Monday, October 24, 2005
David Gelertner's History Lesson
A crackerjack of an editorial in the LA Times, of all places! Check it out.
The crux of the argument is this:
Democracies rarely declare war to improve the world, as Rice could have explained had she had the chance. They fight to protect themselves, sometimes to fulfill treaty obligations. But once a war is underway, free peoples tend to think things over deeply. Casualties concentrate the mind. We refuse to let our soldiers die for too little. America at war has lifted its sights again and again from danger, self-interest and self-defense to a larger, nobler goal. Same story, war after war. Iraq fits perfectly.Mr. Gelertner elaborates, using the American Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, and WWII to demonstrate. (He also makes the point that Sen. Barbara Boxer is a shrill demagogue who is ignorant of American history.)
I found this via Bruce Kessler's in-depth analysis, which in turn I found via Instapundit.
