As each new year arrives, the nagging liberal nannies urge us to
resolve to be more tolerant, patient and understanding of those who
are up to no good. Whatever it brings, 2003 will not be a gentle
year. We should greet its arrival warily, as one boxer greets the
other in the center of the ring before the match begins. This year,
the nags offer a cornucopia of New Year’s resolutions we should
rejoice in rejecting. Let’s plant our feet, open our eyes to the
freshening gale, and prepare to sail against the wind.
On the personal level, I refuse to seek absolution from my sins
of the SUV. I drive a Toyota Land Cruiser, thank you very much, and
its seven thousand pounds of mass often carry me, my Lab, several
shotguns, and a couple of shooting buddies to and from our chosen
recreation. Yes, it gets very poor mileage compared to one of those
wind-up electro-gas soda cans that the greenies want us to drive.
They can have my Land Cruiser when they pry the steering wheel from
my cold dead fingers. I’d be glad to power it with a small nuclear
reactor, but they probably wouldn’t like that, either.
Here in the Peoples’ Republic of Arlington, Virginia, some years
ago we suffered the indignity of having the mother of a son’s
friend forbid him to visit us because we have guns in the house. I
am sure many would appreciate my resolving to rid the county of my
firearms, preferably by destroying rather than moving or selling
them. I am not sorry to disappoint them. The guns stay. I will,
however, resolve to order less ammunition by mail. Our friendly UPS
guy may get a hernia if I don’t. I may also lighten his load by
ordering more cigars. To all the cigar smokers fleeing New York
City, please give me the opportunity to welcome you to
cigar-friendly Virginia. Come to think of it, bring your guns with
you.
Patience may be a virtue in a person and sometimes even in a
nation. But we need to reject any resolution to be more patient
next year. In 2002, we all must have lost patience with Saudi
Arabia, the U.N., the European Union, Barbra Streisand, the ACLU,
Tom Daschle, the Washington Post, the New York
Times, anti-military college professors, Hans Blix, Germany,
NOW, Pat Buchanan, People for the American Way, Norm Mineta, PETA,
incompetent airport security people, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit, and anything to which Billy and Hilly have even
the slightest connection. (If you’re surprised to not see France in
that list, try to remember Charles de Gaulle. I lost patience with
France so long ago, I can’t even remember the year). If you can
keep a straight face while arguing against that proposition, you’d
better register as a Democrat.
We also need to reject any resolution to be more understanding,
more tolerant, and more flexible. I don’t know about you, but I’m
not a “90’s guy.” Heck, I’m not even an “80’s guy.” For Heaven’s
sake, let’s stop trying to be “sensitive” and “relevant.” A lady I
dated many years ago accused me of not “getting it.” Fine. I don’t
want it. Men honor and protect women and children. We care for
those animals we choose to not kill and eat, and even more for most
of those we do. We even tolerate our wives’ house cats, which often
takes some doing. Hunters and fishermen have done a lot more for
the environment than the Greenpeace clowns ever will. If someone
wants to wear a fur coat, fine. Just don’t ask me to turn on the
air conditioning in the Land Cruiser when it’s twenty degrees
inside.
We have a long and proud heritage, and there’s no reason to
apologize for it. The world may not be simple, but there is right
and wrong out there, and most of us can tell the difference. We
don’t need to apologize to those who can’t. We also don’t need to
apologize to our allies for the place we have in the world. America
is the Big Dog, and as much as they may hate that fact, they’ll
just have to deal with it. Those such as Britain — that have
invested enough blood and treasure to earn an influence on world
affairs — should be taken seriously. Those who haven’t made that
investment (did I mention France?) have barely earned our
politeness, and are not entitled to our confidence or our deference
to their counsel.
All of us — paleocons, neocons, and just plain old
conservatives — should make one resolution for next year. Let us
resolve to be resolute. We know the strengths of our great nation,
and have a pretty good idea of the threats it faces. The most
dangerous of them, radical Islam, is on the offensive around the
world. Next year will be a trial for us individually and as a
nation. There will be war and — unless we are both smart and lucky
— terrorism in our cities and towns. If we are unlucky, or not
smart, our families and our friends may suffer losses worse than
any nightmare envisioned. But if we are resolute, whatever the
enemy does he cannot win. We cannot compromise with him, or rest in
our prosecution of the war he started. There is no solution to this
conflict other than victory.
Tonight let’s all toast the arrival of 2003 by saying, as
Churchill once did, “Here’s to a year of toil — a year of struggle
and peril, and a long step forward towards victory. May we all come
through safe and with honor.” Saddam delendus est.
