Michael Medved vs. Harry Browne
I was reading my Imprimis (I've been getting them ever since I attended Hillsdale) and was annoyed by the following from Michael Medved's talk during the CCA on "War on Film":
On my radio show today, I addressed the topic of military “counter-recruiters.” You know what military recruiters are—the people who go to high schools and colleges and tell young people about their opportunities to serve their country in the military. Well, now there are also “counter-recruiters” who go to these schools and tell young people why they shouldn’t serve their country in the military. I had one of them on my show today and put one of your Hillsdale freshmen on with him, and she asked him the crucial question he couldn’t answer intelligently: “What would the world be like without the American military?” He said that the world would be a “beautiful place.” But of course this would only be true if a world enslaved under Nazism or communism or Islamo-fascism could be called beautiful. Without the U.S. military in the last century, it would be one of these.
Now I've written elsewhere about the trumped up fears of Nazi conquest, and I think the USSR wasn't as hell-bent on world domination as William F. Buckley would have you believe, but fair enough: I can understand a right-wing hawk claiming that the US saved the world from Hitler and Stalin.
But c'mon, now the US is saving the world from "Islamo-fascist" enslavement?? So if US troops hadn't invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, eventually all of Europe would've been taken over by Zarqawi?
A handful of (or even 19) fanatics can certainly cause damage and fear, but they can't conquer another country. No, that takes hundreds of thousands of troops (and smart bombs help too).
BTW, a quick response to Medved's utter dismay that Hollywood has stopped glorifying (Medved's word) the American fighting man can be found in this Harry Browne piece. (Has anyone else noticed that Harry has thrown caution to the winds lately? I guess he decided he's not running for president anymore, and so he's going to keep it real.)
On my radio show today, I addressed the topic of military “counter-recruiters.” You know what military recruiters are—the people who go to high schools and colleges and tell young people about their opportunities to serve their country in the military. Well, now there are also “counter-recruiters” who go to these schools and tell young people why they shouldn’t serve their country in the military. I had one of them on my show today and put one of your Hillsdale freshmen on with him, and she asked him the crucial question he couldn’t answer intelligently: “What would the world be like without the American military?” He said that the world would be a “beautiful place.” But of course this would only be true if a world enslaved under Nazism or communism or Islamo-fascism could be called beautiful. Without the U.S. military in the last century, it would be one of these.
Now I've written elsewhere about the trumped up fears of Nazi conquest, and I think the USSR wasn't as hell-bent on world domination as William F. Buckley would have you believe, but fair enough: I can understand a right-wing hawk claiming that the US saved the world from Hitler and Stalin.
But c'mon, now the US is saving the world from "Islamo-fascist" enslavement?? So if US troops hadn't invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, eventually all of Europe would've been taken over by Zarqawi?
A handful of (or even 19) fanatics can certainly cause damage and fear, but they can't conquer another country. No, that takes hundreds of thousands of troops (and smart bombs help too).
BTW, a quick response to Medved's utter dismay that Hollywood has stopped glorifying (Medved's word) the American fighting man can be found in this Harry Browne piece. (Has anyone else noticed that Harry has thrown caution to the winds lately? I guess he decided he's not running for president anymore, and so he's going to keep it real.)
I agree completely. Candidate Browne was a lamer. This current version is bad-ass. And this Browne/Rockwell rapprochement warms the innards of my heart.
ReplyDelete