Are We Morally Paralyzed?

Thomas Sowell has an outstanding column on RealClearPolitics.com today. He states that "moral paralysis" is a term that can be applied to France, England, and other European democracies back in the 1930s as they sat back and watched Hitler build up a military that he would eventually use to attack them. He points out that those governments knew what Hitler was doing, but they refrained from taking action, even though they had more than enough military strength to put down Hitler's efforts early on.

Instead, they turned to negotiations.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was wildly popular when he returned from Munich in 1938 with a signed treaty, declaring "peace in our time". A year later, World War II broke out, and millions of people were killed across Europe and Asia.

Sowell quotes Winston Churchill, who later said, "[T]here was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action." He goes on to show that in 1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in violation of two international treaties. At that point, France alone was far more powerful than Germany, and indeed Hitler himself later confided that the Germans would have had to retreat at any sign of French intervention at that time.

The French had the means but not the will - it was morally paralyzed. And look what it cost the world.

Sowell relates this situation from history to our own current time and actions. It is a complete joke to think that the U.N. will ever do anything to stop anyone from doing anything. So, it is up to those nations who have the means and the will to stop future Hitlers from succeeding. Right now, that's primarily the U.S., and the biggest red flag is Iran.

In the 1930s, Hitler made some of the best anti-war speeches because he knew what Western leaders wanted to hear. Iran, however, has made no such effort. They make only a token explanation of building "peaceful" nuclear power plants, even though they sit on one of the largest oil reserves in the world and have no need of nuclear power for electricity. [I would interject here that we know for certain that Iran is helping Al Qaeda in Iraq, and that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has loudly and repeatedly stated that his goal as Iran's president is to "wipe Israel off the map" and "experience a world without the United States and Zionism", so they're not really even making a token attempt.]

Sowell concludes: "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?"

It is something to think about. While you're thinking, keep in mind who opposes success in the War on Terror, who opposes protecting Americans from frivolous lawsuits, who opposes using U.S. military strength to protect American interests, and who wants to have negotiation after negotiation after negotiation. Hint: it ain't conservative Republicans...

There's my two cents.