Thursday, December 13, 2007

"Very Well, Alone"


The new movie "Atonement," starring Keira Knightley and James MacAvoy, features a Dunkirk scene, reminding us of the horror of war. And even more horrible than war, of course, is defeat. The only thing worse than what happened to the British who evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940 is what happened to the French who stayed behind to be brutalized by the Nazis.

Which in turn reminded me of this famous political cartoon from the great David Low, the lone Tommy shaking his defiant fist at the unseen enemy.

Sometimes that's how I feel. That's probably how most Americans feel a lot of the time. America is not alone, of course. We have many friends and allies; peoples and countries that realize that we are the last, best hope of mankind. And it's great that we can sign treaties and make deals and forge alliances. Sometimes it's even a good idea to negotiate with enemies, if there's truly the basis of a possible agreement.

However, the whole point of American Sovereignty is that if all the diplomacy fails, if the world is plunged into darkness, made by worse by the lights of perverted science, we will still defend ourselves, by ourselves. Alone, if need be.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

America is the "last, best hope of mankind"? Yeah right.