives lost. Liberals in America and around the world are doing the same thing today. Just so they don't have to actually do anything, so-called civilized liberals are ceding the liberties of countless millions to terrorist islamofascists, and the liberals don't give a damn. The coming expanded attacks and conflict will be preventable, just as World War 2 was. Sowell writes:
Looking back after that war, Winston Churchill said, "There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action." The earlier it was done, the less it would have cost.
At one point, Hitler could have been stopped in his tracks "without the firing of a single shot," Churchill said.
That point came in 1936 -- three years before World War II began -- when Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, in violation of two international treaties.
At that point, France alone was so much more powerful than Germany that the German generals had secret orders to retreat immediately at the first sign of French intervention.
As Hitler himself confided, the Germans would have had to retreat "with our tail between our legs," because they did not yet have enough military force to put up even a token resistance.
Why did the French not act and spare themselves and the world the years of horror that Hitler's aggressions would bring? The French had the means but not the will.
Sound familiar? Look in the mirror, America and Western societies. And who is to blame? Let's start with the communist takeover of education:
Pacifism became vogue among the intelligentsia and spread into educational institutions. As early as 1932, Winston Churchill said: "France, though armed to the teeth, is pacifist to the core."
It was morally paralyzed.
History may be interesting but it is the present and the future that pose the crucial question: Is America today the France of yesterday?
Instead of that touchy feely bullkaka, they should be teaching real history. As Sowell writes
We know that Iran is moving swiftly toward nuclear weapons while the United Nations is moving slowly -- or not at all -- toward doing anything to stop them.
It is a sign of our irresponsible Utopianism that anyone would even expect the UN to do anything that would make any real difference.
Not only the history of the UN, but the history of the League of Nations before it, demonstrates again and again that going to such places is a way for weak-kneed leaders of democracies to look like they are doing something when in fact they are doing nothing.
Of course, many say, Ahmidenejad has been making overtures. Liberals will point to his personal letters to President Bush (personal but released to the media, hmmm...) about how all he wants really is peace. Barack Barry Obama wants to chat with him, maybe have a tea. Here is some historical insight that probably has not been taught but should:
The Iranian leaders are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And, like Hitler, they don't think we have the guts to stop them.
Incidentally, Hitler made some of the best anti-war statements of the 1930s. He knew that this was what the Western democracies wanted to hear -- and that it would keep them morally paralyzed while he continued building up his military machine to attack them.
Iranian leaders today make only the most token and transparent claims that they are building "peaceful" nuclear facilities -- in one of the biggest oil-producing countries in the world, which has no need for nuclear power to generate electricity.
Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and its international terrorist allies will be a worst threat than Hitler ever was. But, before that happens, the big question is: Are we France? Are we morally paralyzed, perhaps fatally?
A good question...and one we must answer in the negative, or we will not be able to answer it at all...because we will be dead.
