Four Years Later

"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly imagine. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."
- Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men, 1992

A year ago, 10th September 2004, I was in Glasgow, Scotland, walking through semi-flooded streets in the rain to find a hostel bed, so that I could kill enough time to pick a package up at a business in that city. I'd mailed the package to myself as a resupply parcel; a book (Perelandra, if I remember correctly), a pair of boxer shorts, a couple of white T-Shirts, some note cards, and maybe a pen. On 11th September, I picked the package up, then made my way to Edinburgh, where I saw a few sights and got ready to go down to Carlisle to see what I could of Hadrian's Wall. It was while sitting in the Edinburgh train station, writing in my travel journal, that I realized what day it was, and noted it:

"Scotland: Day 4" 11th September 2004
Saw: Bits of Glasgow, bits of Edinburgh, bits of Carlisle
Method of Travel: Train, city bus, foot
Remarks: I went to Glasgow only to pick up a package I sent to myself for resupply. I had a good walk up the hill to Edinburgh Castle and back down to the train station, and bought a sporan on the way. I took a train to Carlisle, walked past the line where Hadrian's Wall once stood and back, and had dinner at a little place called Ristorante Adriano. I came back to Edinburgh, got to my hostel, and crashed.

Three years ago today.

Four years ago, civilization as we know it was changed when barbarians, cowards, savages, did what little they could to break down the wall that separates freedom, prosperity, and peace, from the world of violence, chaos, and total conformity. Since the middle of the last century, they have waged an underground war against those who refuse to assimilate. They seek nothing less than the global imposition of a puritanical, narrow view of their own faith, with no room whatsoever for other faiths, other interpretations, other opinions. They will accept nothing short of total submission and allegiance to a single religious leader of their choosing who seeks the domination of their agenda.

Their statements are clear, their anger and hatred is unmistakable; and yet, some people still don't understand, four years later. Those who hated America even before the major attack, enemies both foreign and domestic, cheered on that day, and continue to cheer whenever Americans suffer a setback. They don't understand that their sheltered, consequence-free way of life would cease to exist in an instant if our enemies were to be ultimately successful.

I will die before I submit to a caliph. I will die before I face Mecca to pray. I will die before I claim that Muhammed is God's prophet. Those are the stakes, ladies and gentlemen.

Every nation has its strengths and its weaknesses. The Germans are efficient and logical, but tend to be rigid. The Irish are passionate and devoted, and often stubborn. The Japanese are amazing engineers, but socially unyielding. The French are agricultural and artistic geniuses, but notoriously arrogant, selfish, and weak. Americans are some of the most amazing people in the world: simultaneously innovative and adaptive, strong, generous, playful... The list of traits goes on. Unfortunately, this leads to a number of weaknesses. Many Americans expect quick solutions to complex problems. Americans as a whole have a difficult time understanding long standing disputes and dilemmas. (For the record, Europeans are developing all the bad habits of Americans, and losing many of their historic strengths.)

There's a term that was coined centuries ago, that has been inherited by a select few. That term is "Pax Romana", and it was eventually inherited, like a fumbled football, by the British, who picked it up centuries after Rome fell. Eventually, the mantle was assumbed by America. For much of the twentieth century, the Pax Americana endured, and American citizens were safe, along with their friends and allies abroad. The thing that many people who oppose our current campaigns against Islamism forget is that such a peace comes at a price. President Carter, for example, forgot it; he attempted to solve every conflict with negotiation and diplomacy. The simple fact of the matter is that peace is retained solely through the threat of force. The Roman peace crumbled when Rome's sons were no longer willing to sacrifice their immediate safety and decadence in order to keep it. The British peace was maintained only because the responsibility for maintaining it was passed on to the Americans.

Peace is not maintained through words, or with bribes, or with happy thoughts. Peace is maintained through the just and law-abiding individuals knowing that they will live their lives unmolested if they follow the rules. Peace is maintained through the freaks, the psychos, the weirdos, the lunatics, and the savages knowing that they will be punished if they step out of line. Peace is maintained through the savages and barbarians knowing that if they try to attack the balance, they will be terminated, eliminated, killed, with extreme prejudice.

When a group or individual broke the balance of the Pax Romana, Caesar sent in the legions. When one holding or another defied the Crown, the Crown sent the fleet and the army to put an end to it. They were decisive, and they made it clear from the start that disturbances to the peace would not be tolerated.

America followed this model once, but the bumbling idiocy of one man, who squandered his predecessor's momentum, and the outright failure of another, who refused to play hardball with America's enemies, left us in a weakened state. With one, two, three, four precious baby steps, we began to bridge the gap between our former trial and future success. Even so, there were setbacks and unwise retreats that showed tomorrow's enemies that our resolve was not always steadfast.

Is this to say that the Pax Americana is in its final hour? Of course not. The Romans were routed, and this installed in their souls the bold resolve that was necessary to ensure their peace and security for six centuries thereafter. America's nose has been bloodied, and we, as a society, must ignore those who cry loudly, "Submit! Relent!" We must see this situation for what it is: a choice to fight tenaciously for liberty and reason, like our ancestors and heroes; or preside over freedom's death.

Our enemies will ignore all negotiation. Many are as resolute as our finest patriots, and will never be convinced of our merit, not even to the point of an uneasy stalemate. The only way to stop them will be to detain or kill them. The long-term solution is nothing short of instilling trust in our would-be allies, while simultaneously instilling a crippling fear in our declared enemies.

And so we fight a just, righteous campaign against our enemies in order to deny them the capacity to inflict pain on us again, and we carry the fight to their homes so that they will fear us; for it is the sword, and not the hollow olive branch, that guarantees peace. This is why we fight, and why we must win.

I will not presume to wish anyone a "happy" Patriot Day. Today is a day to be safe; it is a day to be thankful that there are men and women, patriots, who are willing to refresh the Tree of Liberty through the management of controlled, focused violence; it is a day to be steadfast, and to remember that our freedom, our culture, our right to dissenting opinions, and even our right to be incorrect and do things we shouldn't, is worth defending, even if the cost sometimes seems more overwhelming than we feel we can bare.

Thus saith the Fly, and God bless America.