Yes, It Can Happen Here

In any society, no matter how advanced, complacency and ignorance can both be fatal to survival. Some Americans seem to believe our country is too strong and powerful to ever be vanquished and subjugated by foreign aggressors. Others believe that committed adversaries intent on destroying our way of life either do not exist or can be appeased through dialogue and negotiation. These folks see no need to spend our resources on developing and maintaining a strong defense capability.

Perhaps they are not aware of human history, and the part luck played in several turning points of military conflict. In June of 1942, if American scout planes had not spotted the Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway before their scout planes found ours, we would all be speaking Japanese today. If Adolf Hitler had focused on defeating Great Britain rather than launching an attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, creating a disastrous two front war, perhaps we would all now be speaking German.

Throughout history the centers of power and influence have always been changing. Today the predominance of the United States is arguably on the wane as China, India and Russia are rapidly developing into formidable competitors, both militarily and economically. Combine that with the fact Europe spends very little on defense, is becoming muslimized and cannot defend itself. Their only option if threatened is to capitulate to external or internal threats unless the United States comes to their rescue as in the past.

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the rise of militant Islam has created a much more dangerous world than we have encountered before, whether the threat be state sponsored or contained in difficult to identify and locate terrorist organizations. The United States today clearly confronts risks to our security that our growing more perilous by the day, and complacency and denial of these threats will only ensure that we do not survive the inevitable conflict. We cannot afford to leave our future to the fortunes of chance. We must continue to face reality, and be prepared. We can only hope the pacifists in Washington wake up to the ways of the real world before it is too late.