WASHINGTON -- My friend, the actor and writer Ben Stein, is
forever putting me to shame, writing eloquent laudations to the
wonder of America while I am given to heaving up diatribes against
the world's pests and scoundrels. Ben rhapsodizes about this great
country, its underappreciated citizenry, the brave and effective
soldiers of its volunteer military, Cadillacs. And what is my
response? I heave spitballs -- all are, I believe, on target; but
surely it is not right to leave the patriotic ratiocinating to
Ben.
Whenever he begins waving the flag and whistling "The
Star-Spangled Banner," he is the soul of wisdom. America is almost
everything our enemies deny it to be. As Ben has sung, America is
generous, free, democratic, hard-working, tolerant, and cheerful.
It is the greatest multiracial nation on earth. For years it has
been multi-ethnic, the Melting Pot, as they say. But today it is
multiracial, having overcome slavery that endured far too long in a
country whose Founding Fathers propounded freedom for all mankind
while strangely maintaining servitude for almost all blacks who
were shipped over here. Well, even the noblest of the species Homo
sapiens have blind spots and related weaknesses. I think today the
majority of Americans has made up for the bigotry of earlier
Americans, and the achievements of blacks in America today -- in
entertainment, commerce, medicine, education, the sciences -- make
it clear that racism was the evil of ignorance, the ignorance of
the bigot.
There is a tremendous energy about this country that I never
fail to notice upon returning to our shores from faraway. Europe is
a lovely place to visit, but it is a drowsy place by comparison to
America. Why this is I am uncertain, though I think it has
something to do with Old Europe's centuries of religious and class
warfare, the two world wars of the 20th century that mowed down so
many of Europe's best men, and the American celebration of freedom.
Europeans consider our celebration of freedom vulgar and even
alarming. Actually freedom, when combined with our market economy,
has led to enormous progress in terms of product innovation,
product quality, spreading wealth. Our social freedom perhaps
explains our cheerfulness.
Today the political parasites who wish to attain high office by
latching on to some presumed misery in our society tell us that
there is a dreadful gulf between the rich and the poor. Actually it
is a gulf that very few Americans care much about. The average
American is simply too good-natured to care if Warren Buffet has
five billion dollars or fifty billion dollars. More properly the
average American cares about the condition of the very poor among
us, and America has tried to do quite a lot about the very poor. As
a consequence, poverty in America today is not as pernicious as it
was a century ago; and there are through social services,
education, and our vibrant economy infinitely more avenues of
escaping poverty.
Now talk like this, I know, will trigger uproar here in the U.
S. of A., but it is an uproar instigated either by well-meaning
economic illiterates or by demagogues. Let it pass, my intention
here is to reinforce Ben's praise of America.
Never is he more eloquent in praising the volunteer troops who
keep us free and secure. Today there are myriads of
out-at-the-elbow Hitlers intent on blowing up our cities and
spreading pandemics. The American military under civilian control
fights on foreign soil far away to insure that the aspiring Adolfs
fail...and get what they deserve. Despite the defeatist humors in
our media, these soldiers and Marines dispatch the enemy with a
professionalism of the highest order. They are constantly
readjusting their tactics to new conditions. They are deadly but
they are for the most part decent, conforming to the international
rules of warfare unlike their enemies who hide in mosques, use
women and children for shields, and blow up civilians.
There is something else about our military that I do not believe
even Ben has mentioned. When they return to civilian life they will
become leading members of society. Their record as good citizens is
a matter of fact. I recall years ago spending time in a retirement
community with a learned intellectual named Huntington Cairns. He,
a leftist with tendencies toward pacifism, one day confided that in
this community of retirees and octogenarians the old folks who
could always be counted on to look out for the community and for
its most fragile members were most likely retired military.
There is no reason to doubt that the members of the military
defending us abroad today will return to be leaders in their
communities tomorrow in a country as pleasant and just as Ben
insists that it is.
topics:
Education, Founding Fathers, Military, Energy, Oil
