Michael Scheuer, along with a few of our commenters, is of the opinion that cutting Israel loose would be in America's best interests, as it would enable us to smooth things over with the likes of bin Laden and Ahmadinejad, and thereby improve our "standing in the region."

This is a specific example of the general idea that peace is always an option. Where there is a conflict, one side or the other always has the option of capitulating and thereby garnering short-term peace.

Thus, when the Barbary Pirates asked President Jefferson for bribes in exchange for peace, he could have paid their bribes rather than engaging us in a war.

In the 1940s, we could have decided that the conflict between Germany and the British was "not our problem," and sat back and let the Europeans sort it out.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, FDR could have realized that the conflict arose out of our meddling in the Far East (which it did), that we'd "brought it on ourselves," and that we'd be better off moving our sphere of influence back from the Pacific. We had the option of abandoning the people of the Pacific Rim under the heel of Japanese Imperialism.

When the Chinese moved into Korea, we could have decided Korea wasn't worth one American life or one American dollar, and allowed the entire peninsula to become the hell that is now North Korea.

At different junctures in our history, our efforts to spread democracy and freedom to the darker corners of the world have always caused us trouble.

Our belief that the world should be free has always cost us--sometimes dearly.

But, at the end of the day, it is what we have done, time and time again.

We are America. Freedom is just what we do. We are Reagan's "shining city on a hill," and the citizens of this beautiful city care deeply about freedom--not only for ourselves, but for the hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings who are still trapped in darkness.

And if we ever stop caring about that, we will cease to be America.

Posted by: Ragnar at 09:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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